Drake blows out Bradley at home 69-57

[Vent]

Is this the battle of the two worst coaches in the MVC?

I don't think it is. I would put Porter Moser in there with Geno. If anybody can win at Drake it would be Ray Giacoletti. He has always been able to get big foreigners that nobody else is aware of and also is strong on fundamentals and accountability. His problem is that Drake is a graveyard for coaches. Drake is a difficult place to recruit to. First you're trying to get kids to go to the state of Iowa. Drake often has to settle for kids that Iowa, Iowa State and Northern Iowa don't want. Drake's situation is very similar to Bradley's, with the exception, the state Illinois has more and better talented high school basketball players than the state of Iowa.

[tornado]

Is this the battle of the two worst coaches in the MVC?

Let's look at who has underachieved....
Here was the preseason poll - the prediction & expectation of how teams would do this year in the MVC

Bradley picked 8th

1 Wichita State
2 UNI
3 Missouri State
4 Evansville
5 Illinois State
6 Indiana State
7 Southern Illinois
8 Bradley
9 Drake
10 Loyola

but here's how they actually stand as we speak
Wichita St. 8-0 18-2
No. Iowa 7-1 18-2
Ind. State 6-2 10-10
Evansville 5-3 15-5
Ill. State 4-4 12-8
Loyola 3-5 13-7
So. Illinois 2-6 9-12
Mo. State 2-6 8-12
Bradley 2-6 7-14
Drake 1-7 4-16

As you can see - only ONE team is substantially below where they were picked - and that's Missouri State - who lost their very best player and top scorer to injury first, then he left the team - so make what you want of that...

BUT -- Illinois State, although picked 5th - actually got a 1st place vote and received almost as many total votes as Evansville & the 3rd place MSU
So for them to be 4-4, solidly in 5th - and already has lost the tiebreaker to the team ahead of them - and playing more like a 6-7th team than a 3-4th team - especially when other MVC coaches keep saying ISU has the best talent in the league......
then, I'd have to say the guy who maybe has underachieved the most so far as a coach is Muller.


HOWEVER...I know ISU fans will say he's had injuries......but here we go again - everyone's had injuries -
that's all we hear about Bradley, MSU, now Evansville loses a starter & Loyola loses a starter and top player...so maybe the injury thing don't cut it...

[cpacmel]

BUT -- Illinois State, although picked 5th - actually got a 1st place vote and received almost as many total votes as Evansville & the 3rd place MSU
So for them to be 4-4, solidly in 5th - and already has lost the tiebreaker to the team ahead of them - and playing more like a 6-7th team than a 3-4th team - especially when other MVC coaches keep saying ISU has the best talent in the league......
then, I'd have to say the guy who maybe has underachieved the most so far as a coach is Muller.

So a Coach / team that was predicted 5th and currently sits in 5th has underachieved the most?

Also that team that is playing more like A 6th or 7th place team just took the 18th rated team in the country to the buzzer!

Gonna be a fun finish!

[ollienanyes]

BU favored by 8-8.5

BU is favored by 8 to 8.5 points, which is what the Sagarin ratings would suggest: (they give 4 points to the home team)

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaab/sagarin/2015/conference/

[lightsout]

BU is favored by 8 to 8.5 points, which is what the Sagarin ratings would suggest: (they give 4 points to the home team)

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaab...15/conference/

Wow.... I will take Drake and the points

[Da Coach]

So a Coach / team that was predicted 5th and currently sits in 5th has underachieved the most?

Also that team that is playing more like A 6th or 7th place team just took the 18th rated team in the country to the buzzer!

Gonna be a fun finish!

Didn't Coach Muller say they were the #1 team in the conference? Seems like a 4-4 record should be a big disappointment to him.

And Bradley lead Wichita State at halftime in Wichita. They are the only MVC to lead them at halftime on their home court, including ISU. Does that count for anything?

[Vent]

Didn't Coach Muller say they were the #1 team in the conference? Seems like a 4-4 record should be a big disappointment to him.

And Bradley lead Wichita State at halftime in Wichita. They are the only MVC to lead them at halftime on their home court, including ISU. Does that count for anything?

Muller did vote for his own team as the preseason favorite. That's gonna haunt him. Does ISU still have to go to Wichita? Bradley did lead at halftime and that accounted for one thing. A pretty good butt whooping the second half after Greg Marshall gave a good locker room tongue lashing at half.

[Da Coach]

That was sort of my point...."almost" doesn't count for much in basketball.

[Vent]

It does if you're BU's basketball program.

[bigjimmy]

I remember Marshall saying that it was his players that spoke up that really spearheaded their 2nd half butt whippin of us.

[Tulsa Brave]

Wow.... I will take Drake and the points

Careful...Drake has only come closer than 16 points in 1 true road game all season. They have also averaged just 46 ppg in their 7 conference losses.

[bigjimmy]

Make it a double.

I'll have what bigjimmy is having.....

