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I see 4 pretty clear tiers:

Tier I: UNI, Drake, Bradley, Missouri State
Tier II: Belmont, Murray, Indiana State
Tier III: Illinois State, SIU, UIC
Tier XXXVIX: Evansville, Valpo

Belmont might be able to get to Tier I and Illinois State might be able to get to Tier II but the rest feels pretty solid to me

Grabbed Lindy's last night, but have only looked at it a couple minutes and don't remember much. But I did see they had Belmont in the top 4 (4th) and Bradley outside it (but can't remember if they were 5th or 6th) - will update this tonight.

No surprises on the first-team either.

BCPanther wrote:I see 4 pretty clear tiers:

Tier I: UNI, Drake, Bradley, Missouri State
Tier II: Belmont, Murray, Indiana State
Tier III: Illinois State, SIU, UIC
Tier XXXVIX: Evansville, Valpo

Belmont might be able to get to Tier I and Illinois State might be able to get to Tier II but the rest feels pretty solid to me

Don't see Indiana St and Belmont as having less than the top 4 do and they're well coached as well, but all the top 6 have some real question marks to answer.

Honestly, I don't see clear separation from your Tier 1 and Tier 2.

BCPanther wrote:I see 4 pretty clear tiers:

Tier I: UNI, Drake, Bradley, Missouri State
Tier II: Belmont, Murray, Indiana State
Tier III: Illinois State, SIU, UIC
Tier XXXVIX: Evansville, Valpo

Belmont might be able to get to Tier I and Illinois State might be able to get to Tier II but the rest feels pretty solid to me

I wouldn't be surprised if one of those Tier III teams breaks into the upper half: all have enough intriguing ingredients to outperform expectations.

For Illinois State and UIC, they're going to need to figure out some more physicality/toughness on the interior, but both have pretty talented backcourts/wings. SIU actually has a lot of physical ingredients going for them and will be an impressive walking-through-the-airport team but the question is will enough scorers materialize.

I won't go into full predictions just yet but I think I like Drake-UNI as my top two and am most intrigued by Indiana State beyond that.

siudawgs wrote:

BCPanther wrote:I see 4 pretty clear tiers:

Tier I: UNI, Drake, Bradley, Missouri State
Tier II: Belmont, Murray, Indiana State
Tier III: Illinois State, SIU, UIC
Tier XXXVIX: Evansville, Valpo

Belmont might be able to get to Tier I and Illinois State might be able to get to Tier II but the rest feels pretty solid to me

I wouldn't be surprised if one of those Tier III teams breaks into the upper half: all have enough intriguing ingredients to outperform expectations.

For Illinois State and UIC, they're going to need to figure out some more physicality/toughness on the interior, but both have pretty talented backcourts/wings. SIU actually has a lot of physical ingredients going for them and will be an impressive walking-through-the-airport team but the question is will enough scorers materialize.

I won't go into full predictions just yet but I think I like Drake-UNI as my top two and am most intrigued by Indiana State beyond that.

Illinois State added some Physicality/toughness with 6’7” 235 lbs Monmouth transfer Myles Foster and 6’9” 290 lbs Freshman Chase Walker. 7’1” 230 lbs Illinois transfer Brandon Lieb may not be real physical, but he has spent the last three seasons going up against 7’0” 285 lbs Kofi Cockburn and 6’9” 270 lbs Dain Dainja in practice, so doubt that he will be shell shocked by anyone in the MVC.

Birdfan2018 wrote:

siudawgs wrote:

BCPanther wrote:I see 4 pretty clear tiers:

Tier I: UNI, Drake, Bradley, Missouri State
Tier II: Belmont, Murray, Indiana State
Tier III: Illinois State, SIU, UIC
Tier XXXVIX: Evansville, Valpo

Belmont might be able to get to Tier I and Illinois State might be able to get to Tier II but the rest feels pretty solid to me

I wouldn't be surprised if one of those Tier III teams breaks into the upper half: all have enough intriguing ingredients to outperform expectations.

For Illinois State and UIC, they're going to need to figure out some more physicality/toughness on the interior, but both have pretty talented backcourts/wings. SIU actually has a lot of physical ingredients going for them and will be an impressive walking-through-the-airport team but the question is will enough scorers materialize.

I won't go into full predictions just yet but I think I like Drake-UNI as my top two and am most intrigued by Indiana State beyond that.

Illinois State added some Physicality/toughness with 6’7” 235 lbs Monmouth transfer Myles Foster and 6’9” 290 lbs Freshman Chase Walker. 7’1” 230 lbs Illinois transfer Brandon Lieb may not be real physical, but he has spent the last three seasons going up against 7’0” 285 lbs Kofi Cockburn and 6’9” 270 lbs Dain Dainja in practice, so doubt that he will be shell shocked by anyone in the MVC.

*Darnell has entered the chat*

All seriousness though I am intrigued to see what ISUr does with some actual interior presence this year