Bears #55 @ CBB Central preseason top 100

by **BEARZ77** » August 21st, 2019, 2:07 pm

Another who thinks the Bears are poised for a big season. CBB Central tabbed the Bears at #55 in their preseason top 100 poll. Still think it's a bit premature, but Ford's Bears certainly are garnering some respect .

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by **Adunk33** » August 22nd, 2019, 8:06 am

Dana Ford is an elite recruiter in the MVC and has been for 3 different teams. We love the guy in Normal. He is still unproven as a HC. Has he surrounded himself with coaches that might excel in areas he doesn't? I do think Mo State is deserving of the hype but not sure they will be vying for at-large conversation. I am happy Dana is finding success. Except that BS half court shot to beat ILST last season where your guy traveled and double dribbled before taking the shot.... that's beside the point....

by **BEARZ77** » August 22nd, 2019, 9:08 am

Adunk33 wrote:Dana Ford is an elite recruiter in the MVC and has been for 3 different teams. We love the guy in Normal. He is still unproven as a HC. Has he surrounded himself with coaches that might excel in areas he doesn't? I do think Mo State is deserving of the hype but not sure they will be vying for at-large conversation. I am happy Dana is finding success. Except that BS half court shot to beat ILST last season where your guy traveled and double dribbled before taking the shot.... that's beside the point....

One might suggest, be able to run an out of bounds play and you wouldn't have to whine about it a year
later. :Violin:

But I won't :Cheers:

by **Adunk33** » August 22nd, 2019, 9:24 am

BEARZ77 wrote:
Adunk33 wrote:Dana Ford is an elite recruiter in the MVC and has been for 3 different teams. We love the guy in Normal. He is still unproven as a HC. Has he surrounded himself with coaches that might excel in areas he doesn't? I do think Mo State is deserving of the hype but not sure they will be vying for at-large conversation. I am happy Dana is finding success. Except that BS half court shot to beat ILST last season where your guy traveled and double dribbled before taking the shot.... that's beside the point....

One might suggest, be able to run an out of bounds play and you wouldn't have to whine about it a year
later. But I won't

All in good fun! Birds totally gave that one away. Just like the game @ Valpo a few weeks prior.

by **BuBrave2006** » August 22nd, 2019, 9:43 am

Adunk33 wrote:
BEARZ77 wrote:
Adunk33 wrote:Dana Ford is an elite recruiter in the MVC and has been for 3 different teams. We love the guy in Normal. He is still unproven as a HC. Has he surrounded himself with coaches that might excel in areas he doesn't? I do think Mo State is deserving of the hype but not sure they will be vying for at-large conversation. I am happy Dana is finding success. Except that BS half court shot to beat ILST last season where your guy traveled and double dribbled before taking the shot.... that's beside the point....

One might suggest, be able to run an out of bounds play and you wouldn't have to whine about it a year
later. But I won't

All in good fun! Birds totally gave that one away. Just like the game @ Valpo a few weeks prior.

He definitely didn't travel AND double dribble. I'll give you one or the other but you can't have both.

That being said...couldn't be happier with how it played out.

by **Adunk33** » August 22nd, 2019, 9:57 am

BuBrave2006 wrote:
Adunk33 wrote:
BEARZ77 wrote:Dana Ford is an elite recruiter in the MVC and has been for 3 different teams. We love the guy in Normal. He is still unproven as a HC. Has he surrounded himself with coaches that might excel in areas he doesn't? I do think Mo State is deserving of the hype but not sure they will be vying for at-large conversation. I am happy Dana is finding success. Except that BS half court shot to beat ILST last season where your guy traveled and double dribbled before taking the shot.... that's beside the point....

One might suggest, be able to run an out of bounds play and you wouldn't have to whine about it a year
later. But I won't

He definitely didn't travel AND double dribble. I'll give you one or the other but you can't have both.

That being said...couldn't be happier with how it played out.

I'll take the double dribble, then.

by **Majik45** » August 22nd, 2019, 12:57 pm

Adunk33 wrote:All in good fun! Birds totally gave that one away. Just like the game @ Valpo a few weeks prior.

Those were 2 of my favorite shots of the year as a Bradley fan. Dropped the Redbirds from a #3 seed in the MVC tournament to the play-in game.

by **Sir Sci** » August 23rd, 2019, 9:34 am

I'll just add that Bradley is the other MVC team who cracked this list's top 100, coming in at #90

Wichita State is at #61 and MVCFans expansion favorite Murray State is #81.

by **BCPanther** » August 23rd, 2019, 11:41 am

I really think the Valley has 4 Top 100 teams this year. Missouri State, Bradley, UNI and Loyola should all be in the Top 100 or very close to it. If everything would break right I could see MSU, BU and UNI challenging to be in the 50-75 range.

by **Adunk33** » August 23rd, 2019, 1:33 pm

BCPanther wrote:I really think the Valley has 4 Top 100 teams this year. Missouri State, Bradley, UNI and Loyola should all be in the Top 100 or very close to it. If everything would break right I could see MSU, BU and UNI challenging to be in the 50-75 range.

I love the MVC and would really like to believe that. But that would mean the league would go from being a 1-bid 15 seed league to a 2-4 bid league with seeds likely ranging from 10-13. I don't see that drastic changing happening so quickly. I do think Mo State will make some noise, but it seem they will be somewhat reliant on the strong play of highly touted freshmen. Sometimes it may take a little bit to get some kinks out or there would be a bad loss in there somewhere to an Indiana State or SIU during conference play. Same concept could be applied to any other team mentioned. The NCAA has shown they are unforgiving when it comes to losses like that in our league. Heck, a 26-win Redbird team was left out just a few years ago after going 17-1 in the conference and getting smacked in the title game in STL.

I hope to see the MVC as a multi-bid league again very soon, but would be shocked if this was the year. Conference play is going to be another dog-fight where each team has to scrap for positioning for those magical three (or four) days in March. I see another year of 3 or 4 (9-9) teams with the regular season league champ having 12 or 13 wins. If there is any significant sort of jump in the NCAA Tournament regarding the MVC I would guess our tournament champ would be a 12/13 seed instead of a 15. But that would be just one step up the long climb.

I'm not a "the MVC Sucks" guy. But like the MVFC- our league really beats up on each other in efforts to make it to post season play. Same can be argued for the OVC, MWC, A10, or any other MM. You could argue the same for the P6 but as we know, the NCAA is much more forgiving to them.