Another Valley Basher Going Down ??

[tornado]

First Billy Packer and Digger Phelps were forced to eat crow and admit they were wrong about the Valley.

But there are a couple more BIG TIME Valley bashers who are about to get their due.

First Jim Nance was a pretty vocal basher of the Valley and its 4 NCAA bids, and he's kinda sidestepped the issue ever since, but....
I found out that Jim Nance is a graduate of University of Houston and is big-time buddies with present Houston coach Tom Penders......Nance has never revealed his incredible bias and less than objective viewpoint on the Valley issue but read on....

Tom Penders is the coach of Houston, and as the coach of the 4th place team in Conference USA, he thinks he has a powerful position from which to bash the Valley.

Penders was in the press non-stop a wwek or so ago ripping the selection committee and the Valley for what he saw as too many bids and a clear unfairness towards the Valley.
Here are some of Penders' statements:

http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060319/SPORTS0401/603190407/1096

http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2006/03/04/news/breaking_news/doc4409d3efd27e5538774717.txt

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/3676344.html

Penders said:
"I don't know who's talking about that (five or six bids) and in what bar (the discussions are being held)," said Cougars' coach Tom Penders. "There are at least three teams in that league that I think have a legitimate (claim to an NCAA berth). I don't know about four or five or whatever.

"I think we hold up against any of their (teams)," Penders added. "I don't want to belittle theirs, but I'm just saying that if there are legitimately three or four Missouri Valley teams that are being considered, then there definitely should be three or four from our league.

"Do we have the hype machine as a conference that maybe the Missouri Valley has been able to create? ..."


But how good is Houston, really??
The Conference USA was only the 13th best conference in RPI.
Their overall nonconference record was barely over .500 at 75-69 against the 15th best SOS among conferences.
Houston was 19-9, 9-5 in conference, and given that EIGHT of the 12 teams in the Conf-USA have RPI's of 200-300, this is hardly impressive.
There were only 2 decent teams (NCAA teams) in the CUSA this year (Memphis & UAB) and Penders lost every game this year against them. Their record is greatly inflated when you look at the fact that all 9 of their wins were against the lesser (non-NCAA teams) guys, and they even lost a couple times to the l;aughingstock teams in the league (Rice, Central Fla.), and took overtime to beat East Carolina (RPI 300!!) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.


Well, Tom Penders, time is up!!
You can't trash talk any more.
Tonight is the night, as the NIT has done us all a favor and scheduled you to play against Missouri State tonight.
Let's see if you can back up all your brash trash talking.
Or are you going down like Digger, Billy, and your buddy Jim Nance.

[Grassman]

The Cougars are going down BIG tonite against The Bears,
Book It!

[oldtiger]

Penders is an unusual guy that can sometimes say things that leave people wondering just what he meant.

The point that folks have been missing about the Valley is that no matter who you schedule, you have to actually WIN the games or it makes no difference if Einstien or Lurch did the scheduling. The Valley isn't rated highly because of scheduling geniuses, it's rated high because it has good teams that win games.

Look forward to our game Thursday.

[flipper]

i hope the bears thrash them. go valley.

[adallastiger]

Houston also beat...

Arizona, and played us really tough. They will not lose tonite...

[Brave4life]

Thats right Tigerboy...we're just the Valley. There are no dangerous basketball teams here. Don't worry about a thing, we're just a bunch of bumbling midwesterners.

Missouri doesn't stand a chance against a member of CUSA...for that matter neither does anyone else in the Valley.

We pushed our luck by beating the likes of Bucknell, Iowa, Indiana, LSU, (I'm sure I'm leaving someone out) and more recently by beating Kansas, Seton Hall, Tennessee, and Pitt...we should probably just bow out while we're still ahead. We shouldn't play in the NIT either...Houston played the Tigers "tough" and there is no way that someone who lost to Memphis would lose to a Valley team.

Gosh what were we thinking...

[tornado]

Houston is a good team, but their schedule pales in comparison to the schedule of many of the MVC teams.
They are 3-7 against the Top 100 teams in the country, but since
December 3, 2005, their record against teams in the top 100 is
1-6, and 12 of their wins this season have come against either non-D-I teams or 200+ RPI teams!!! TWELVE!!!!

So against teams under RPI 200, it's 7-8 and even worse in the last 2 months.

I'm not saying they can't win tonight againt Missouri State, all I am saying is that if they lose it will absolutely NOT surprise me.

[oldtiger]

Thats right Tigerboy...we're just the Valley. There are no dangerous basketball teams here. Don't worry about a thing, we're just a bunch of bumbling midwesterners.

Missouri doesn't stand a chance against a member of CUSA...for that matter neither does anyone else in the Valley.

