2 MVC games Friday, Nov. 8

[Da Coach]

There are 2 MVC games Friday, Nov. 8-
Loyola (1-0) at Furman (1-0)- 6 pm, ESPN3
Southern Illinois (1-0) vs. Texas-San Antonio (0-1)- 6:30 pm in Sunshine Slam, Kissimmee, FL

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/scoreboard/_/group/18/date/20191108

[Da Coach]

There are 2 MVC games Friday, Nov. 8-
Loyola (1-0) at Furman (1-0)- 6 pm, ESPN3
Southern Illinois (1-0) vs. Texas-San Antonio (0-1)- 6:30 pm in Sunshine Slam, Kissimmee, FL
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba.../date/20191108

Furman leading Loyola 34-28 at halftime-

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=401173593

SIU leads UTSA early in first half-

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/scoreboard/_/group/18/date/20191108

[Da Coach]

Loyola falls at home to University of Indianapolis 65-60.
Poor shooting was Loyola's downfall. Without Marques Townes and Clayton Custer (the last 2 MVC POYs) they appear to be inconsistent on the offensive end. And their leading returning scorer and their most reliable scorer, Cameron Krutwig, only got 8 shot attempts tonight....

After Loyola's exhibition loss to University of Indianapolis, it looked like they were a different team from last year. They struggled shooting from outside, and they didn't get enough shots for their best player, Cameron Krutwig.

Tonight, They were blown out by Furman 87-63. Furman is a pretty good team from the Southern Conference (picked 3rd in their preseason poll), but again Loyola's 3-point shooting was off (28.6%), and Cameron Krutwig got only 5 shots in the game in 29 minutes. They didn't get enough scoring from their guards like we've seen in the past couple years, and they had 22 turnovers. Lucas Williamson was the only player in double figures with 18.

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=286623

[Mikovio]

Loyola has been ravaged by injuries. Kaifes is out for the year and they have a couple other contributors who should be back by conference season.

SIU won.

[Da Coach]

SIU 72 UTSA 60
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba.../date/20191108

I have noted elsewhere that Loyola lost Cooper Kaifes for the season with a hip injury. That will probably hurt their perimeter shooting somewhat.
They also lost junior college transfer point guard Keith Clemons for 4-6 weeks with a meniscus injury. It's is less clear how much that will hurt, but he will be back by the end of this month. And a 3rd player is out with a thumb injury, forward Franklin Agunanne. He was not much of a contributor last year, averaging less than 2 ppg and under 2 rpg. He and should return soon, but will be a backup again this year.

The MVC cumulative record so far is 7-3. The 3 losses have been by the #1, #2, and #4 teams in the MVC Preseason poll- Missouri State, Bradley, & Loyola.

[SycamoreFanatic]

Always like to see the league do well in the non-con but it really makes no difference when all is said and done. ONLY the MVC Tourney Champ will dance. Even a regular season champ will not get a dance date. The big guys still rule the roost with their lower half teams sucking up the bids.

[Dub]

Always like to see the league do well in the non-con but it really makes no difference when all is said and done. ONLY the MVC Tourney Champ will dance. Even a regular season champ will not get a dance date. The big guys still rule the roost with their lower half teams sucking up the bids.

Syc- it does matter, because simply qualifying for the NCAA is not the ultimate goal. Once you’ve done that, you’ll want to get a better seed the next time so you can be in a position to win games. And once you’ve won games, you have your eyes set on someday making the final four. And once you’ve done that, you’ll think heck why not a national championship. It’s important the Valley does well whether we get any at-large bids or not because you want the valley rep to be in a position to go deep, not just qualify.

[Da Coach]

Yes, every game played in the 2019 NCAA Tournament (even the First Four games) earned about $1.8 million for the teams and their conferences.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/03/...pple-and-more/

That number is expected to rise again in 2020, probably close to $2 million. So basically, in 2020, each win, which allows a team to advance and play an additional game, is worth an additional $2 million on top of the $2 million for winning the first round game. That is why seeding can be extremely important to a team from a mid-major conference like the MVC. Just look at the numbers.... teams seeded #16 seed (1-139 vs #1 seeds), & #15 seed (8-132 vs. #2 seeds) win rarely, and #14 seed (21-119 vs. #3 seeds), & #13 (win 21% of the time over #4 seeds) seeds just don't win very often against seeds 1, 2, 3, and 4.
But the odds of winning increase significantly if those teams can get a #12 seed (50-90 vs. #5 seeds or win 36% of the time) or a #11 seed (52-88 vs. #6 seeds, and 4 of those #11 seeds have made it to the Final Four including Loyola in 2018 ).
And that NCAA Basketball Tournament pool money really means a heck of a lot more to those mid-major schools who don't get massive revenues from BCS football. It can make the difference that allows schools like Butler, Gonzaga, and even past MVC members like Creighton and Wichita State to climb up out of the usual mid-major mold and become successful and financially wealthy teams year after year (even without football).
On the other hand, the big boys really don't want to see that happen, and they especially don't want to share that revenue with the mid-majors. They will keep trying to find ways to increase the total pool, but keep as much as possible for themselves.