It's looking more and more like we have a clear top 5 (Wichita, UNI, ISU Blue, Evansville and ISU Red) and a clear bottom 5 (Loyola, BU, SIU, Missouri St and Drake). BU should be tied for 6th, assuming we beat Drake, with Loyola after Wednesday as Loyola plays at Wichita, SIU plays at home against SIU and MSU plays at ISU Red. I think it's very possible that 7 Valley wins could get you 6th. As long as we win Wednesday that would mean we would need 4 wins for that scenario. I think even this team could do that right?

While it's true I might have been on something of a sugar rush that night have you guys seen the other 4 teams play? Our chances are as good as those other 4. I think you will find that of those 5 teams whichever one ends up with the best overall record amongst those 5 teams will end up 6th.

[lightsout]

Careful...Drake has only come closer than 16 points in 1 true road game all season.

That is an even bigger WOW! Hope we can just win and move to 3-6 halfway through the conference season.

[tornado]

So a Coach / team that was predicted 5th and currently sits in 5th has underachieved the most?

Also that team that is playing more like A 6th or 7th place team just took the 18th rated team in the country to the buzzer!

Gonna be a fun finish!

well, I knew it would rile some ISU fans to say that...but am I alone in thinking Muller has underperformed...?
I work with a couple ISU fans who are disappointed and would agree he has done a weak job this year - especially the home losses, the sweep by InSU, and the struggle to beat Drake...
I have also seen a few downer comments on the board...

But if it makes you feel any better - I also think Geno Ford has a whole lot more talent than a team that had to take 8 games to get their 2nd MVC win...


but even tho I believe they picked us 5th, our media has just lowered the bar on what they will call a great BU season, as Dave Reynolds just wrote...
"Whether the Braves are able to ...avoid the Thursday play-in round of the MVC tournament for the first time in five years is the biggest question..
.. Starting the tournament on Friday could help the Braves begin to return to relevance in the conference again."

so I guess an enormous celebration will break out and there'll be claims of great success down at the PJ Star if we can avoid Thursday...



Wonder what starting lineup we will go with...I suspect the same even tho we barely beat one of the worst MVC teams...
Last game was a shakeup - with the previous six games all having the same starting lineup then a change last game...
...we have now used eight different starting lineups so far....



one last thought - the line from this morning's column that we could wake up Thursday in a tie for 6th..
..but we also could wake up Thursday all alone in last place
..then the worry about ("7-footer") Jacob Enevold....seriously, like he's beating other teams??? I thought we were strong in the post?
He's not good from the FT line, he never shoots from more than a few inches away, and he has almost zero assists but almost 50 turnovers!!!
And we're worried about a strategy on this guy?? Please - we gotta get someone who can coach big men or against big men..

[Vent]

well, I knew it would rile some ISU fans to say that...but am I alone in thinking Muller has underperformed...?
I work with a couple ISU fans who are disappointed and would agree he has done a weak job this year - especially the home losses, the sweep by InSU, and the struggle to beat Drake...
I have also seen a few downer comments on the board...

But if it makes you feel any better - I also think Geno Ford has a whole lot more talent than a team that had to take 8 games to get their 2nd MVC win...


but even tho I believe they picked us 5th, our media has just lowered the bar on what they will call a great BU season, as Dave Reynolds just wrote...
"Whether the Braves are able to ...avoid the Thursday play-in round of the MVC tournament for the first time in five years is the biggest question..
.. Starting the tournament on Friday could help the Braves begin to return to relevance in the conference again."

so I guess an enormous celebration will break out and there'll be claims of great success down at the PJ Star if we can avoid Thursday...



Wonder what starting lineup we will go with...I suspect the same even tho we barely beat one of the worst MVC teams...
Last game was a shakeup - with the previous six games all having the same starting lineup then a change last game...
...we have now used eight different starting lineups so far....



one last thought - the line from this morning's column that we could wake up Thursday in a tie for 6th..
..but we also could wake up Thursday all alone in last place
..then the worry about ("7-footer") Jacob Enevold....seriously, like he's beating other teams??? I thought we were strong in the post?
He's not good from the FT line, he never shoots from more than a few inches away, and he has almost zero assists but almost 50 turnovers!!!
And we're worried about a strategy on this guy?? Please - we gotta get someone who can coach big men or against big men..

I'm not an ISU fan, but I don't think Muller is that bad of a coach. He was a very well respected assistant at Vanderbilt in the SEC, before going to ISU. Hindsight is always 20/20. I think when the dust settles ISU will be in the top 4 of the standings and we once again will be looking up at them. They have also improved their non conference schedule immensely. Bradley should be ashamed of theirs. I'm looking forward to the day, that I can talk about BU winning, instead of ISU or some other school losing more games than they were suppose to.

If BU were to get out of the play in round at the Valley tournament, it would be a BIG deal for "BU". Not for me however. I believe if you can't finish at least 4th in the Missouri Valley, you really shouldn't be tooting your horn too loud. The Missouri Valley is not very good, once you get by the four teams in any given year. That's what makes it frustrating to be this down for this long.