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I am a college basketball fan but largely a midmajor fan so my opinions are thus affected.
If you like John Calipari, Mike Krzyzewski and all the east coast teams, then by all means this magazine is for you, because
it's about 200+ pages that cover 95-98% just those big teams that get all the airplay. There's so precious little on any
mid-major team or topic - LESS than even before, that I would never buy this magazine.
A few somewhat interesting articles about recruits (only if they are going to big schools), newer court designs, the rule changes & speedup rules, etc...
BUT - here's a review...
the issue on stands in Peoria had Indiana's Yogi Farrell and the only name I could recognize among the dozens of contributors
who might have been the one who wrote the Missouri Valley section was Wichita's Paul Suellentrop.
BUT clearly whatever was written about or submitted regarding the MVC was so dated that it read like something that must have been
written back in April or May and not updated or amended since........as I will describe.
The section for the MVC was a grand total of TWO pages, buried deep in the magazine... not that it surprised me, but seriously...
the big conferences and their egotistical coaches get 10-20 times more than the MVC, whcih over the past decade or two has
kinda regularly kicked ass vs. a whole lot of those BCS boys.
PLUS - One of the two pages was exclusively on Wichita State - and they are the ONLY MVC team picked to go to the NCAA -
no at-large bids, and they are picked to go to the Sweet Sixteen.
The other single page of MVC coverage lists things like players who have not been at the schools since last spring, and contains virtually NOTHING that is new since about April...
thus the section on Bradley mentions there were a lot of players leaving - but doesn't even hint at the identity of any of the new players.
The section on Loyola lists Roosevelt Smart as their best newcomer - even tho we knew Smart was NOT going to Loyola as far back as last April & May - LINK
They also don't name a single new guy or fact about the Valley that has occurred since about May or June.
ONE more thing-
in the section discussing the new COACHING CHANGES..
BRIAN WARDLE is included as one of EIGHT - "Mid-Major Names to Watch" -
so this is pretty much the only thing about Bradley other than we exist in the MVC
(Linc Darner, the guy who replaced Wardle at Green Bay is also listed)
In the section about BAD HIRES & COACHES on the HOT SEAT
they have Dave Leitao & Ritchie McKay as bad hires & Bruce Weber, John Groce, & Brian Gregory on the HOT SEAT, but strangely not Tom Crean.
Impact transfers include Anton Grady (Cleveland State to Wichita State) and Conner Frankamp (Kansas to Wichita State)
OK - on to what they say about the MVC
Predicted finish:
1- Wichita - gets the MVC's only bid & goes to Sweet 16
2- UNI - seem to ignore lack of a big guy - no player returns with more than 3 rpg
3- ISU - don't seem to think loss of Reggie Lynch will hurt that much
4- Loyola - don't seem to know Doyle is struggling to recover from injury & Roosevelt Smart reneged
5- Evansville - lotsa praise for Mockevicius not so much for Ballentine - wonder why?
6- Indiana State
7- Drake
8- Missouri State
9- SIU
10- Bradley - expected this but of course they only mention Warren Jones
All Conference....
Ron Baker - Selected as PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Devaughn Akoon-Purcell
Fred Van Vleet
Egidijus Mockevicius
Milton Doyle
That's it - sorry if it bores ya, but we kinda cover the preview magazines every year - this year really IS the worst MVC coverage I have ever seen.
If it wasn't for Wichita, heck, we'd have probably gotten less coverage than most DIII teams - but then maybe we have this coming after where our crew has guided us the past 4-5 years...
If you have any questions, PM me...
If you like John Calipari, Mike Krzyzewski and all the east coast teams, then by all means this magazine is for you, because
it's about 200+ pages that cover 95-98% just those big teams that get all the airplay. There's so precious little on any
mid-major team or topic - LESS than even before, that I would never buy this magazine.
A few somewhat interesting articles about recruits (only if they are going to big schools), newer court designs, the rule changes & speedup rules, etc...
BUT - here's a review...
the issue on stands in Peoria had Indiana's Yogi Farrell and the only name I could recognize among the dozens of contributors
who might have been the one who wrote the Missouri Valley section was Wichita's Paul Suellentrop.
BUT clearly whatever was written about or submitted regarding the MVC was so dated that it read like something that must have been
written back in April or May and not updated or amended since........as I will describe.
The section for the MVC was a grand total of TWO pages, buried deep in the magazine... not that it surprised me, but seriously...
the big conferences and their egotistical coaches get 10-20 times more than the MVC, whcih over the past decade or two has
kinda regularly kicked ass vs. a whole lot of those BCS boys.
PLUS - One of the two pages was exclusively on Wichita State - and they are the ONLY MVC team picked to go to the NCAA -
no at-large bids, and they are picked to go to the Sweet Sixteen.
The other single page of MVC coverage lists things like players who have not been at the schools since last spring, and contains virtually NOTHING that is new since about April...
thus the section on Bradley mentions there were a lot of players leaving - but doesn't even hint at the identity of any of the new players.
The section on Loyola lists Roosevelt Smart as their best newcomer - even tho we knew Smart was NOT going to Loyola as far back as last April & May - LINK
They also don't name a single new guy or fact about the Valley that has occurred since about May or June.
ONE more thing-
in the section discussing the new COACHING CHANGES..
BRIAN WARDLE is included as one of EIGHT - "Mid-Major Names to Watch" -
so this is pretty much the only thing about Bradley other than we exist in the MVC
(Linc Darner, the guy who replaced Wardle at Green Bay is also listed)
In the section about BAD HIRES & COACHES on the HOT SEAT
they have Dave Leitao & Ritchie McKay as bad hires & Bruce Weber, John Groce, & Brian Gregory on the HOT SEAT, but strangely not Tom Crean.
Impact transfers include Anton Grady (Cleveland State to Wichita State) and Conner Frankamp (Kansas to Wichita State)
OK - on to what they say about the MVC
Predicted finish:
1- Wichita - gets the MVC's only bid & goes to Sweet 16
2- UNI - seem to ignore lack of a big guy - no player returns with more than 3 rpg
3- ISU - don't seem to think loss of Reggie Lynch will hurt that much
4- Loyola - don't seem to know Doyle is struggling to recover from injury & Roosevelt Smart reneged
5- Evansville - lotsa praise for Mockevicius not so much for Ballentine - wonder why?
6- Indiana State
7- Drake
8- Missouri State
9- SIU
10- Bradley - expected this but of course they only mention Warren Jones
All Conference....
Ron Baker - Selected as PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Devaughn Akoon-Purcell
Fred Van Vleet
Egidijus Mockevicius
Milton Doyle
That's it - sorry if it bores ya, but we kinda cover the preview magazines every year - this year really IS the worst MVC coverage I have ever seen.
If it wasn't for Wichita, heck, we'd have probably gotten less coverage than most DIII teams - but then maybe we have this coming after where our crew has guided us the past 4-5 years...
If you have any questions, PM me...
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