MVC Game 8

[hot nuts]

I'll also take the home teams.

[2livewu]

Indiana State (1-6) @ Wichita State (6-1)
Bradley (3-4) @ Missouri State (4-3)
Evansville (1-6) @ Loyola (3-4)
Northern Iowa (2-5) @ Southern Illinois (4-3)
Drake (4-3) @ Illinois State (7-0)

My picks:

Wichita - Shockers should have no problem here. Might have more points in the paint than Indiana State has points. Wichita by 20.

Missouri State - Bradley was really bad last night... and leaving Peoria and heading to play a very solid Missouri State team could be a disaster. Missouri State by 15.

Loyola - Aces only have a couple of ways to score, and Loyola plays decent enough at home to get the job done. Ramblers by 6.

Southern Illinois - I don't think UNI is back yet. They'll struggle on the road in what's probably the best matchup of the day. Give me the Salukis by 3.

Illinois State - Drake's 4 wins in Valley play have all come at home, and they've lost by 14, 25, and 19 on the road. I don't see the trend ending anytime soon. Birds play very well at home. Birds by 16.

WSU - but until they buy in defensively it won't be as dominant as it should be. 82-68

MSU - Johnson will have 20+ and 10+...other than that who knows with these teams.

Loyola - Aces need help. Milton needs to share the ball. Jackson is going to have a huge game. 78-68

SIU - Panthers won't shoot 7 times the free throws of the Salukis. Road games are hard. Ugly 61-55

ISU - Unless Drake goes Globetrotter on ISU throwing in half court hook shots (the only open looks they'll get) this will be brutal. Birds shoot 60% from the field (10+ dunks). 85-49. If Drake is lucky.

[Redbirdgrad]

Nice win Wichita! I should have given you a few more points than I did on the spread.

Almost nailed the MSU game. Only off by a point.

Loyola leading by 2 with 13:28 left.

[Redbirdgrad]

Need to head to Vegas. Soon.

Let's hope the last 2 predictions are correct as well.

[James_SIU]

Now that was SIUs "Super Bowl" game. Largest crowd, white out, students showed up. SIU dominated the 10 mins coming out of the 2nd half and lead by 12...they then scored 3 points the final 8 minutes of the game. Ran zero offense just held the ball till the shot clock ran out. Northern is by no means "back" they did not have to play well to beat SIU. This feels like the Evansville home loss last year; it effectively ends SIUs season. They will finish 5 or 6 now.

[Stickboy46]

Now that was SIUs "Super Bowl" game. Largest crowd, white out, students showed up. SIU dominated the 10 mins coming out of the 2nd half and lead by 12...they then scored 3 points the final 8 minutes of the game. Ran zero offense just held the ball till the shot clock ran out. Northern is by no means "back" they did not have to play well to beat SIU. This feels like the Evansville home loss last year; it effectively ends SIUs season. They will finish 5 or 6 now.

Horrible offense by SIU the last few possessions, but that "flail" call to give UNI to win should never get called.

[James_SIU]

Now that was SIUs "Super Bowl" game. Largest crowd, white out, students showed up. SIU dominated the 10 mins coming out of the 2nd half and lead by 12...they then scored 3 points the final 8 minutes of the game. Ran zero offense just held the ball till the shot clock ran out. Northern is by no means "back" they did not have to play well to beat SIU. This feels like the Evansville home loss last year; it effectively ends SIUs season. They will finish 5 or 6 now.

Horrible offense by SIU the last few possessions, but that "flail" call to give UNI to win should never get called.

Didn't seem that bad of a call from my view. SIU just played terrible the final 8 mins. Now the Drake game I felt robbed. The refs screwed us a couple times late in that game. The league admitted today that they blew the travel call in OT that cost us the chance to tie it.

[Redbirdgrad]

2 away from the ISU spread. On fire tonight until Southern decided to stop playing basketball.

Oh well. Refs bailed UNI out again...

[Khan4Cats]

by Redbirdgrad » January 21st, 2017, 9:09 pm

2 away from the ISU spread. On fire tonight until Southern decided to stop playing basketball.

Oh well. Refs bailed UNI out again...

Horrible offense by SIU the last few possessions, but that "flail" call to give UNI to win should never get called.

UNI is still not there but funny to see which fan bases look nervous...

[TheObserver]

I watched most of the game. I don't think UNI outplayed SIU. I think SIU pissed down their legs and UNI capitalized on it. The foul at the end was a definite bailout. UNI seems to get their fair share of those (they certainly did against Loyola the other night). Sans the Drake game, UNI has constantly been behind by double-digits, only to make a late comeback, with some very favorable officiating, and has snuck out with a 2OT win and a 1 point win. I thought Loyola and SIU both looked like the better teams overall. UNI fans are going to feel differently since their team has won 3 in a row, but they're still 3-5 and I think have been on the favorable side of the luck meter the last week.