Annual Missouri Valley bashing thread

Bingo.
Two fold. Makes the restless natives happy, but also markets to your in-state alums and fans who don't live 30 minutes from campus.

 

Wisconsin does it as well, playing all the D1 teams in the state (and usually an exhibition against one of the state's D3 schools). Meanwhile, Marquette won't play the other D1 team in the same city. I've always found those in-state non-conference games interesting, as least from a fan's perspective.

 

As a mid-major grad who covers a power-conference team, I kind of straddle the fence on this one. I've felt the emotional pull of both and can understand both sides of the argument.

That said, after last March, nobody needs to convince me that the Valley teams can play.

 

Let me restate a point here...I wasn't saying the MVC had good 3-point shooting teams. Some of them are, some of them aren't. I was saying that, on any given night, whichever team hits the bombs wins. The MVC, with the exception of Bradley last year, are hard-pressed to beat you some other way.

It goes to show how stupid some of these coaches and teams are in the NCAA Tourney. If you put hard man-to-man pressure on small-conference teams in the tourney and force them to drive and create shots, 99% of them will wilt after 20 minutes. But, see, that would take maximum defensive effort. Most teams aren't very interested in that.

George Mason was another exception. The refs let those two interior players - Campbell and that nifty fat ass - back their big rumps into two-foot turnarounds while standing in the lane for six seconds. Ol Mason had a couple of rugby players, and the refs let them have free reign.

 

So the reason any small-conference teams win in the NCAA Tournament can be boiled down:

1. Poor coaching/no defense by opponents
2. Refs turning a blind eye to fouls, because refs clearly favor Podunk over KU, Duke, UNC, UCLA, etc.

Brilliant analysis.

 

Bradley shot 71 percent in the first half last night against Illinois State. Bradley made 13 of their first 14 shots before ISU decided to show up on D.
Bradley also broke its school record for most 3s in a season (Game 22 of the season). Prevous record was 225.