And not just 5 conference games in a row, but 5 conference games played in just over a week. This was a stretch we could’ve easily had a bad loss, but blew through it.

Good point. And now we get almost a week off while Missouri State has to host Drake Tuesday and Wednesday before our game on Sunday.

We are now in a position where anything worse than a 15-3 conference finish would be a bit disappointing. That is phenomenal.

Really excited to relax and watch Missouri State and Drake battle it out this week. Both are looking to prove they belong on top with us. Part of me hopes Drake keeps winning and then we sweep them to get to Q1 wins. But I also don't want to be in a position where we both finish 16-2 and they get to "claim" a regular season ship despite us having the tiebreaker, like in 18-19.

Obviously getting WAY ahead of myself. Just really excited after a clean sweep in Peoria. Think a lot of us had this marked as a split coming into the season.

The way I always look at the Valley is that 15-3 should be good enough to win the conference most years*. Then I look at the schedule two ways to see who is on track.

The first method is to break the schedule down into thirds and see who can go 5-1 in each part of the schedule.

The other method I look at is that a team can afford to drop 2 road games plus one "bad game" either at home or on the road.

By either of these criteria, Loyola, Missouri State, and Drake are all in the mix. However, I think the Ramblers have an advantage because of games already played. Missouri State has 4 games Drake and Loyola in the next 7 days. Drake has play 14 games in 33 days including road trips to Missouri State and Bradley. The bottom line is that if Porter and the boys can take care of business, the Ramblers should win the MVC regular season 3 times in 4 years.

*The only time in the last 15 years when a team won 15+ games and didn't claim at least a share of the MVC title was 2015 UNI who finished behind a 17-1 Wichita State team.

Never a doubt!

The site I bet on had -7.5 lol

That was a big game because we made a 4 team race for a title into a 3 team race tonight. We have effectively knocked Bradley out of the running in 48 short hours. Only two more teams to go (Drake and Missouri State). If they split, we will be in the driver’s seat.

I am disappointed Uguak couldn’t get anything done on offense again, but I have to say, I’ve loved what he’s done defensively over the past 5 games. I think we used him a bit too much tonight and we would have been better with Welch more on offense, but over the stretch, Uguak has been great.

I felt like we sat Krutwig a little too much tonight, but I can’t argue with the end result.

The biggest thing I took away from this game though - and maybe some would disagree - but the game made me happy about the type of kids we have. Childs is an undeniable talent... I’ll give him that ... but his attitude is off-putting as a fan. Every play that doesn’t result in a basket, he acts like he was wronged by the refs. He’s constantly complaining and sulking. Meanwhile Krutwig is getting abused and never seems to raise an eyebrow. Aside from the play where he got gouged on the neck with no foul, one play he got manhandled by two guys and they called a travel without his feet even moving - and he managed to compose himself and just go right back down the court, saying nothing. The difference between that two teams’ leaders is really noticeable.

It all comes down to this - Brian Wardle coaches dirty teams and his success is predicated on having 2 selfish stars on the floor with a ragtag supporting cast of dirty players... the only problem this year is he only has ONE selfish star. Bradley fans deserve what they get this year ....


As for us ... we shot poorly and still we’re able to squeak out a win. That’s huge. I’m proud of our guys. I’m legitimately starting to wonder if another team is going to score 60 on us in the Valley this year. We’ve held teams under 61 in 8 of our last 9. Wow....

Good on RAMBLER !!! He judged BU correctly !! They are a dirty team and have been since I was in School==They , back in the bad old days got hit by NCAA for cheating !! They have been bad to the core for decades !! This loss this evening must have truly rankled their Fans !!! Rambler's comparison between Krut and Childs was spot on--a Man vs a CHILD--

I covered at 6.5, thank you Lucas Williamson lol.

After watching this entire game, it’s now clear to me that Kennedy is the go to guy behind Krutwig if we need someone to create on their own. I already sort of knew that but he really showed everyone last night. Especially when it’s late in the game and we’re in the double bonus, setting up plays for Kennedy to drive seems like an easy option. I really hope nobody transfers after this season, it seems like everyone is really close and has bought into the program but you never can tell just from watching some games. Has anyone heard anything about Frank’s injury status?