MVC Bracket

[uninisg]

1-Wichita State
2-Southern Illinois
3-Missouri State
4-Creighton
5-Bradley
6-UNI
7-Drake
8-Indiana State
9-Illinois State
10-Evansville

[Newsbreaker]

So we get MSU, not SIU as previously posted, correct?

[uninisg]

yep thats what is looks like it us

[Newsbreaker]

Have gametimes been announced?

[uninisg]

http://www.mvc.org/mbb/mbb_bracket.pdf

[uninisg]

it looks like we will be playing at 8:35pm on Friday

[Newsbreaker]

So I see....Danke Schoen!

[uninisg]

on valley talk they have it like this
1 Wichita State 14-4
2 Southern Illinois 12-6*
3 Missouri State 12-6*
4 Creighton 12-6*
5 Bradley 11-7#
6 Northern Iowa 11-7#
7 Evansville 5-13@
8 Drake 5-13@
9 Indiana State 4-14@
10 Illinois State 4-14@

we might have messed up the bottom 4 seeds, but that doesn't matter all the much

[UNI Prof]

The bracket sets up pretty well for us. I hope we play a good one against SMS.

[unifan]

Even though we have the #6 seed, the draws aren't that bad for UNI. Should be fun!!

[merkpanthers]

It's not a bad draw, but we really need to get our heads on straight and go after every team we play in St. Louis with some urgency. Our playoff destination is on the line!!! I personally think we need 2 wins for a NCAA lock. Let's go out and play a great game against MSU! Go Panthers!!

[PantherHawk]

Remember

What seed were we when we ran the table? I can't remember i got a bad memory, but we can beat SMS if we play right and we can beat So. ILL too. I look at it, we got a pretty decent road if we play like the team we are, we should be in the finals and in the NCAA's come Next sunday! Come on Panthers, lets get ir done. we are on the middle on the bubble, we win one we are close, we win 2 we are in, we win 3 no doubt about it.

[BCPanther]

We were the 2 seed when we won the tourney in 2004. We were the 4 seed when we got to the title game in 1994.

[Mudrafan]

Not a bad draw? Are you kidding me? Bradley & Miss St are playing the best basketball in the Valley right now. If we bow out in the first round & it's more likely we will based on the way the two teams are playing...we will be NIT bound. It is stunning that things have melted down this quickly. The only good news is that I would think Mac's stock has dropped accordingly. That might be the only good news in all of this.

[4N6]

The Season and St. Louis

I feel like getting a few things off my chest. First of all, it was exciting to see UNI at the top of pre-season Missouri Valley polls. Truthfully, with all the guns we had coming back from last year, most felt the Cats deserved it. Others, including myself, knew that the season would be proven on the hardwood, not in the prognasticator's minds. Anyone thinking that Ben Jacobsen wouldn't be wearing a target on his back all year would have been ignoring the obvious.

That in itself opened up other options. Stout and Coleman took off strong, and the rest of the league probably wondered prior to every game just how they were going to shut down not just one, but both of them. Stout's double-doubles amazed me. Threads just a week or so earlier had him as a dark-horse for conferencce POY. It was fun reading.

Crawford went down and the Cats lost one in his absense. A tremendous effort, considering the level of competition in the conference. Top 25 ranking. Amazing how far they have come. Then, it starts. A few losses, Brookes-bashing, second guessing the Coach, etc. All the markings of typical late-season-swoon talk taking place all around the country at other Universities.

So what do I really think? I think the Panthers are a bunch of over-achieving better-than-average basketball players from the Mid and Upper-Midwest who play very well together under a Coach who seems to bring out the best in them. I think that this season has brought me lots of fun while watching and listening to this team, while watching their star quality rise, while listening to "band wagon" members from the state take notice, all the while knowing that March will bring the end to basketball for most teams. It's a game, but a fun one at that, one that I simply can't live without during the season.

I'm looking forward to St. Louis. I'm just a crazy 52 year old fan who just last week stood in front of the South bleachers at the Dome late in the game and encouraged the students - many of which probably wondered if I was crazy. (Some of you maybe remember the scene.) But, I know too that after St. Louis, and after the NCAA's, the season will be over. This has been far too good a season to end it with "what-if's", player bashing, and second guessing the coach. Look for me in St. Louis. I'll be there early on Friday, stayig for the duration. I'm a basketball junkie, and to me ... this is JUST entertainment.