The conference obviously is not as good as it was in 2006. But its not as bad as you make it out to be either. The national media has thrown around plenty of praise for the Valley this year. It is very good at the top, and has some pretty good teams in the middle. I believe that whomever can finish with a very good record in the MVC this year, will be rewarded. And in UNI's case, IMO some of the difference between how good the league was in '06 compared to now is offset somewhat by how difficult UNI's non-conf schedule was.
I'm not putting a ton of stock into the BB game either but the fact remains a) it is going to be a somewhat decent team, and b) it is a chance to pad another W to your win total.
I don't understand the point you are trying to make regarding my VCU comparison. They didn't have a shiny resume, but still got in--that was my whole point. They picked up a couple good wins in conf play (like a team like UNI has a chance to do), and they had only a couple decent wins out of conference, like Wichita (not a top 50 team) and UCLA (barely a top 50 team)--which is similar to what UNI has done against a more difficult schedule.