We pushed our luck by beating the likes of Bucknell, Iowa, Indiana, LSU, (I'm sure I'm leaving someone out) and more recently by beating Kansas, Seton Hall, Tennessee, and Pitt...we should probably just bow out while we're still ahead. We shouldn't play in the NIT either...Houston played the Tigers "tough" and there is no way that someone who lost to Memphis would lose to a Valley team.

Gosh what were we thinking...

Who are you talking to? .....and who are you calling Tigerboy?

[BengalBurger]

Penders is an unusual guy that can sometimes say things that leave people wondering just what he meant.

The point that folks have been missing about the Valley is that no matter who you schedule, you have to actually WIN the games or it makes no difference if Einstien or Lurch did the scheduling. The Valley isn't rated highly because of scheduling geniuses, it's rated high because it has good teams that win games.

Look forward to our game Thursday.

Brave4life>>> did you miss that point? Every CUSA fan i talk to is "giddy" over the number of non-"Power 6" teams that have advanced this far in the tourney. let's not derail legitimate Bball discussion with petty bickering about MVC v. CUSA - on some level we are pulling for the same team(s) to win - non-Power6 teams.

as for the game on Thursday, we are diametrically opposed to one another. I hear you have a 7 foot ogre that can shoot. Can your guys run a marathon in 40 minutes? because that's what this game is going to be about. RUN, RUN, RUN. oh, and DEFEND, DEFEND, DEFEND. the spread is a meager 6-7 points, so i would say your team is getting some respect now. should be an interesting game, if you can keep up.

[user1]

...
.... Can your guys run a marathon in 40 minutes? because that's what this game is going to be about. RUN, RUN, RUN. oh, and DEFEND, DEFEND, DEFEND.

Can UAB do this stuff?
Didn't they beat Memphis, then get a far better seed than Bradley did, and then get knocked out in the very first round of the NCAA Tourney?

[BengalBurger]

...
.... Can your guys run a marathon in 40 minutes? because that's what this game is going to be about. RUN, RUN, RUN. oh, and DEFEND, DEFEND, DEFEND.

Can UAB do this stuff?
Didn't they beat Memphis, then get a far better seed than Bradley did, and then get knocked out in the very first round of the NCAA Tourney?

yeah, they could. and yes, they beat us - one out of three times (the only time it didn't really "count" for much).
it was an honest question - if i was a betting man (and i am not) - i would stay away from this spread, because this is going to be a great game. I just happen to think the Tigers will stay and get the "W".

[dogsrus]

Brave4life.....oldtiger has come in peace. lets show him some respect. He's NOT coming to bash....

[oldtiger]

...
.... Can your guys run a marathon in 40 minutes? because that's what this game is going to be about. RUN, RUN, RUN. oh, and DEFEND, DEFEND, DEFEND.

Can UAB do this stuff?
Didn't they beat Memphis, then get a far better seed than Bradley did, and then get knocked out in the very first round of the NCAA Tourney?

UAB played us really tough two of the three times we met. They are an extremely well coached defensive team with arms and legs reaching into every possible passing lane.

This is going to be a great matchup between two very well coached and talented teams. You guys come from a much tougher league than we do, but our OOC schedule was stronger. Two very good teams. Perhaps we can swap descriptions of perceived strengths and weaknesses Tue-Wed. I was impressed with your effort against Pitt.

[tornado]

Tiger fans, there is no BU fan who is naive enough to ignore the fact of the rankings and seedings.
We know that the vast majority of people view Memphis as a stronger team overall with a better record.

But it comes down to one game and I think it will be close.
The only team that can really beat Bradley is Bradley.
When BU plays their game, they have been able to run with even the ranked teams and beaten them.

I am happy for the opportunity to play Memphis.
When I first heard BU would be playing Kansas.
I didn't say, "oh no, we have to play the hottest team in the country". Instead, I said that I and the BU players would welcome the chance to play against the best there is!



By the way, Pitt was heavily favored to beat Bradley, and here is what their own web site now says:

""They weren't intimidated at all," Pitt forward Levon Kendall said. "They were in our face the whole game."

Playing in their school-record fifth straight NCAA tournament, the Panthers looked like nervous kids against the newcomers from Bradley. They committed careless turnovers, missed free throws and lost their composure throughout the game. Krauser, playing in his ninth NCAA tournament game, came unglued several times and Gray picked up a technical foul in the second half when he slammed the ball to the court after being whistled for a five-second call.

http://pittsburghpanthers.collegesports.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/031906aaa.html

And many comments about the Kansas game were similar, that Bradley was the aggressor and took control, even though KU was the hottest team in the nation!

[oldtiger]

Brave4life.....oldtiger has come in peace. lets show him some respect. He's NOT coming to bash....

Thanks, I appreciate your comments. I was a little bewildered at the direction that this thread was headed.

I'm impressed by your team and have a great deal of respect the history of Braves basketball.