We Will Learn about the MVC Today

by **DoubleJayAlum** » November 20th, 2012, 11:02 am

A lot of ineresting games on today's slate. I fully expect Creighton and Illinois St to win comfortably (Creighton plays a porn star and IlSU plays a school that sounds like it was named after a civil war general from the south). I also think WSU will win by double digits against Depaul of the BIg East. The MVC really needs WSU to win this one to keep the momentum of the VCU win going.

After that, it gets interesting as a lot of our other schools face challenging tests.

InSU, Bradley, Evansville and SIU all go on the road to play teams that aren't great but are at about the same level as their MVC foe. InSU plays an undefeated Ball St team that hasn't really played anybody - a horrible SWAC school (a bit repetitive I know, since all SWAC teams are horrible) and Wofford. Indy St doesn't seem to have much talent around Odum and will have to play well to get this one. Evansville's situation is pretty similar. Tennessee Tech is undefeated, but won their last two games at home by a combined 5 points and those opponents were not exactly powerhouses (middling to poor big South and Atlantic sun schools). Will Ryan play? If so, how effective will he be? If Evansville is going to challenge for anything, they really need to handle this game. I gave them a pass on the loss when Ryan left the game early on, but we need to win these kinds of games.

Bradley, like WSu, plays a BIg East team in South Florida. Also like WSU, the Big East team isn't really all that good - they got blasted by Central Florida and are only .500 overall. However, the game is at USF. If Bradley wins this game, they can start to claim they are for real and make the other teams take notice. USF isn't grand, but they do possess Big East athletes and will be a real test for Bradley.

Finally SIU plays SIU-e. Let's be honest - neither of these teams are very good and this game isn't going to do a lot for the RPI one way or the other. Nevertheless, if SIU can knock off its brother on the road, it shows that Barry at least has the guys believing in something and playing together. The spread has SIU-e as a 1.5 favorite, so this game is essentially a toss up. SIU may not have many more wins on its schedule, so getting this one needs to be a priority.

I'm on record as saying that I don't think the MVC is as good this year as it was last year. Tonight will go a long way in determining if I was accurate or not.

**Sponsor**

by **ptownbraves** » November 20th, 2012, 11:23 am

The SIU vs. SIUE game is on FS midwest here in St. Louis. This is SIUE's first eligible year to play in the NCAA tournament since they transitioned to D1 in the Ohio Valley Conference a few years back. They played Mizzou hard and had a big win against Western Illinois. Former Bradley assistant coach to Jim Les and Evansville grad, Lennox Forrester is the team's head coach and is familiar with the Valley. They are building a strong program over there in Edwardsville. Looking forward to this one.

by **isumvc1** » November 20th, 2012, 11:28 am

I will be at the ISU-BSU game tonight, quite honestly I don't expect us to win given how we've played so far this year, and add to that I don't think ISU has won in Muncie since 1986. Maybe the team will play better, we'll see. Anything has to be better than the Truman State game.

by **pafan** » November 20th, 2012, 6:32 pm

My picks for winners:
CU
ILSU
WSU
Ball St
UE
SIU-Edw
South Florida

If the Salukis lose by more than 5, that will reinforce their pick as the 10th place finisher in the MVC.
CU, ILSU and WSU all need to win to keep a respectable record. A win for the Aces would help them build a respectable record, and avenge a home loss from last season. And a win for Bradley would move them out of Thursday.

by **pafan** » November 20th, 2012, 8:25 pm

Final:
DePaul 62
WSU 75

CU leads by 30, BU down by 25 both in the 2nd half.

SIUE and SIUC are tied at 40, 2nd half. Ugly dawgs missed two free throws just now.

UE is up by 6 still 1st half.

by **Wufan** » November 20th, 2012, 8:54 pm

pafan wrote:My picks for winners:
And a win for Bradley would move them out of Thursday.

Looks like they are still a Thursday team.

by **Jet915** » November 20th, 2012, 8:55 pm

Wufan wrote:
pafan wrote:My picks for winners:
And a win for Bradley would move them out of Thursday.

Looks like they are still a Thursday team.

Yeah, I didn't necessary think they would win but getting blown out was surprising.

by **DoubleJayAlum** » November 20th, 2012, 9:16 pm

So far so good.

As expected, CU, IlSU and WSU all win.

Indiana St wins in convincing fashion.

SIU and Evansville have good leads late in second half ---- hopefully they hold on.

Only Bradley in the loss column so far....

by **Snaggletooth** » November 20th, 2012, 9:19 pm

Not a bad night for the MVC - suprised though with how easily BU got beat. If u told me the valley would only lose 1 game tonight, BU wouldn't have been my first pic,

by **DoubleJayAlum** » November 20th, 2012, 9:31 pm

SIU and Evansville both hold on to win by double digits.

Good night for the MVC.