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(Dave Reynolds picks Bradley 4th and places TWO Braves on the Valley 1st Team!!)
(the local writers were a bit off especially the upgrade of talent & scoring argument...)
so as I look at a lot of the preseason predictions - the two teams that maybe exceeded expectations the most are SIU & ISU - although not by much. And perhaps the teams that disappointed the most & finished the farthest below expectations were Bradley and Evansville.
I thought the MVC was going to be just one good team, then all the rest around .500-and-under with several battling for last place -
and unfortunately we probably will be a one-bid league.
But I really thought Bradley would win more of our easy non-conference games - and a lot of others thought likewise - so where we underperformed the most was losing to several of those weak teams early in the season.
I would rank the coaching jobs this season this way..
1-Gregg Marshall - he's won every game
2-Barry Hinson - surprised me - did way better than almost everyone thought he could
3-thru-5 would be Dan Muller, Ray Giacoletti, Porter Moser - who all did as well and maybe a bit better than expected given the total overhauls at all 3 of them and lack of talent...
6-10 would be --
Lansing (had the best returning group & many thought he'd battle Wichita for first place but fell far short)
Lusk (sure he had some injuries but nobody ever allowed us to use that alibi)
Jacobson (a lot of surprising losses)
Marty (with the offense he has - Balentine, etc...should have done better)
GF (we'd better play well today or we will have a 20-loss season against the worst slate of opponents both in and out of conference that I can recall in recent memory!)
...all these lower five guys finished either where they were picked in unimpressive fashion - losing more than expected, or finished well below where expected.
In fact - it's been a pretty dismal year for the Valley outside of Wichita State - hard to name a key win or signature performance among the other nine teams.
The only real possibility of coaching turnover would be if Marshall gets hired away from Wichita or if Evansville decides to let Marty go like they did to Steve Merfeld in 2007 with 2 years left on his deal.
But I'd give the nod of the worst job of predicting to that Hoops preview back in November that really didn't even come close...
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