4 MVC Games on 12/31/2014

[bigjimmy]

BU at Loyola
ISU Blue at ISU Red, ongoing
MSU at SIU at 5:05
Wichita State at Drake at 5:05


Loyola beats BU by 15. Nuff said.
ISU Blue leads 53-49 with 6:20 left. The Redbirds helter skelter offense not working so far and the Sycamores are making shots.

[tornado]

Wow - Indiana State beats ISU 63-61 in Normal
The Sycamores with a horrible defensive lapse right at the end leaving the lane wide open for a pass down low- open layup,
but Gant recovered and the ISU guy was in poor position and failed to convert...

A couple observations on this game...

-Both these teams also seem to have stretches where they struggle to score

-Just can't see the hype we hear all the time about Greg Lansing being a great coach - what has he won when he didn't have All-Valley kids - in fact what has he won and who has he beat in the post-season when he did have All Valley kids?
He has good players so how does he go 5-8 against a very weak non-conference schedule that even included two DII's?

-freshman Tre' Bennett on Indiana State is a quick little guard that plays well in stretches...he has potential

[Tulsa Brave]

Indiana State with a stunner for sure. Bolsters my case that Loyola is the 3rd best team in the league.

[GoBUBraves98]

Way to go Indiana State they won 63-61 at ISU

[tornado]

Loyola benefited from playing a very winnable game to start the Valley race

[Da Coach]

Here are the 4 MVC games today (12/31/14)-

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/scoreboard?date=20141231&confId=18

I watched the INSU-ILSU game, and it was entertaining. Illinois State played well in stretches, and lead most of the game. But Indiana State hung close and made a surge in the middle of the 2nd half to pull ahead and hang on for the win. If we were writing off Indiana State as maybe an easy win at home, we need to change that thinking. They looked pretty good, and shot pretty well today.

I will say that Greg Lansing is a smart enough coach to devise a game plan that took advantage of ILSU's weaknesses. The Sycamores got a couple key ILSU players in foul trouble, and exploited their weaknesses, like always going for the blocked shot, and not defending the perimeter well.
Bradley fans could only hope that their coaching staff would actually devise a game plan geared toward taking advantage of what the opponent gives you.

This loss will knock ILSU's RPI down to below 100, leaving just WSU (9), UNI (10), and Loyola (6 in the top 100.

Current RPI-
WSU 9
UNI 10
LU 68 (actually dropped slightly from 65 after beating #298 Bradley)
ILSU 106 (down from 72 after the home loss to INSU)
UE 109
MSU 173
INSU 268 (up from 307 after beating ILSU)
DU 281
BU 285 (actually improved from 298 after the loss to Loyola)
SIU 315

[tornado]

if there's any consolation to BU being in last place in the MVC - it is that we share that spot with ISU who has already lost a home game

[Da Coach]

Early in the 2nd half, Drake trails Wichita State 29-28-

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400586394

Good for Drake and Head Coach Ray Giacoletti- it is still early, but at least they haven't folded in the presence of a good team like WSU, and they are playing them tough.

Compare with the 6 games Bradley has played against Wichita State under Head Coach Geno Ford-
12/28/11 WSU 90 BU 51 (39 point win)
1/13/12 WSU 78 BU 41 (37 point win)
1/6/13 WSU 69 BU 63 (6 point win)
1/26/13 WSU 73 BU 39 (34 point win)
1/14/14 WSU 72 BU 50 (22 point win)
2/25/14 WSU 69 BU 49 (20 point win)

So Wichita State is 6-0 against Geno's teams, and 5 of the 6 games were major blowouts. Only once, in 2012-13 with Geno's "best" team and Gregg Marshall's "worst" team in the last 4 seasons did we have the only game that wasn't a major blowout. But in that game, 3 of WSU's starters, Carl Hall, Ron Baker, and Evan Wessel missed the game due to injury. It's hard to know, but I suspect that might have made a difference.
The average margin of winning for WSU over Bradley in the 6 games is over 26 points per game! I hate to think what it will be this season!

[Da Coach]

Here is the box score from the Indiana State-Illinois State game-

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400586391

They list the attendance at 5,372, but from watching my High Def TV, it was obvious to me that the arena was well less than half full. In past seasons cpacmel, and other ISU guys said ISU only counts actual attendance, and not tickets sold. But have they changed? I have also noticed with previous ISU televised games that the announced attendance appeared much higher than the actual attendance.

[Da Coach]

Wichita State held on to beat Drake 66-58.
Missouri State also held on to win at SIU 53-50.

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/scoreboard?date=20141231&confId=18

[tornado]

Drake, the worst team in the league so far, was within four points down the stretch, but then Drake proceeded to make no FG's over the final
3:31 - scoring only one pt on a FT as they had to try to foul Wichita..but Ron Baker missed 3 of 4 FT's giving Drake a chance but they fell short.


The standings look like this...

Wichita 1-0
Loyola 1-0
Indiana State 1-0
Missouri State 1-0
UNI 0-0
Evansville 0-0
Bradley 0-1
SIU 0-1
Drake 0-1
ISU 0-1


btw- DePaul beats Marquette with Tommy Hamilton sitting out due to suspension
Creighton getting blown out by Providence - welcome to the Big East without the POY

[isufan]

Wow - Indiana State beats ISU 63-61 in Normal
The Sycamores with a horrible defensive lapse right at the end leaving the lane wide open for a pass down low- open layup,
but Gant recovered and the ISU guy was in poor position and failed to convert...

A couple observations on this game...

-Both these teams also seem to have stretches where they struggle to score

-Just can't see the hype we hear all the time about Greg Lansing being a great coach - what has he won when he didn't have All-Valley kids - in fact what has he won and who has he beat in the post-season when he did have All Valley kids?
He has good players so how does he go 5-8 against a very weak non-conference schedule that even included two DII's?

-freshman Tre' Bennett on Indiana State is a quick little guard that plays well in stretches...he has potential

I think we only played one D-II team, Truman State, regardless, it doesn't matter, we were still awful in non con play, losing at HOME to both EIU, and UMKC

[Chico]

What has ANY coach ever won if he didn't have all conference players on the roster?

[tornado]

Drake won in 2008 in a runaway - when they were picked next-to-last and not one of their players was expected to be All Conference...
They only had one returning starter and a new head coach.

Good coaching and coachable role players can get a lot done...

[Chico]

Drake won in 2008 in a runaway - when they were picked next-to-last and not one of their players was expected to be All Conference...
They only had one returning starter and a new head coach.

Good coaching and coachable role players can get a lot done...

Not expected to be All-Conference is different than being All-Conference at seasons end.