Southern Illinois (5-9, 8-17) @ Indiana State (5-9, 14-11) - This noon tip has two teams fighting for sole possession of 8th place. SIU hasn't been good on the road and ISUb has been inconsistent everywhere. I'm glad this one won't be seen by the masses.

Prediction - ISUb by 5

Wichita State (12-2, 21-4) @ 15 Creighton (11-3, 21-4) - The game of the day is a battle for first. If Wichita wins, they just about guarantee themselves a first place finish. If Creighton wins, they could end up co-champs with only 3 more games remaining after this. How will CU handle Stutz? How will Wichita handle McD? This could be a classic and will be on ESPN2/ESPN3 for the world to see. The Link is already sold out and word is standing room only tix go on sale Saturday morning. Should be one hell of a game. Tune in at 4pm for the battle!

Prediction - Wichita by 3

Illinois State (8-6, 16-9) @ Northern Iowa (6-8, 16-10) - ISU is still in a battle for 3rd while UNI is trying to salvage what's left of their season and avoid Thursday. They're still a dangerous team and the young ISU squad still struggles a bit on the road. Could be an interesting game. This 7 o'clock tip is available on Comcast Chicago. I like what ISU has done this season.

Prediction - ISU by 4

Bradley (2-12, 7-19) @ Missouri State (8-6, 15-11) - Bradley is coming off their second win in conference play and MSU is fighting for 3rd with ISU. This really shouldn't be a contest. MSU is starting to find itself I think and BU is struggling to just get the season over. Sadly, this appears to be the MVC game of the week on Fox Sports. A 2pm tip for anyone wanting to watch the beatdown.

Prediction - MSU by 15

Evansville (7-7, 12-12) @ Drake (6-8, 13-12) - Here are two teams that are trying to avoid Thursday as well. Both are still capable of falling into the first night of Arch Madness. Neither team has much in the way of an inside game. It'll come down to who will carry their team farthest. Colt Ryan? or Rayvonte Rice and Ben Simons? This 7pm tim can be seen on ESPNU and could be a heck of a game. Simons and Ryan can both light it up when on. Rice is one of the best players in the conference. Could be fun.

Prediction - Drake by 2

Some good games against teams close in the rankings this weekend led by the Wichita/Creighton game. These two NCAA teams are fighting for first place and seeding in March. Both should be no worse than a 6 seed but I won't be surprised if the committee screws that up and makes one of them an 8 or a 9.

Also, still a lot of jockying for position in the conference tournament. Nobody wants to play on Thursday. Bradley definitely will. The loser of SIU/ISUb will. The winner still probably will. Drake, UNI and Evansville are probably the ones really fighting to stay out, but one of them will end up there. Possibly two depending on how things finish up. ISU and MSU are fighting for position. MSU may want to be on whatever side of the bracket CU is since they seem to match up well. ISU seems to play well for the most part against WSU. They also get a chance to host Wichita in the near future in what should be a great game. Important for both teams. The finish of the conference season is going to be a lot of fun!

Lets go SHOX!!

ISUb won by 10. Looks like Odom finally stepped up and had a pretty good game. For SIU, it looks like Daniels is coming along nicely and could be a nice piece to build around for the next Saluki coach.

Wichita absolutely dominated and destroyed Creighton. Going into Omaha and winning 89-68. Cu led 8-7 and then it was all Shockers after that. Stutz was in early foul trouble but the Shox stepped up and played extremely well without him. Wichita now has a 2 game lead over Creighton and has essentially wrapped up the Valley title.

UNI defended the home court and beat ISU by 15. UNI has definitely been a better home team and ISU continues to struggle on the road. ISU drops into 4th with that loss.

Missouri State takes down Bradley by 11. Ho-hum.

Drake destroyed Evansvile by 24 at home. Too bad Drake can't play all of their games at home.

It appears that seeds 1 and 2 are pretty set for STL. 10 as well. 3-9 are still in flux. What a season!