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Drake and Bradley seem to be a staple on Thursday, so I"ll go with them as locks. I'll take Loyola and Indiana State as the other two, but I'm not real confident with those two.

Wufan wrote:I'd pick Bradley, Loyola, and Drake to play on Thursday. WSU and UNI to avoid…The other five teams are all at high risk.

I'm very confident in a healthy MoSt to avoid it. That's going to be a very good team this year. Anything short of the NIT would be a disappointment to me.

I have Drake, Loyola, Bradley as Thursday teams
Also Evansville-Seems like every year is the year for them to get over the hump but they never do so until they do I'll have them down for Thursday

Redbirds could be there if our young guys don't grow up quick.

Loyola, Drake, Bradley and ISU (which one is a toss up).

Red wrote:Redbirds could be there if our young guys don't grow up quick.

The good thing in our "young guys" aren't all that young, just inexperienced... Some may call that semantics, but I see them as being very separate and distinct.

Redbirdfan21 wrote:

Red wrote:Redbirds could be there if our young guys don't grow up quick.

The good thing in our "young guys" aren't all that young, just inexperienced... Some may call that semantics, but I see them as being very separate and distinct.

"Inexperienced" using your spelling is far worse in most circles than being "young". This will not be a memorable year for the Redbirds. Mark it down

NeutralObserver wrote:

Redbirdfan21 wrote:
The good thing in our "young guys" aren't all that young, just inexperienced... Some may call that semantics, but I see them as being very separate and distinct.

"Inexperienced" using your spelling is far worse in most circles than being "young". This will not be a memorable year for the Redbirds. Mark it down

this will be a memorable year for the redbirds mark it down.

It's interesting that the ISU Redbirds were the most inexperienced team in the country last season (not to mention the 4th shortest team in all of NCAA D1 hoops) and who had a decimated front line STILL managed to win 18 games.

Now subtract a BIG malcontent (i.e. cancer to the team) Zach Lofton who shot the ball at a low percentage and was at best immature and prone to mood swings. Trade him with 6-4 G Justin McCloud who landed in the top 30 scorers in NJCCA D1 last season at a 20.1 ppg clip.

Then you have a decent PG in Paris Lee (who now is no longer a freshman and has a full year of MVC play under his belt). As a freshman PG starter in the MVC (no easy task being thrown into the fire), Lee scored 6.7 ppg and was 10th in the MVC in steals. You also have the 1st and second leading scorers on the team returning in guards Dashion Knight (13.2 ppg) and Bobby Hunter (10.5 ppg on 48 percent shooting). In all ISU returns 70 percent of their offensive firepower from last season.

As far as the almost non-existent frontcourt (with low rebounding), you have a healthy 6-9 John Jones back from being injured much of last season, plus there's 6-10 C Reggie Lynch who as a freshman chipped in 8.3 ppg and set the MVC freshman single season RECORD for shotblocks at 96, and he was 2nd in the MVC in field goal percentage this past season.

Now add in 2 highly touted bigmen to the frontcourt in 6-7 MiKyle McIntosh and 6-8 Deontae Hawkins both of whom should shore up a ton of the rebounding and add some much needed inside defensive presence. Plus there's more frontline help in new addition 6-8 F Will Ransom. AND ISU adds 6-5 G DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell who was a NJCAA D1 All-American Honorable Mention as he was 17th in the country last season in scoring when he put up 20.9 ppg.

So there's some reasons why the ISU Redbirds look to be pretty decent this season.

ROCK IT MVC!

The Redbirds are flush on talent again. I think that last year they overachieved. If they overachieve again, then props to Muller.