6-3-1

[DawgFan]

This league was not very good this year. It was down. It may be a one bid league. ILSU should probably be in the dance, but I won't lose sleep over their exclusion. They clearly finished 2nd in a down league and did not beat the league's top club. Their best win, IMO, was over a down SIU team in Carbondale and we'll soon find out how injured B Mullins was/is.

Teams significantly improved this season:
Drake
ILSU
INSU (not as significantly, but improved, IMO)

Teams significantly not improved this season:
SIU
Creighton
Bradley
UNI
SWMOSU
Wichita St

Teams about the same this season:
Evansville (although I think last years team would beat this years team even with the coaching chance 7 out of 10 times).

We're lucky if we get 2 to the big dance.
I think the league will be better next season and real good again in 09-10.

[ISUMatt]

Dont worry about us champ, WE WILL BE DANCING!!!

[Hortonfldhse]

so as SIU goes, the league goes. I get it. There were many years that SIU has not been good so deal with it. There are 9 other teams in this league and the MVC doesn't revolve around Carbondale so grow up and handle a year without an NCAA bid..............

[Keita44]

ISU is in the NCAAs. Creighton and SIU in the NIT, Bradley is in the CBI.


Not a great year, but not a bad year by any means.

[Aegyptus]

I agree. It was an okay year. A lot still depends on what Drake and Illinois State do in the NCAAs. If they both win a game (or 2 in Drake's case), then we had a good year. If they both lose the first game, then we had a bad year (no pressure Birds and Dogs).

Like it or not, a lot about how well we did this season will be decided in the Dance. The last 5 months were about getting teams into the Dance ... we got 2 (probably). Not great, but not a disaster. But, one of our teams should have a good seed, just like last year and we should expect similar results as last year. Whatever SIU, Bradley, Creighton and whomever else do in whichever tournaments they are invited to is just tangential. All that matters is the Dance. We put an acceptable, but not good number of teams in the Dance. Now we have to see what they do now that they are there. They don't have the experience of the other teams, but they may do just as well. The Valley's standard at this point is a team in the sweet 16 each year. We'll see if it happens.

[DawgieStyle]

so as SIU goes, the league goes. I get it. There were many years that SIU has not been good so deal with it. There are 9 other teams in this league and the MVC doesn't revolve around Carbondale so grow up and handle a year without an NCAA bid..............

it isn't about that, there was a great thread earlier that went into this in depth. The success of this league is judged on, like it or not, the amount of NCAA bids we get, and the amount of viable teams for those bids.

Even though, we got 2 last year, we had 3-4, maybe even 5 teams legitimately on the bubble. This year, we have one...ISU.

The year before, we had 4 teams dancing, and 6 on the bubble. etc. etc.

It isn't about what team is where, it's about how many have a legitimate argument to be included in the dance. If those teams happen to be SIU or CU, so be it.

It's not hard to see that we may only get 2 bids, and possibly only 1, with only 2 teams even up for discussion. That's a down year, anyway you spin it, as long as you base the strength of the conference on potential NCAA bids. I do, it's more important than RPI, conf. rank, etc. etc. The media does as well.

It's all about perception. On the biggest stage, with the biggest spotlight, the NCAA tournament, The valley is coming up short in comparison to previous years. To the media and casual observers, that means the valley is down.

[DawgFan]

My point is only the league is down. The tournament was the icing on that cake. Drake is very good. I happen to think they are a top 20 team.

I'm not sure there is much worth a hoot beneath them. Those who think the league is as good as its been for the better part of this decade are mistaken.
Just a down year and a blip on a radar that is trending up.

Not sure that today was a good day for ILSU's hopes. But I do hope they get a bid.