*2019-20 other games of interest*

[clenz]

Loyola is a Thursday night team.
They are not good - yes, I realize things can change.

Krutwig is not in shape, at all.
Brennan Cougill thinks Krut needs to cut the carbs and increase cardio
Jordan Eglseder thinks Krut needs to do some vertical training.

I know he's been effective through the first couple games, but man he looks like he's going the wrong way physically pretty quickly

Valpo also looks like a early candidate for Thursday night. I know what the score from last night is but I spent my entire night watching the three MVC games (not MSU). Valpo doesn't look improved at all. They trailed/struggled for much of that game.

[Trapped in California]

Props to the ACES. A win over Kentucky basketball is always worthy of praise in this and most eras. Tougher teams in the MVC are a good thing.

[BCPanther]

Porter misses Bryan Mullins something fierce. They can't defend anymore. So now they play slow AND inefficient. That's a bad, bad combo.

Coppin State hadn't won a non-conference road game since 2013. 73 losses in a row.

[GoPanthers85]

Based on what the announcers were saying, it sounds like it was more of a Kentucky loss than an Evansville win. Regardless, I think it's safe to say that they're better than expected.

I was able to watch most of the game and Kentucky had zero interest in playing defense or boxing out. It looked like they were just trying to out athlete EU. Great win for the valley!

[clenz]

I think that win was more about Kentucky not respecting UE and not coming in with the right mindset and then not being able to shift out of fist gear

but

that doesn't matter. They got that win. That's a freaking massive win. It's a fantastic win. I will do nothing to take away from that at all. Nor should anyone else.

[UNIAlum95]

I think that win was more about Kentucky not respecting UE and not coming in with the right mindset and then not being able to shift out of fist gear

but

that doesn't matter. They got that win. That's a freaking massive win. It's a fantastic win. I will do nothing to take away from that at all. Nor should anyone else.

I think Lucas O'rear had a quote about that exact phenomena...

[SteinPizza]

I was able to watch most of the game and Kentucky had zero interest in playing defense or boxing out. It looked like they were just trying to out athlete EU. Great win for the valley!

And most of the time, out athleting someone works. Evansville has to have a least a decent talent level to win a game against a Kentucky type team. EU probably isn’t win the MVC talented, but at least talented enough to hang in and win a game like this. Put another way, schemes and such don’t win games by themselves, players do.

[JD720]

Far too early to even make mention of this, but according to Torvik, the MVC is the 9th best conference right now, behind the usual Power 6, and the always 7th place American, and the WCC Fightin' Zags. And the gap between MVC and WCC is actually very narrow, if MSU and Bradley didn't lay an egg on opening night we'd probably be ahead. In fact, we're closer to the American than 10th place is to us. In case you're curious, 10th is MWC, 11th is MAC, and then 12th is the A-10.

But again, it's still very, very early. These things change. And there looks to be a decent chunk of L's on the upcoming valley schedule. Here's hoping for a good showing.

Side note, Torvik is way better than Kenpom and here's three pieces of evidence. One, we're 66th in Torvik compared to 101 in Kenpom. Two, Torvik is free compared to Kenpom. Three, Torvik gave E-ville a 3x better chance of beating UK than Kenpom (3% to 1%). Bingo bongo, I rest my case.

He also has us favored in every Valley game. Again, WAY too early, but he (or his model) is high on UNI. It projects us at 14-4; 3 games clear of Bradley and Mo State.

http://barttorvik.com/team.php?team=Northern+Iowa

http://barttorvik.com/conf.php?conf=MVC

[sevelev711]

St Joes went and beat UConn in their gym, so that loss Bradley took probably won't end up too bad. Not great, but not "wtf" levels of bad.

[Wxcpanther]

St Joes went and beat UConn in their gym, so that loss Bradley took probably won't end up too bad. Not great, but not "wtf" levels of bad.

Also, Old Dominion beat St.Joes, sooo bonus!

[sevelev711]

Far too early to even make mention of this, but according to Torvik, the MVC is the 9th best conference right now

Still early but MVC is actually 7th right now lol. It goes Big 12, ACC, Big East, Pac 12, SEC, Big 10, MVC, WCC, MAC, and American for the top 10. It absolutely will not hold. It just won't. But if it did, it'd be awfully tough to keep an at-large out so long as that at-large only has 6 or 7 losses.

[sevelev711]

They've only played two games, and they've won both by a somewhat comfy margin, but I don't completely hate this teams chances against West Virginia (mountain mama). If that game ends up being a defensive slugfest like a lot of UNI games are, it'll be a one or two possession game towards the end. I don't think UNI should be favored or anything, but as long as they don't lay an egg on offense, it'll be close.

['70 Grad]

If the Mountaineers do their usual pressing, we've got a lot of work to do on press-breaking - like usual.

[sivert]

Watched some Colorado. Their only game was the one they played in Shanghai. Their 5 is a big beefy guy who’s a really good shot. And they have a really quick guard. Will be tough.

[Leatherhelmet]

West Virginia is not Press Virginia this year, they have a 6-9 freshman Oscar Tsheibwe who had 17 boards and 20 points in a win at Pitt last night...in his 2nd college game. They also have 6-10 Culver probably top returning rebounder in the Big 12. Good news is they have a ton of new players so hopefully they will turn the ball over and struggle with our pace and defensive intensity. Especially catching them early in the year.