So How Many Teams Does the MVC Get?

[Bluejay03]

I say we get 5...
Wichita State gets a 7 seed (Wichita is good and if they make a run in the conference tournament and win it they pickup a 6 seed, but otherwise they get the 7, they are solid right now, have 4 guys who can put the ball in the basket, and Brauer is very streaky, Paul Miller is an underrated post)
Missouri State gets a 9 seed (RPI is too high it automatically gets them in, Ahearn can shoot it, but when he gets shut down the Bears get shut down)
Northern Iowa gets a 9 seed (I think they will take the conference tournament, Stout has a lot of talent, Jacobson needs to take more shots, but they have 4 and sometimes 5 good to great players on their team)
Creighton gets a 11 seed (loss to Bradley hurts, but RPI is solid, have beaten good teams non-conference, played without Dotzler in their last handful of games, the committee gives the Jays and Altman the benefit of the doubt, good choice...)
Bradley gets a 11 seed (hottest team in the country I think they beat Wichita, but if they lose they still probably will make it they are as hot as an oven right now)
Southern Illinois barely misses out (that D-II loss hurts a lot, they make the final four in the NIT though to prove the worth of the Valley)

[bigbearfan]

4

UNI, MSU, WSU, and a pickem...

[oberkfell]

WSU, UNI - Locks
SMS - Good Chance
SIU - Bubble, must win
BU - Bubble, must win
CU - NIT

[Urbandale Panther]

It will be interesting to see how tournament play goes, MVC and the rest of the conferences. If we only get 4, Bradley and Southern will decide the fate of CU. A win on Sunday by either would jeopardize CU's chances and make a 5th bid a necessity for CU.

I can't see how we get less than 4.

[oberkfell]

I think CU is out due to its two losses to SIU.

[skinny_uncle]

If it ends up with an SIU-Bradley finale on Sunday, I could see 6 Valley teams Dancing.
At that point they would all have a top 40 RPI.
Incredible year for the Valley.
Currently there are four 20 game winners which ties an all-time high for the Valley. If Bradley wins tomorrow, there will be five for the first time in the 99 year history of the Valley. Creighton has 19 wins and could become a sixth with any post-season win.
This is a historic season for the league.

[Urbandale Panther]

It's a huge accomplishment to have 6 teams in contention for the tourney. Good luck to everyone and their teams.

[bob]

I think Wichita St. and Northern Iowa are locks.

Missouri St. should certainly be in.

From there it gets tricky.

The ideal situation would be Bradley and Southern Illinois winning, as one other poster mentioned. That would pretty much force the committee to take them, guaranteeing the Valley at least five.

I think Creighton is probably out at this point, mostly because of the other major conference teams that pulled upsets this week (FSU, A&M, Hall, etc.).

Three is the least, six is the most...I'll go ahead and guess four.

-Bob
www.valleyledger.com (http://www.valleyledger.com)

[shocker3]

I have to believe that with their rpis and wins over top 50 rpi teams that WSU, UNI and MSU are locks and CU and Bradley should be in (they both have rpis in the 30s with several top 50 wins). Few top 40 rpi teams get left out, and when they do it is because they don't have the top 50 wins.

SIU, in my opinion, would be out right now because of their poor early season loses.

A win over UNI on Saturday could give SIU a good argument for a sixth bid.

I know this all sounds too good to be true, but the ncaa committee would have to throw out all of the numbers they have used for 20 years to deny the Valley 4 to 6 bids. Right now it should be 5.

Of Course if they put in teams with 50+ rpis with one or two top 50 wins because those wins came this week on national TV there may not be room for 5 Valley teams. So I would guess 4 if I had to make a prediction today.

[siubball32]

Im sayin 5. If Siu wins there in, if they lose then they just miss. But as of now the only locks are wsu, uni, msu. Then 3 teams fighting for 2 sports IMO. If Siu and bradley win then they get in the ncaa, if they both lose only one gets in or neither and valley gets 4 and creighton gets in.

[siubball32]

this was from before tonights game from bubblewatch.
Southern Illinois [19-9 (12-6), RPI: 44, SOS: 68] Tony Young's runner with seven seconds left beat UNI and might have saved SIU's season. Now, instead of carrying a four-game losing skid into the MVC tourney, the Salukis earned the 2-seed, avoiding the 3-6/4-5 elimination series and a frisky 9-seed in Indiana State. Definitely needs to win its first game; semifinal appearance probably will be enough.
I think we beat uni were in for sure, we lose then were most likeley out.

