Just curious what everyone thinks of the conference as a whole right now. I came into this year expecting it to be down across the board for most teams but I really don't think that's been the case:
-Drake and SIU look to be likely Thursday teams this year... but that said i haven't seen/heard much about SIU so i could be wrong with this
--Bradley's slowly moving toward the right direction.... they'll get their as long as people stay patient with Wardle
-Evansville, Indiana State, and Loyola have all surprised some (looking at you Evansville) with some quality play
-Missouri State has competed well despite two brutal loses...if they can finish games more consistently they're a nice team as well
-Illinois State's talent is carrying them to some nice wins despite Muller (no disrespect to Red Bird fans, but Muller's lack of control/discipline with this team frustrates the hell out of me. It's about more than basketball)
-UNI still has Jake and the Jeremy Morgan show going strong right now
-PWichita is Wichita. They're likely the regular season conference winners for the foreseeable until someone knocks them off.
While we may very well only have one bid this year I think the quality of play has actually been raised significantly. We lost a lot of nice players last year but it seems to improved overall team play. Furthermore we only lose a few noteworthy seniors following this year off the top of my head:
Jeremy Morgan
Milton Doyle
Paris Lee
Deonte Hawkins
Sean O'Brien
Dequon Miller
From my perspective it looks like the arrow is pointed up!