5 MVC games Wednesday, Dec.5

[Da Coach]

There are 5 MVC games tonight, Wednesday, Dec. 5-
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-bas.../date/20181205

All 5 games are on ESPN+


Also, one game of interest to some Bradley fans, UC Davis plays at Northern Illinois tonight. NIU is favored by 9 points.

Hello!

[tornado]

Every one of those five games tonight are either on the road or against a strong opponent...the Valley could conceivably go 0-5....let's hope not!
Saint Louis has wins over Butler & Seton Hall...
Western Kentucky is a Top-100 team and has beaten West Virginia
Ball State is Top-100 and has already beaten TWO MVC teams and won AT IUPUI
North Texas is also Top-100 and they are 8-1, losing only to the team with the #2 RPI, Oklahoma,
...and of course UIC beat us.

[tornado]

Halftime scores- not a lot of defense being played by Valley teams so far tonite...
UIC 54 - ISU 43 - Redbirds down to just 7 players now as Copeland apparently injured and Chastain not dressed. Hein went thru warmups but not playing.
...so - down to 7 players, giving up a whopping 54 1st half points to a team that has only 2 DI wins - once again, why were ISU people hyping this as the deepest team Muller has ever had?

North Texas 39 - Indiana State 26


but I am watching UC-Davis & Jim Les at NIU (on ESPN+)
...NIU's home court is hideous -- mostly black - and the dark skinned players wearing the dark blue UC-Davis uniforms are nearly invisible with no contrast on these broadcasts.

[Da Coach]

A couple final scores:

UIC beats Illinois State 94-75-
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-bas...meId=401089236

ISU never lead in the game while UIC lead by double-digits most of the second half and by as many as 20 points. ISU gave up 94 points as they appeared to forget how to play defense the entire game. ESPN+ announcer David Kaplan called it "an old fashioned butt whipping". UIC's Jordan Blount had 27 points, and Tarkus Ferguson had a triple double (14 pts. 11 reb. 11 asst).
For ISU, Milik Yarbrough had 30 points, but needed 20 shots, many of them bad shots, and he also had 8 turnovers. Keyshawn Evans was scoreless despite playing 32 minutes. And he now has just 2 points in his last 2 games combined, despite playing big minutes. And again, despite the tremendous depth () that we've been told ISU possesses, they played only 7 players. ISU drops to 6-4, and absorbs another blemish on the NCAA Tournament resume.

Indiana State got blasted at home by North Texas 80-69-
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-bas...meId=401089235

The game was not even as close as the final score suggests. North Texas dominated the game, never trailed, and lead by double digits through most of the first half, stretched their lead to 21 in the second half, and coasted to the 80-69 win. For Indiana State, the MVC's two top scorers- Jordan Barnes had 26 and Tyreke Key had 21, but they didn't get much from anyone else. Indiana State drops to 5-2.


And the other games are still in progress-

SIU leads St. Louis in the 2nd half in a relatively low-scoring game 35-32 with 14 minutes left in the game-
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-bas...meId=401085702

Missouri State leads Western Kentucky in the second half 44-38 with about 14 minutes left in the game-
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-bas...meId=401088559

Ball State at Loyola just getting started-
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-bas...meId=401086238

[tornado]

Tarkus Ferguson had a triple double tonight against ISU - 14 pts, 12 rebounds, 11 assists.
He has flirted many times with triple doubles - including twice in the CBI (LINK - LINK) - but this appears to be his first one

[Da Coach]

Tarkus Ferguson had a triple double tonight against ISU - 14 pts, 12 rebounds, 11 assists.
He has flirted many times with triple doubles - including twice in the CBI (LINK - LINK) - but this appears to be his first one

Yes, the announcers said it was the first triple double by a UIC player since Godwin Boahen did it against Roosevelt Univ. two seasons ago.


There are 2 more final scores in the MVC-

Southern Illinois holds on to beat St. Louis 61-56. St. Louis was picked to win the A-10 in their preseason poll, so a nice win for SIU.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=401085702

Missouri State beats Western Kentucky 84-78-

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=401088559

Loyola trails at home against Ball State 37-30 at halftime

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=401086238

[Da Coach]

Missouri State beats Western Kentucky 84-78-

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=401088559

In Missouri State's game, Former Bradley recruit Obediah Church, now a senior at Missouri State made the first 3-point basket of his career. He was 0-5 in his first 3 seasons combined, and was 0-7 for his career before tonight. But he went 1-1 from three tonight to boost his career 3-point record to 1-8 (12.5%)

[Da Coach]

Loyola loses at home to Ball State 75-69. They now 5-3-
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-bas...meId=401086238

The MVC goes 2-3 tonight, and 3-5 for the week with Drake playing at Milwaukee tomorrow night (UNI does not play this week).

