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I voted for the Salukis as well. They had a hell of a run.

Yep, as much as I dislike the Salukis I think it's hard not to give them the nod. SIU has slipped more than Creighton the last couple of years, and CU has been more consistently contending for the top of the conference standings during the last part of the decade, BUT SIU had better non-conference success during the decade, had better post-season success during the decade, and had a ridiculous streak against the Jays both in Omaha and in Carbondale during the decade. If CU had been better the last couple of years, the Jays might have made a case for being placed ahead of SIU, but looking at the decade as a whole, the nod goes to the Salukis.

--Pattrick J. Merrault, esq.

It was SIU without a doubt. They won more regular season championships than Creighton. CU finished 1st or tied for 1st 3 times, while SIU finished 1st or tied for 1st 5 times. To me winning the regular season is more impressive. So with that, most of SIU's NCAA tourney invites were at-large invites.

SIU went to the NCAA tourney 6 times (3 times advancing past the 1st round and 2 of those were Sweet 16). CU went to the NCAA tourney 5 times (Only advancing past the 1st round 1 time)

I think its gotta be SIU at the top. 6 NCAA's with 2 sweet 16's. Multiple MVC titles.

I'd put UNI 2nd. 5 NCAA's, and 1 sweet 16. Multiple MVC titles.

CU third. with 5 NCAA's and 1 2nd round appearance. Multiple MVC titles.

I agree with Valleychamp.

I posted a list of league finish matrices last year at PJStarforums.com from 2001-09, but here is the updated adding last year:

Matrices
BU: 2,8,5,6,8,5,4,5,4,5
CU: 1,1,2,2,3,2,2,4,1,4
DU: 7,5,8,6,7,7,7,1,8,8
UE: 6,9,5,8,9,7,7,10,5,10
IlSU: 2,3,8,10,6,9,7,2,3,3
InSU: 4,9,10,8,9,9,10,7,8,6
MSU: 7,4,3,5,5,2,3,7,10,7
UNI: 10,7,7,2,3,5,5,5,1,1
SIU: 4,1,1,1,1,2,1,3,5,9
WSU: 9,5,3,2,2,1,6,9,5,2

Table
2.2 CU
2.8 SIU
4.4 WSU
4.6 UNI
5.2 BU
5.3 IlSU, MSU
6.4 DU
7.6 UE
8.0 InSU

To add to squirrel's post, here are the tournament champs:

'01-Indiana St
'02- Creighton
'03- Creighton
'04- Northern Iowa
'05- Creighton
'06- Southern Ill
'07- Creighton (4)
'08- Drake
'09- Northern Iowa
'10- Northern Iowa (3)

That leaves Creighton with 7 total MVC titles in this time period. 5 NCAA's. 1 total NCAA win.

SIU with 6 total MVC titles during this time period. 6 NCAA's. 5 total NCAA wins.

UNI with 5 total MVC titles during this time period. 5 NCAA's. 2 total NCAA wins.

For the slack WSU seems to get sometimes, averaging out to a Top 3 finish in the last decade isn't too shabby. I bet a few were surprised by that output. Granted, our NCAA stature hasn't been nearly as strong in the time period, but if you're talking about Valley-only criteria, we've weathered well. I guess it depends on your definition of "MVC Program of the Decade".

Thanks for the stats squirrel.

I voted for Southern Illinois.. for obvious reasons already mentioned.

Good stuff. UNI was the only team to finish both last and first during the decade.