[Aargh]

The Valley having 6 teams in contention for the NCAA's at this stage of the season is enough reason to celebrate the season.

That's OVER HALF of the league! We may as well enjoy what we have. It's worthy of celebration.

This isn't the time to worry about Selection Suday. This is the time for teams to do what they can to control their own destiny. This is the time for fans to realize that their teams are playing in a league where the majority of teams are contenders for the NCAA's within a week or so of when the field is announced.

The MVC semi-finals are probably going to feature 4 teams with top-40 RPIs.

Think about that just a moment.

2 other MVC teams that are already out of the chase for the automatic bid will probably end up with top-30 RPIs.

Think about that just a moment.

Unless a team is a top-5 or top-10 RPI team, there's no shame in getting beat by a top-30 or top-40 RPI team. "Any given night".

At this point of the season there are no longer any "losers". Anyone still playing is already a "winner". Enjoy the year. Enjoy the ride. Both have been and are awesome.

[barkeep1967]

And to comtinue this love fest.

The MVC returns 75% of it's starters next year and has one of the best recruiting classes I remember coming in. Josh Bone in most years would have been a incredible get for any MVC team. This year he is not even listed in the top 5.

This is only getting better:D

Now my thoughts
UNI/WSU IN
MSU should be but might need to sweat a bit
CU- sorry nit
BU-simple beat WSU they are in lose it's nit
SIU- should be in with win over UNI probably best served to win the AUTO

Like somebody said earlier.I think SIU and Bradley are playing with MSU and Creightons bids. Worst case 4 bids best case gasp 6 bids:eek:

[kabullseye]

Valley gets either four or six.

SIU and BU are either both in or both out.

[getreal4]

lots of basketball to be played in the next 8 days. Upsets, late runs, BCS bias, its all happening. Todays guess for Valley bids 4. I reserve the right to change my guess! :p

[scottpt99UE]

WSU is in (lock nothing to worry about)
UNI is in (win over the media's non-major Bucknell helps them be a lock)
SMS is in (but sweating a little a week from tomorrow.
SIU/BU win today and they are in (lose and SIU needs a towel to wipe of the sweat next Sunday(but get in), BU needs a sponge to absorb all the sweat next Sunday)
CU If both SIU/BU lose they are in, but still sweating a little. If one wins they are really sweating hoping for no upsets.

I think we get 5, if things get crazy in other tournaments only 4 (SIU gets 4th bid), if they go absolutely perfect and the committee wants to see how tough the MVC is 6.

What about the TV coverage we will get on Selection Sunday. I see TV camaras at 3 MVC schools to see if they get in and the reaction. Add in to that talking to the coaches, should be nice.

[txsaluki05]

at this point it's looking life 4

[ValleyGuy]

I'm thinking five is a possibility for the Valley - four might be more realistic

Wichita is in.
Northern Iowa should be in.
Missouri State should be in.

Now the rest.

Southern hit 20 wins yesterday...has some bad losses but a good RPI and were the No. 2 seed in the 6th best conference - swept Creighton, split with BU. Probably in before Creighton and BU - even with the Non-DI losses.

Creighton/Bradley
If the decision is between Bradley and Creighton, I'm not sure why people would be picking Creighton over Bradley at this point.

CollegeRPI has them at 36 (CU) and 37 (BU) in the RPI.
Their records are both 19-9

Both have decent wins OOC - Creighton beat Xavier (83 in RPI) and George Mason (24 in RPI)
Bradley beat Western Kentucky (47 in RPI) and DePaul (94 in RPI) (a good win in this comparison because it was on the road and DePaul then throttled Creighton in the same building)

Bad Losses
Creighton (UT Chattanooga - 190 RPI, Illinois State - 211, DePaul - 94)
Bradley (Indiana State - 160 , Loyola - 141 RPI, Butler - 92, Drake - 166)

Conference results v top 6
Creighton 1-1 v. MSU, WSU - 2-0 v. UNI, 0-2 v. SIU
Bradley 1-1, v. MSU, SIU - 2-0 v. UNI, 0-2 v. WSU

MVC records 12-6 v. 11-7

Here's a big one...Bradley won 2 of 3 from Creighton.

Hopefull they're both in...but if you were picking and one team had won 2 of 3 from the other - when they had similar resumes, who do you pick?

[BearsChiefsFAN]

I will say 5 with closer to being 6 than 4. If that makes any since.

[DB for POY]

good thing CBS is doing the championship. They just said UNI is in trouble because they lost in the first round of the valley tourney.