MVC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME 1pm CBS

My heart says root for the underdog,,,,,my head says lets see a Valley team go undefeated and get a 1 seed

Well, whatever--The MVC put on its usual straight tourney--no gimmicks, nothin'--just may the best team win !! WSU and Indy St earned their spots.

I think ISU will play well, but the Shockers are NAT'L CHAMP material--BUT Cripes !! Six more wins IN A ROW--Goin' to be difficult --really hard. If any team can do it , the boys from Wichita can. The Trees will be a tough test no question.

My crystal ball indicates WSU 72 ISU 64 !!! But what does it know??


BTW in the HL, the planned outcome fizzled--but then, I do not feel the Powers really cared now that their pets have deserted them for a second to LAST finish elsewhere. TOO BAD !!

Indiana State playing tough and still in it. But the gap between Wichita State and ISUb looks about as wide as between ISUb and Loyola. I hope we'll narrow the gap between us and the #2 team considerably next year.

Inspirational!

I can see this as the source for our rallying cry next year:

First Place? No Way

Runner-up? Not today

We might narrow the gap

And Reach middle of the Pack!

WSU RULES!

Define "middle".

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MBB Scholarship Chart

4, 5, 6?

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The Roundhouse

The facts are these:

1. We're now in a conference with the #2 team in the country, one that has features a league POTY who is a sophomore, another first team member who is a sophomore, and a second team member who is a junior.
2. We came into the league in a sub-par year (once you get past the top team), and we still finished last.
3. Although we don't lose any scholarship players to graduation next year, neither does Northern Iowa (except Chip Rank and Matt Morrison from the bench), Illinois State, or Evansville.
4. Indiana State, Missouri State, Bradley, Drake, and SIU lose their top players, but they still have a lot of young talent and/or newcomers (Illinois transfer Mike Shaw at Bradley, for example) who promise to be very good.
5. We haven't been to a postseason tournament of any type-- NCAA, NIT, CIT, CBI-- for more than 25 years.

My realistic goal for next year would be to win 18 or more games, finish fifth or above in the MVC, and qualify for a postseason tournament. That would be a huge turnaround from this year and would accomplish something to build on that we haven't done in a generation. I think those benchmarks are achieveable. There had better be some dramatic improvement (I'd call winning eight more games against hopefully a better schedule dramatic), but expecting us to go from worst to first with essentially the same personnel is pretty stupid.

Well we are still in a poker game and havent drawn our 3 cards yet. However one thing that PM said in the ISU post game was that the Valley is a developmental league in the the fact that most teams get players that have a hole or two still,,,either physically or just in their game. So a big deal for us will be how our young players develop. I thought we just looked not as physically developed as the other Valley teams. Oleary, White. Doyle, King, Johnson all need to get stronger over the summer. Christian Thomas and Osbourne seemed the only one in the physical shape to bang. So it aint who are ya now it is who are ya next November!
and man would I like to see a dominant center get added.
Which reminds me Loyola target, Conner Cashaw will be playing TUesday night at Lake Zurich. he has some great offers but LU is still on the list.

I agree that those are good goals. It will be challenging, but we can do it.

What do we need to accomplish an 18 win season?

How many more games would a more experienced team have won? I'd say probably four more in the non-conference season alone: at Tennessee Tech and at Tulane (our second and third games of the season, when we had huge leads), possibly at Mississippi State, and certainly at home against Northern Illinois. We will have a much more experienced team next year.

What about a team with more depth? The home games against SIU, Bradley, and Evansville were highly winnable games during the grind of the conference season.

I think we need another guard and an inside presence.

We are adding three guard/small forward types for next year in Ben Richardson, Donte Ingram, and Jay Knuth. Richardson seems to be held in the highest regard of those with a 3-star rating from Rivals. From all accounts, all three are strong, tough players. Another true point guard would be nice, but I'll take what we can get.

Will Jeremy King and Cody Johnson be able to hold down the paint for 25 minutes a game? If Nick Osborne can improve and play without fouling, that would help as well.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

Another thing to consider - approximately 40% of DI athletes transfer after their first or second year. If LU is going to jump up the Valley ranks, it'll be critical to bring back all the young guys who have experience.