MVC Action and Lines - 12/29

[Panther789]

Creighton -1 vs. UNI

Drake -1 vs. Bradley

Illinois State -1.5 vs. Wichita State

SIU - 7 vs. Indiana State

Missouri State -3.5 @ Evansville

Should be a fun night and a fun year.

[CyCarp]

Re: MVC Action and Lines - 12/29

I'll take UNI, Wichita St, Bradley and MO St. I'll just skip over that So Illi game...

[Panther789]

Re: MVC Action and Lines - 12/29

I have a hard time imagining someone other than UNI receiving at-large consideration come March.

MSU, WSU, and ISU red could get into the picture, but I don't see any of them doing better than 12-6, and that just wont be enough.

What a win for UNI. Big road wins are tough to come by, and we just got one of the biggest.

[06panther10]

Re: MVC Action and Lines - 12/29

Weird loss for WSU last night. They seemed to have in rolling a little bit, and then they get crushed by ISU.

[Panther789]

Re: MVC Action and Lines - 12/29

Weird loss for WSU last night. They seemed to have in rolling a little bit, and then they get crushed by ISU.

I think WSU is really going to struggle away from home, and is probably a bit overrated.

They got quite a bit of recognition for beating a Texas Tech team that has overachieved to this point. However, Tech got crushed by New Mexico last night, and seems to be coming back down to earth.

I think WSU has the potential to be a Top 3 MVC team, but if we take care of business, I don't see them as a threat to win the regular season title.

[06panther10]

Re: MVC Action and Lines - 12/29

I think WSU is really going to struggle away from home, and is probably a bit overrated.

They got quite a bit of recognition for beating a Texas Tech team that has overachieved to this point. However, Tech got crushed by New Mexico last night, and seems to be coming back down to earth.

I think WSU has the potential to be a Top 3 MVC team, but if we take care of business, I don't see them as a threat to win the regular season title.

I agree, I think that they were overrated a bit, and their win over TT is not as impressive as shocker fans seem to think it is. IMO our win over Iowa St at Ames is more impressive than beating TT at home.

But I still think they are a good team, and will be top 3. I'm just surprised that an ISU team that has struggled against good teams, was able to pound WSU like that.

[Panther-Sheik]

Re: MVC Action and Lines - 12/29

Bottom line, there are a lot of dangerous teams on any given night. Gonna have to bring at least a B+ game (last night) every night to win.

[Panthers to the Bone]

Re: MVC Action and Lines - 12/29

For the Valley to get multiple bids, there needs to be clear separation of the bottom 4 teams. Look at 2006:

Wichita St. 14-4
Missouri St. 12-6
Southern Illinois 12-6
Creighton 12-6
Bradley 11-7
Northern Iowa 11-7
-----------------------
Drake 5-13
Evansville 5-13
Illinois St. 4-14
Indiana St. 4-14

Separation is a good thing in the MVC. When you have a bunch of teams right around the .500 mark, it doesn't bode well for the MVC getting teams into the Dance. Take a look at 2008.

Drake 15-3
Illinois St. 13-5
Southern Illinois 11-7
----------------------------------
Creighton 10-8
Bradley 9-9
Northern Iowa 9-9
Missouri St. 8-10
Indiana St. 8-10
----------------------------------
Wichita St. 4-14
Evansville 3-15

When half the league is sitting at one game above/below .500 it prevents more teams from getting out of pack, and thus showing more mediocrity (fair or not). Ideally, the MVC would look like this this year.

1. UNI
2. 12 or 13 win team
3. 12 or 13 win team
4. 11 win team
5. 10-11 win team
6. 9-10 win team
7. 5 or less wins
8. 5 or less wins
9. 3 or less wins
10. 3 or less wins

Get those bottom teams to not get many wins and give those wins to teams that need it in the top half.

[Panther Alum 83]

Re: MVC Action and Lines - 12/29

That is just how the Mountain West is set up this year. 4 teams at the top and 5 at the bottom.

[ceaser150]

Re: MVC Action and Lines - 12/29

It is hard to see the MVC going back to the seperation it had in 2006. This conference is becoming more and more balanced every year. MSU this year is a perfect example. Even the teams like Drake and Evansville that do not look very good now are very young and will not stay near the bottom for long. If the MVC wants multiple bids, it will need to do better in the non-con schedule. I was a little disappointed with the performance this year.

[DrewDog]

Re: MVC Action and Lines - 12/29

Mediacom is carrying the SIU/Bradley game tonight.