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[UNIGrainer]

Thank goodness for Wichita they didn't still have the MVC holding them back or they never would have been able to pull off that comeback.

One of the nice things about Creighton and Wichita leaving the league is that they were the only two teams in the conference I didn't really care for. I would root for them to help the league when playing OOC, but only begrudgingly. Now I can root for all ten teams in peace.

Still think we should add Murray State and go 11 though.

[DownGoesKansas]

Watching that game has only solidified that fouling is going to be a major concern for Koch. Even when you don't foul, fouls are being called. Hopefully Koch can get to their Center first.

Having Phyfe healthy (hopefully) should be a big boost as well

[orangetennis]

Has anyone heard anything on Wyatt lately?

[CyCarp]

Has anyone heard anything on Wyatt lately?

Not sure about Wyatt (other than all injured players made the trip), but there's a video on the teams Facebook page showing Spencer on an elliptical. That doesn't put as much pressure on his ankle as running does, but a good sign regardless.

[unipanthers8907]

Has anyone heard anything on Wyatt lately?

I was listening to the radio broadcast of the Chicago State game for a few minutes last weekend and Rima said he had talked to Wyatt and he said he was "slowly improving". Rima was speculating that he might be back in the next couple weeks.

At this point, I think I'd be happy if he was back to 100% for the start of MVC play

[achrist70]

Typically a "full" recovery from turf toe takes 2-3 weeks, so Wyatt should be back soon I would think, but I'm sure we are not rushing him back as it is one of those injuries that if not fully healed can be a repeat injury. But I do believe that he was also a player on an elliptical.

[BCPanther]

Correct.

Wyatt and Spencer were side by side in that video. Wouldn't be shocked if they tried to get Wyatt a few minutes this week.

[UNI11]

The optimism in this thread concerns me. I really like this team... but we are relying on two seniors who have been extremely inconsistent for 3 years, a (stud) true freshman, and lingering injury issues. If all the pieces come together we are going to be dangerous... but don't let this Thanksgiving tournament define the season already.

[achrist70]

While I don't disagree with your statement about Klint and Bennett being inconsistent, I also think that if you look at many players who you could define as inconsistent over their first 3 years play with some consistency as seniors. Deon, Marvin, Buss all come to mind. I also think that with Klint we look to much at scoring for consistency, he impacts the game often times through getting others involved more then scoring. Now it is important that he doesn't shoot 2/45 from 3 point like he did last year, but I would bet that both continue to have very good years.

As for the rest of the team, if we are able to get fully healthy we have more depth then anyone in the conference especially in the back court. That is what excites me, more and more college basketball is dominated by great guard play, two years ago we played with 4 guards on the floor for most of the season and I think you will see more of that not only from us but other teams, and having quality depth in the backcourt is what I think carries this team.

I know it is only November and I think this year will help us forget about last year.

[hoopfan]

Watching that game has only solidified that fouling is going to be a major concern for Koch. Even when you don't foul, fouls are being called. Hopefully Koch can get to their Center first.

it would be great if this board could accept that 98% of the time that Bennett is called for a foul that he did actually foul somebody. I don't understand how this even became an issue with the fan base during his career? I haven't been on Iowa's message board, but this board is starting to read exactly how I expect the Iowa board to read. Every game thread turns into constant griping about the officiating. All game threads might as well start to be summed up with the following questions and answer: Did UNI win? Yes, we were the better team. Did UNI win? No, they got screwed by the officials and couldn't overcome it.

I'll agree that sometimes an officiating crew has a bad game, but if you ask this board, it's been 3 years since we've had an officiating crew who has had a good game.

[kochrab]

I think we have to factor in that we have many other players this year who are actually scoring on a more consistent basis. With Isaiah, McCloud, Pickford, Haldeman and a few others actually contributing in a game, it takes TONNNSSS of pressure off of Bennett and Klint to force shots up to score. That was a consistent problem last year because we had someone who could score like crazy, but if he didn't the rest of the team had to scramble to do so. I know we've played cupcakes so far, but as opposed to years past it feels like this team is gelling more quickly. We have also had 3 double digit offensive rebound performances. When's the last time that happened?

[achrist70]

it would be great if this board could accept that 98% of the time that Bennett is called for a foul that he did actually foul somebody. I don't understand how this even became an issue with the fan base during his career? I haven't been on Iowa's message board, but this board is starting to read exactly how I expect the Iowa board to read. Every game thread turns into constant griping about the officiating. All game threads might as well start to be summed up with the following questions and answer: Did UNI win? Yes, we were the better team. Did UNI win? No, they got screwed by the officials and couldn't overcome it.

I'll agree that sometimes an officiating crew has a bad game, but if you ask this board, it's been 3 years since we've had an officiating crew who has had a good game.

I do not disagree that this board complains about officiating, I am one of the biggest complainers. However, being a high school official I do know a thing or two about officiating basketball. While Bennett does pick up his share of stupid fouls he also seems to pick up many fouls that are not called on other players, whether it be UNI players or the other team. I do not know if it is body type or what, but Bennett can get abused and nothing called but then he is straight up (a legitimate straight up not what players think is straight up) and gets called for a foul. I remember in the A&M game two years ago he clearly got hit right in the face on a layup and nothing, same with the past two North Carolina games he has gotten fouled repeatedly with nothing called and then picked up ticky tac fouls. Overall I would say most crews that UNI get do a decent job but what ever it is Bennett has never been a fan of the officials. Again this is coming from someone who officiates the game.

