Shocks vs Southern Illinois (3 Game Series)

[shockfan89_]

I posted this after the Northern Colorado series: I added Cal Poly so we played 16(15 after rainout) games instead of 13. We ended up going 6-9 thanks to the rainout in Stillwater.

Our RPI is 128 and NPI is 159. We are 1-11 against the top 100 and 15-4 against 101+. The MVC is the 10th ranked conference but very few points separate 10th - 12th. Maybe more concerning is the conference NPI of 16th. Our hitting definitely improved this weekend but we need to keep in perspective that SIU is an RPI 210 team and even with the big improvement hitting we were only able to take 2 of 3 at home. I still think we finish 3rd or 4th in the MVC and finish above .500 for the year. 8 of our next 9 and 12 of our next 16 are on the road. We are 2-9 away from the Eck this season so it will be interesting to see if the hot hitting will continue and can help us to win 10 of the next 16.

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We have played 9 games against really bad teams and won all 9 of them. Grand Canyon is not a good team and those wins will continue to lose worth as the season progresses. We have also lost 6 games to good/really good teams. La Tech is good based on their 15-2 record but they haven't played any teams in the top 50 RPI. The OU win is a great win but as 1972Shocker pointed out, OU lost that game more than we won it.

I think our record between 3/20 and 4/9 will be a much better indication of how good we are. We play 13 games against a good mix of competition. 11 of the 13 games are at home but the worst RPI team is 165. If we play above .500 I say we are at least somewhat improved over last year but still need to prove ourselves on the road. If we are below .500 it will be another long year and we will finish about where we were picked to finish in the MVC. Onegreatracer predicted we would go 11-2 in this stretch. If we do, this will be a much better year!!!

Here are those opponents, their current records and RPIs

@ Cal Poly (5-11) - 193
@ ORU (9-7) - 65
Sacramento State (9-6) - 138
3 w/ Texas Tech (14-4) - 8
@ Ok State (11-6) - 56
3 w/ Valparaiso (6-8) - 94
Ok State (11-6) - 56
3 w/ SIU (9-7) - 165

[SB Shock]

The MVC is the 10th ranked conference but very few points separate 10th - 12th. Maybe more concerning is the conference NPI of 16th.

Good news is the AAC has an RPI of 5 (NPI 4). If Butler doesn't get it together quickly - he won't be able to hide in the mediocrity of the MVC, he will be last in the AAC.

[Dave Stalwart]

Good news is the AAC has an RPI of 5 (NPI 4). If Butler doesn't get it together quickly - he won't be able to hide in the mediocrity of the MVC, he will be last in the AAC.

I'm not sure you can hold onto him even for next season with this in mind. You could argue that maybe you let him experience recruiting in the AAC first, but he's already been a good recruiter here. It's the coaching that seems to be the problem. Not sure you should wait to get abused by the AAC first before you pull the plug. Now would be a great time to bring in someone new. Then, if you are terrible next year, you can at least chalk it up to having a new coach.

[ShockerFever]

Good news is the AAC has an RPI of 5 (NPI 4). If Butler doesn't get it together quickly - he won't be able to hide in the mediocrity of the MVC, he will be last in the AAC.

Doesn't get it together quickly? Seriously?

The guy has had 4 years and here we are with "his" players and they're .500 and look like a YMCA team.

The time is now and Butler is posting Fs on the report card. With a new conference comes a new regime. The timing couldn't be more perfect. Let's hope DB doesn't fudge it up.

It's gonna be highly embarrassing welcoming AAC teams to a 6000 seat stadium full of 50 fans.

[Cdizzle]

It's gonna be highly embarrassing welcoming AAC teams to a 6000 seat stadium full of 50 fans.

You think they're gonna draw more fans next year? Weird.

[JayPak]

Looks like your only MVC farewell tour will come in baseball and softball.

[1972Shocker]

Looks like your only MVC farewell tour will come in baseball and softball.

And women's tennis. The Shocks beat MSU at home way back on January 26th in a bit of very unusual scheduling. The weekend before the official announcement they beat SIU and Evansville on the road and this past weekend following the announcement they swept Drake and UNI on the road. They finsih up on Satruday April 22nd with home matches against Illinois State (at 9:00 am) and Bradley (at 1:00 pm) and then they will travel to Normal at the end of the month for the Valley Tournament.

It is kind of hard to have a farewell tour in tennis since only 4 Valley teams have men's tennis. Next year they will be down to 2 teams as SIU is shutting down their tennis programs depending on who the Valley brings in to replace the Shocks.

The two golf teams and the two track and field teams will get to say goodbye at the Valley Championships. Women's golf, hosted by SIU, is next week and men's golf, hosted by Loyola, the following week. The Track and Field Championships will be in Wichita in mid-May.

The have missed the big farewll tours though and that was for Volleyball and the two basektball teams. Something the WSU administration preferred to avoid and worked diligently to make that happen.