You gotta love Barry Hinson...

[Panthers to the Bone]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_blogs/basketball/ncaa/2006/11/valley-isnt-fading-away.html

So much from this article is true. The camraderie from teams within the Valley rooting for each other in non-conference time is so true. You just don't hear about that kind of stuff from the BCS schools (or other conferences for that matter).

[ceaser150]

Great article. Hinson is a class act and great spokesman for the MVC. I wish them all the luck in the world outside the Valley season.

[panther2317]

Great article. I had the opportunity to work with Barry for two years in Springfield and he's such a great guy and it looks as if they're now getting the recognition they deserve. I still want to beat MSU more than any other team in the Valley, but when we're not playing them...I am a Bears fan too.

I love the Valley camraderie in the non-conference. We all know the more games that Illinois State wins in the non-conference portion of the schedule really helps all of us in the long run with conference RPI. It just makes sense.

[CR Panther]

That's a league you can take some pride in. Everyone is in the battle together and pulls for each other.

You've got to believe that the other schools are pulling for us over the next 3 games as much as Panther fans are.

[UNI MadCat]

[url]You just don't hear about that kind of stuff from the BCS schools (or other conferences for that matter).

In fairness to the BCS schools, we cheer because we need the "support" (ie - wins) of the other MVC schools in order to help our own RPI. And we bond b/c we daily have to hear the term "mid-major" and it ticks us all off. BCS schools don't have to deal with that. If Wisconsin goes 9-7 in the Big10, they are going to have a pretty good RPI and are going to the NCAAs, regardless of how Illinois did against Maryland. So, if you are like me and are a UW fan and hate Illinois, you laugh when they lose, just like I did last night.

Its a totally different mindset and I don't think it really comes down to MVC/Mid-Major fans/teams being "classier" than those of the BCS schools, its just that the Mids have to rely on their brethren more.

[joecooll6]

I think its really unique to the Valley. I knew that BCS teams didnt root for each other like we do, but apparantly neither do other mid majors. At Thanksgiving this year I was watching the Arkansas/SIU game with my cousin from Loyola-Chicago. When he saw I was rooting for SIU he said, "But arent they in your conference?", like I should be rooting against them for that reason. He then went onto talk about how he was angry that Butler (who is from the same league as ULC, I wanna say Horizon) was making that amazing NIT run and he was rooting against them against Gonzaga. I was surprised, I thought their whole conference would be behind them, but it must just be a Valley thing.

[UNI MadCat]

Honestly, I think its depends on the conference too. My guess is that you dont know that much about every conference in the country to know how they do or do not support their brethren. You are going off one example.

In truth, as a UW alum, I hate teams like Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, etc with a PASSION but when it comes down to tourney time or bowl season (when there is no chance that their game will effect UW's place in the B10 standings), I cheer for them. In fact, I know very few, heck zero, of my friends that go to B10 schools that don't cheer HARD for the B10 under these situations.

Its not unique to the valley. This is simply a nice virtue to have.

[SteinPizza]

I think its really unique to the Valley. I knew that BCS teams didnt root for each other like we do, but apparantly neither do other mid majors. At Thanksgiving this year I was watching the Arkansas/SIU game with my cousin from Loyola-Chicago. When he saw I was rooting for SIU he said, "But arent they in your conference?", like I should be rooting against them for that reason. He then went onto talk about how he was angry that Butler (who is from the same league as ULC, I wanna say Horizon) was making that amazing NIT run and he was rooting against them against Gonzaga. I was surprised, I thought their whole conference would be behind them, but it must just be a Valley thing.

Keep in mind the Valley has some history and long term stability behind it, which helps the camraderie you speak of. The Horizon league has had a lot of turnover, with teams both joining and leaving, in the last 20 years. It won't be long for the Horizon though. Once they realize they're dependant on each other for shared respect, and RPI, they'll come around. I found this interesting factiod in the league's Wikipedia entry:

In its 27 years of existence, the Horizon League has the second-best winning percentage among non-BCS conferences (.458) in the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

I agree with several others who've stated that conference comraderie is NOT unique to the Valley. I'm surrounded by alumni from most of the Big Ten schools. They all root for one another when not playing head-to-head.

[pantherclaw]

IDK, i sit between a hogeye and golden gopher fan in one of my hawkeye community college classes, and all they do is rip on each other. But i agree, when i saw that witchita state was gonna beat LSU, i was so happy. GO CATS! GO MVC!