The top half of the league have pretty good records. Pick a team, break down their schedule and tell us, contender or pretender.

Missouri St.
Illinois St.
Wichita St.
No. Iowa
S. Illinois

(12-10-2009 09:15 AM)RoyalShock Wrote:  The top half of the league have pretty good records. Pick a team, break down their schedule and tell us, contender or pretender.

Missouri St.
Illinois St.
Wichita St.
No. Iowa
S. Illinois

Not sure why SIU is even on the list. The only guarantee I know is that UNI is a contender. The jury is still out with MSU and ISU Red. I want to see MSU's 4 game road trip coming up and then ISU start playing conference games. Wichita St seems to be playing pretty well, but I'm still not sold on them.

I took the top five teams in the current standings. I do think SIU can be a wildcard this year.

UNI- is a proven winner
SIU- looks to be a bit unstable
WSU- looks good at times and so so at others
Illinois State- hard to tell with all of the cupcakes
Missouri State- need to keep the swagger going...very young team,the road will tell the tale

MSU- It will be tough going for the Bears starting with the UNI game. Pretender.

Redbirds- There normal weak schedule doesn't prepare them for the tough games but they are a contender

WSU- Weaker schedule than they normally have but showing a lot of athleticism. Contender

UNI- Personnel speaks for themselves. Contender

SIU- I don't see that much improvement from last year. Pretender.

Missouri State -- Pretender. They are young, and have bright days ahead. They play well at home, but I see them struggling come conference season.

Illinois State -- Who knows. My 4 friends and I can beat many of the teams they have. We won't know much about them til conference season, but can't downplay the talent they have individually, just how well they are going to play together when the going gets tough.

Wichita State -- Contender. Could be pretender. Main view is blowing out two non-conference opponents on the road, something that they haven't been able to do recently. They seemed to play down to their opponents (2 game losing streak to UMKC) and squeak by. If they get cocky like they did after playing Georgetown and Michigan State close in Orlando, they could again start 0-6 in league.

Northern Iowa -- "THE" Contender. Got their dose of reality, and seems to have come to the realization this isn't going to be a cakewalk back to the dance just because they return 5 starters. They are the team to beat til someone beats them in Cedar Falls.

Southern Illinois -- Pretender. They have lots of individual talent, but their coach has not proven he can develop the players into the system that existed, or develop a new one of his own. They seem to be a team without an identity. If they figure it out and play together, they definitely can be dangerous, I just don't think it happens this year.

Contender: UNI

Pretenders: Everyone else

(12-10-2009 10:36 PM)Nicknay Wrote:  Contender: UNI

Pretenders: Everyone else

For now, what he said. I believe CU will recover. I believe WSU will contend but until I see evidence on the floor against strong competition, I remain skeptical.

It is certainly possible that I will have a vastly different opinion on Christmas.

CU could be in recovery for some time.

After getting a trusted account of how Missouri State played at Arkansas State, I stick with my prediction they are a year away.

They remind me a lot of the Shockers last year after playing tough at home and neutral then Valley time came and they got lost.

I may be wrong, and they will win some games they aren't supposed to, but will lose some they aren't supposed to also.

Say what you want, but the game tonight and the game against tulsa are games that Hinson's BEST teams would have lost.

This team is tough as nails. Period.

(12-12-2009 11:22 PM)Downtown Shocker Brown Wrote:  After getting a trusted account of how Missouri State played at Arkansas State, I stick with my prediction they are a year away.

They remind me a lot of the Shockers last year after playing tough at home and neutral then Valley time came and they got lost.

I may be wrong, and they will win some games they aren't supposed to, but will lose some they aren't supposed to also.

Interesting you would get that info considering I read Ark State fans saying we were the best team they had played and they said we were better than both Memphis and Ole Miss. I thought we played well especially considering we played our bench most of the 2nd half since we had 4 guys get 3 fouls early in the 2nd half.

I will tell you one thing...we aren't a year away from being a tough at home

I dont think Missouri state is ready to compete for a conference title just yet, i think there a year away from that aspect. But they are surely are a top 4 or 5 team in the valley.

While experience would tell us a team like MSU, with a 2nd-year coach with lots of new players, isn't going to contend for a league championship, they are one-upping the wisdom by doing better on the court than any other MVC team. While I, too, suspect they'll finish 3-5 (an improvement from my last prediction), I can't honestly discard the possibility they will contend. We'll know after their first 3 MVC games (UE, ISU red and UNI).

(12-14-2009 12:20 PM)RoyalShock Wrote:  While experience would tell us a team like MSU, with a 2nd-year coach with lots of new players, isn't going to contend for a league championship, they are one-upping the wisdom by doing better on the court than any other MVC team. While I, too, suspect they'll finish 3-5 (an improvement from my last prediction), I can't honestly discard the possibility they will contend. We'll know after their first 3 MVC games (UE, ISU red and UNI).

It is pretty amazing start for a team that has 3 newcomers in its starting line up.

Weems is a player and Creekmore seemed like he could be a solid inside presence with a few more pounds. It will be intersting to get to know the whole new backcourt that Zo has brought to town.

Bears are acting like they don't want to wait another year for their chance to be in the mix.

Coming into the season I was hoping just to get out of the play in game...so far so good but it is a LONG season. We are MUCH better than last year at this time but how much better is TBD once Valley play starts. As I said we will be tough at home just because we shoot it so good there BUT the Valley road is a different animal...just nice to be back in the discussion especially since we only have 1 senior who comes off the bench.

Concerning our newcomers starting - Adam Leonard is new but he has started 60+ DI games and hit over 170 treys at E. Kentucky in 2yrs plus played in the NCAA tournament...the only thing he is new to is our team. Jermaine Mallett is a juco but it was a military juco and he plays nothing like a normal juco player...under control, takes good shots most of the time and is just a very good all around player 8pts 5rbs 3ast 44% from three and 86% FT.

The real key for us is our depth...10-11 guys averaging double digit minutes and we have had games where our bench has scored as many or more pts than our starters.

After watching the Redbirds tonight I have changed my mind about them.

(12-16-2009 08:53 PM)tropicalshox Wrote:  After watching the Redbirds tonight I have changed my mind about them.

this

I think WSU can now be placed pretty firmly i the "contender" category. WSU's 2 post players just went off for 30+ points against Texas Tech.

Until I see CU crash during league play, they have to be considered a contender.

I think MSU's players will hit a wall and fade. At least no one out of the MSU camp is making noise about going undefeated for the entire season. That didn't work well when IlSU started hot last year.

Weems is from Turgeon's home town, and Turgeon never even sniffed in his direction. That just seems odd.

Actually Aargh, Turgeon did recruit Weems but never pulled the trigger with an offer. Based on everything I'd read/heard from up there I didn't blame him. But he's turned out to be a hell of a player and Turgeon appears to have missed out.