ok, let's get it going! Dec. 28th - January 1 MVC games

[ACECARD]

ISUr is a very impressive looking team. They have the fire power to give the the Shockers all they want. Their defense is especially tough. Allowing Loyola, and the Aces to score less than 60 points. I thought the Aces played them better than Loyola did, and allowed the Redbirds to score way fewer points.

[specialsauce]

WSU is also kind of an impressive looking team. Nice to see all 16 players get action.

Also, LOLoyola has once again proven to be fool's gold.

[ACECARD]

Man, UNI scores 20 points in the first half. They look like a Thursday team to me, but the Aces are playing tough defense.

[Bball Junkie]

UE Aces defeated UNI by a score of 70-58. The Aces played without Wiley (groin injury), Dru Smith (knee), and Boo Gibson (flu). Dalen Traore also did not play but I'm not sure why.

[glm38]

Man, UNI scores 20 points in the first half. They look like a Thursday team to me, but the Aces are playing tough defense.

Unbelievable. Jacobsen coached teams don't generally underperform like uni has so far this year.

[MissouriValleyUnite]

How is Illinois State's RPI forty-flipping-two?!

[James_SIU]

SIU dominated the second half against Drake to win 83-69. Not a good week for SIU though. It was confirmed that Smithpeters is done for the year and leading scorer Armon Fletcher is probably done for the year as well...pending an X-ray tomorrow. With both of them I had SIU pegged for 3rd or 4th in the Valley. Now...6th would be a miracle.
Hope I am wrong.

[DUBulldog]

Probably 2nd worst performance of the season this afternoon (only Alaska-Anchorage was worse).

Couldn't hit open shots....which sometimes happen. But, got killed on the boards and turned the ball over way too much. Obviously, you're going to have bad shooting nights, but gotta hit the boards and protect the ball.

[pafan]

Let's focus on that DU - SIU game.

Reading DrakeNation and SalukiNation tonight, both sets of fans seem pretty angry at their respective head coaches.

I don't get it. Drake didn't score a hundred, but I think we knew that was unlikely to happen a third time. Drake still has fundamental deficiencies in the post, so if the jumpers aren't falling they're hosed. Rutter can't fix that until the recruiting period.

SIU is really short-handed on guards with the injuries, but they're somewhat less dependent on their guards. SIU has a couple of capable big men, O'Brian and Bol, who should have given Drake fits - and they did, each notching a double-double today.

I understand the general angst that comes with being a Drake fan this year, but it seems like this game played out as it should have on paper.

[DUBulldog]

Let's focus on that DU - SIU game.

Reading DrakeNation and SalukiNation tonight, both sets of fans seem pretty angry at their respective head coaches.

I don't get it. Drake didn't score a hundred, but I think we knew that was unlikely to happen a third time. Drake still has fundamental deficiencies in the post, so if the jumpers aren't falling they're hosed. Rutter can't fix that until the recruiting period.

SIU is really short-handed on guards with the injuries, but they're somewhat less dependent on their guards. SIU has a couple of capable big men, O'Brian and Bol, who should have given Drake fits - and they did, each notching a double-double today.

I understand the general angst that comes with being a Drake fan this year, but it seems like this game played out as it should have on paper.

The amount of anger on Drakenation toward the coach is directly proportional to the number of minutes Graham Woodward plays. He played 17 minutes today, which is about 12 too many.