MVCfans.com

#8 Evansville
Vs
#9 Indiana State

#7 Bradley
Vs
#10 Drake

Not super big games, because no play-in winners have ever made it to the title game at Arch Madness, but I for one love watching these games, usually pretty competitive and this year especially.

My picks are Indiana State and Bradley. I think that both games could literally go either way.

Game 1 - I will go with Indiana State in the Scott Vs Brown battle. I consider Lansing a superior coach and believe that in a win or go home setting, I like the Sycamores to get it done. God knows after last year, have to respect the trees.

Game 2 - I am going with Bradley. I like the way that Bradley finished the year.

God love ya for having interest in these games...

4 evenly matched teams, maybe I am the only one who cares outside the 4 programs, but so be it. I always like watching Valley hoops. Should be 2 really good games this year on Thursday, both could easily good either way.

I agree Indiana State and Bradley. We have the talent but lack the coach.

Gotta love Thursday night in the Valley Tourney.

Indiana State over Evansville. StL restaurants will be disappointed Marty is leaving town early.

Bradley over Drake. Bradley is putting up points as of late.

Redbirds4Life wrote:Not super big games, because no play-in winners have ever made it to the title game at Arch Madness, but I for one love watching these games, usually pretty competitive and this year especially.

It's worse than this. Only 1 play in team has ever advanced to the semi-finals in Arch Madness history. It was Bradley in 1998, they almost lost to a terrible Drake team (no offense Drake, but it was a team that had gone 2-26 the year before, and 3-24 that year). Bradley then went on to beat the number 2 seed Creighton before running out of gas in the 2nd half against Missouri State.

salukisideline wrote:Gotta love Thursday night in the Valley Tourney.

Indiana State over Evansville. StL restaurants will be disappointed Marty is leaving town early.

Bradley over Drake. Bradley is putting up points as of late.

It was a BIG economic boost for them last year.

I'll take Evansville and Bradley as my winners.

Ace75 wrote:

salukisideline wrote: StL restaurants will be disappointed Marty is leaving town early.

It was a BIG economic boost for them last year.

If you put a plate of cheeseburgers in front of Marty, how many would he be able to finish? I would place the o/u at 11.5....

I think the game is important for Bradley to win. We've shown some actual signs of progress the last 3 weeks, and it would be a buzzkill to lose to an inferior team we've handled twice in the last month. It's been a dark time for us for the last 8-9 years, and a win in STL coupled with our performance the last month would finally offer some tangible light at the end of this dark tunnel.