[Da Coach]

The MVC looks weaker this season (currently ranks #12 in conference RPI) than last season (finished with 8th best RPI), and none of the 10 MVC teams has a quality win after most of the non-conference season, Though it's still early enough to turn things around a bit, I don't see any of the 10 teams being able to get close to being considered worthy of an at-large bid at selection time. So the conference race and the battle for seeding in the MVC Tournament should be fun, since the MVC Tournament is almost certainly the only way anyone will get a bid to the NCAA Tournament. It is going to be fun this season. There does not appear to be a clear cut "best team" like Loyola was last year. Loyola now has 4 losses and they are at RPI 132. They only had 5 losses all last season until they sustained their 6th loss in the Final Four. The other so-called favorites-
Illinois State is just 6-4 with one of the worst RPIs in the MVC. They only have 1 win against any team in the top 240 RPI, and that was a narrow win at home against RPI 168 BYU.
SIU is 6-3, and has a pretty good RPI (currently RPI 75), but still no quality wins.
Drake, picked by most to finish 9th or 10th, has the best record so far, 5-1 and the best RPI (60). Last year Drake was picked 10th by everyone, but finished tied for 3rd in the MVC, just 1 game out of 2nd place. Can Darian Devries pull off a miracle season like Nico Medved did last season? I don't see it happening.
Bradley is the only team with 7 wins, but with a couple bad losses and an RPI of 128 currently, they are not looking like a team that is going to dominate the MVC yet. But with things wide open, the chance is there.
The other 5 teams- Indiana State has the MVC's top 2 scorers, so they could surprise people, but Valparaiso (RPI 290), Missouri State (RPI 229), Evansville (RPI 294), and UNI (RPI 170) have all been a bit disappointing and none of them have winning records.
http://warrennolan.com/basketball/20...issouri-Valley

[tornado]

ISU's lack of depth means Muller is FORCED into playing some guys who should be playing fewer minutes.
And not only forced into playing them, but giving them heavy minutes...
..so their stat lines might actually look pretty good since they play heavy minutes and take 20 shots, but this is why they are losing.
The ISU fans all seem to agree but most of their threads on the game have had to be locked because of the dumpster fire, hostility and meltdown going on with their message board.

[tornado]

.... Tarkus Ferguson had a triple double

triple doubles are rare in college basketball but now we have had THREE triple-doubles in MVC games within the past 5 days!
Nick Norton had a triple-double for Drake a few days ago
Tarkus Ferguson had one against ISU last night
but also last night, Ryan Woolridge had a triple-double for North Texas against Indiana State!


one last question for any ISU fans who want to answer....
Now that it is beyond question that ISU is lacking depth, gets little help from the bench and the players they do have are overworked.

The question has to be asked - WHY DID HEAD COACH DAN MULLER RECRUIT & ENROLL SO MANY SCHOLARSHIP PLAYERS (five - Donnelly, Boyd, Hillsman, Fisher, Ndiaye) who would have to sit out this year and who were going to tie up scholarships, prevent him from landing other eligible players, take spots on the bench but were NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO PLAY and load the roster with kids who can't contribute to the team's depth? And the walkons and former walkons are not helping either.

And so far, Muller has only one player signed coming in next year who is a raw, untested, undersized guard that plays for a small school against weak competition.

[SycamoreFanatic]

About the time you begin to think you are pretty darn good and you coast just a bit and a North Texas (insert any team here) comes along and gives you a kick square in your a** reality sinks in. How you respond to that sharp lesson will determine your path through the rest of the season.

[Da Coach]

...
The question has to be asked - WHY DID HEAD COACH DAN MULLER RECRUIT & ENROLL SO MANY SCHOLARSHIP PLAYERS (five - Donnelly, Boyd, Hillsman, Fisher, Ndiaye) who would have to sit out this year and who were going to tie up scholarships, prevent him from landing other eligible players, take spots on the bench but were NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO PLAY...

This IMO was a major blunder in recruiting/scholarship management by Muller. This season was going to be the best chance Muller has had at an MVC Championship/NCAA team with quality players like Fayne, Evans, Tinsley, and Yarbrough as seniors. When all those guys are gone after this season, the window of opportunity will close somewhat and the team will require rebuilding. So logic should have dictated that he needed to use those available scholarships on recruits who could be eligible and help immediately, like with at least a couple jucos. It is not as if Dan Muller is reluctant to recruit jucos. He has recruited more jucos than any other coach in the MVC. Currently, 4 of ISU's top 6 players (Fayne, Copeland, Tinsley & Jefferson), are juco transfers, and one other (Yarbrough) is a transfer from St. Louis. Muller seems to recruit more junior college kids every year than high school kids. Yet the one year he really needed to add kids who were immediately eligible and who could contribute right away, he opted for transfers who wouldn't be eligible until 2019-20, and a prep school kid who was known to be ineligible. I think ISU fans are justified to be a little unhappy the way this season, which appeared so promising, is turning out.