[domedays]

it would be great if this board could accept that 98% of the time that Bennett is called for a foul that he did actually foul somebody. I don't understand how this even became an issue with the fan base during his career? I haven't been on Iowa's message board, but this board is starting to read exactly how I expect the Iowa board to read. Every game thread turns into constant griping about the officiating. All game threads might as well start to be summed up with the following questions and answer: Did UNI win? Yes, we were the better team. Did UNI win? No, they got screwed by the officials and couldn't overcome it.

I'll agree that sometimes an officiating crew has a bad game, but if you ask this board, it's been 3 years since we've had an officiating crew who has had a good game.

I am totally on board with not whining about referees, but it does seem like things are being called tighter down low this year. Which would not seem to be good news if your big is foul prone. If this is a point of emphasis this season, it could be hard on Koch. The good news is we have Phyfe to back him up.

[anderjao]

Thank goodness for Wichita they didn't still have the MVC holding them back or they never would have been able to pull off that comeback.

Can we honestly say the Valley wasn't holding WSU back? Last year they were phenomenal, almost knocked Kentucky out of the tourney, and everyone was saying they had to win the MVC tournament to dance. This year they're in a new conference with THE SAME EXACT TEAM and they're preseason #7!! If that isn't proof that the Valley was holding them back in the eyes of pollers and the NCAA Committee, I don't know what is!

And it's not just them; the Valley has often held us back too! We have to load our non-conference schedule with the country's top teams, beat them, and crush the Valley to have a hope at an at-large bid! Even when we beat the overall #1 team in the country (UNC) and should have been a sweet-sixteen team two years ago, a five-game losing streak in the Valley is all it took to lose any hope at an at-large. Even when we beat KU and were clearly one of the best teams in the country, we got a 9 seed because of one loss to Evansville. The Valley is full of can't-afford-to-lose games and very few resume-builders. It absolutely held WSU back and holds us back, and if we got an invitation to the American, our AD would give up his right arm to host UConn and Cincinnati in the McLeod Center every year.

I think we have a ton of potential on our team. But I'm not getting my hopes up for this season. Our senior bigs are getting ridiculously out-rebounded by a (stud) freshman guard. They've been inconsistent for their whole careers, and I'm not ready to say they've turned a corner after 30-point wins over a DIII team and one of the worst D1 teams when Bennett got benched against UNC-Pembrook because he didn't want to play.

I want this team to prove me wrong. I want Koch to stay on the court and dominate the double team. I want Carlson to keep making shots and stop chucking up bricks from the 3. I want to see our guards drive to the basket consistently and take smart shots. And I want to believe that Phyfe is going to develop into an offensive threat, especially for the future of this team. Most of all, I want to see grind-it-out, defensive UNI basketball. But until I see it against quality opponents, I'm not gonna get my hopes up too high for this year.

[clenz]

Oh I'm watching this game and I'm loving it. With how highly ranked the MVC is this year, I'm fully convinced that WSU was holding the league back. And I'm only mostly joking about that.

To touch on this now that I'm at a computer.

It sounds stupid to say WSU held the MVC back because they were as good as they were. The exposure and all that came from them. HOWEVER, as a conference it's entirely possible their presence did hold much of the conference back. The attitude that came from Wichita, especially after CU left, could easily be argued as holding the conference back.

If you read MVCFans.com - or even Valleytalk in the olden days - it was clear the type of attitude WSU and CU had towards the conference. Go back a decade and you had UNI, SIU, Bradley, CU and WSU all pushing forward together. SIU and Bradley fell on hard times and WSU and CU decided to take an us vs them attitude at that point. They made sure to do everything they could to separate themselves from being associated with the "rest of us". Especially the last few years that divisive attitude really came to the front. It started created animosity between fans. Everyone hated WSU fans but rather than it being everyone vs WSU, they (their fans and even coaches/admin) had a hell of a time really making sure that it became everyone vs everyone. Their presence caused fan bases to turn on each other. You could see the issues Marshall's attitude caused within the coaching ranks. It started to do the same in terms of animosity between the various staffs, media members, etc... The entire atmosphere around the Valley became toxic. It got so toxic that we all started to lose sight of the things that bind us together - like building a better conference through common goals.

It's pretty incredible now that WSU is gone - at least 98% gone from MVCfans - how the entire attitude to each other has shifted. It seems - from the media days, conference calls, quotes from coaches and even media guys on twitter - that there is a sense of "us" in the conference now. It seems like the ability to work together towards a goal of driving forward. We can see that with the addition of Valpo and not UN-O, UMKC, UIC...which would have been the add a few years back. We can see that as fans when the conference goes "We want 12 to make the conference stronger and more stable" but they are going to take time to properly vet teams vs a quick reaction "LET'S ADD TEAM X AND Y" - like we did with Loyola. Valpo has come in and fared better than I expected in most sports. They still aren't a top half valley athletic department but for year 1 I have been impressed so far given the level they were stepping up.

As fan bases, and schools, we can argue the merrits of SCHOOL X vs SCHOOL Y and public/private football/non-football. Those are still some pretty serious things to discuss, but it seems there is a common goal and approach being taken.

So yes, it sounds incredibly stupid to say WSU held the MVC back, but it's entirely possible that there was a net negative result of dealing with WSU.