Avoiding Thursday night fights

[45otseoj]

@ Wichita St
vs. Indiana St
@ UNI
@ Missouri St
vs. Creighton
vs. Drake
@ Illinois St

Wow...

Yeah...

Really...

That sucks.

[TylerDurden]

Every team has a stretch like those. There are only so many ways the games can be ordered.

How "tough" they are typically depends on how good your team is, how well you're playing and how healthy you are when you play them.

[hot nuts]

Every team has a stretch like those. There are only so many ways the games can be ordered.

How "tough" they are typically depends on how good your team is, how well you're playing and how healthy you are when you play them.

Right on. Every team plays every other team twice. It will all work itself out in the end. After that opening first stretch look at the favorable schedule the Redbirds get:

vs. Evansville
@ Drake
vs. SIU
@ BU
vs. Drake

[BirdmanBB]

Obviously we play each other twice and every team could go through a stretch like that. The point to take away from my original post, which this thread is based on is that ISU starting out like this and having a young team doesn't do them any favors. In order just to keep pace to stay out of Thursday right off the bat, we would need to pull off some roadies. It's very hard to play catch up and if you start off the season 0-6 it could make a home game against even E-Ville that much tougher to overcome. So when it works itself out over the next stretch of games as you mentioned, the dominos could have already started falling. This is why winning a game on the road tonight against Indiana St. is crucial to build any type of confidence in a young team in order to simply win, winnable home games in the future in order to stay out of Thursday.

[pafan]

After three conference games, here's where I feel teams stand. Let's go in order by current conference record.

Wichita State (3-0):
Remains to be the favorite, although they haven't played a top four team yet. WSU's point margins look good, and their talent looks to be better than most teams.

Missouri State (3-0):
So far, a strong second. The road win at Northern Iowa wasn't hugely convincing, but it was a road conference win.

Creighton (2-1):
Dropped tonight's game to MSU, which is an early indication that the Jays aren't likely to finish in the top 2. Top 3 or 4 still looks very likely for CU.

Southern Illinois (2-1):
I'm convinced their 2-1 mark is a fluke. They should lose 4 or 5 in a row over the next two weeks.

Indiana State (2-1):
Reasonably athletic, experiencing some growing pains and some coaching pains. Their first three games didn't provide a lot of good information, although tonight's game with Illinois State was surprising because of the margin of victory. The game against Northern Iowa will be helpful in getting a better handle on Indiana State.

Evansville (1-2):
Probably won't finish 10th, and some of the old challenges are still affecting the Aces. The Aces don't have the same level of talent as other MVC teams, and they can't make up for it with great gameplaning from the coaching staff. See you Thursday.

Northern Iowa (1-2):
UNI desperately needed to win against Evansville to avoid boo-birds in Cedar Rapids and around the conference - and they did so. UNI may have a chance at an NIT berth, but they won't be able to do that with another loss to SIU.

Drake (1-2):
Likely will have a similar season to Evansville. This might be called a rebuilding year, if there were any evidence that next year would be better (excellent new recruits?)

Illinois State (0-3):
The 0-3 start isn't shocking, but it is likely disappointing. The Redbirds need to win one of their next two games (Wichita, @SIU) in order to avoid Thursday. I think they'll be able to do that.

Bradley (0-3):
Braves haven't really disappointed nor surprised. Most fans are resigned to seeing them in 9th or 10th place.

Predicted finishes:
1-2
WSU
MSU

3-4
UNI
Creighton

5-6
Ind. State
Illl. State

Thursday
UE
So. Ill.
Drake
Bradley

[unipanther99]

Northern Iowa (1-2):
UNI desperately needed to win against Evansville to avoid boo-birds in Cedar Rapids and around the conference - and they did so. UNI may have a chance at an NIT berth, but they won't be able to do that with another loss to SIU.

Those crazy Cedar Rapidians like to boo just about everything, but being about an hour South of UNI's campus they are generally more concerned with what the Hawkeyes are doing.

[pafan]

Of course I meant Cedar Falls. I guess my Iowa geography needs work.

[hot nuts]

Looks like BU and ISU(red) have taken the lead in securing their Thursday night reservations. Mid-Major basketball in central Illinois is buring hotter than ever!