2018-19 Top 144 Previews Men's Basketball

[Kung Wu]

I like that they are putting us in the tournament! :)

[ShockTalk]

Unless you're a P-5 school, you better be in the top 55 or probably no Dance ticket.

There were at least 10 conferences who got a team in the field of "68" that had no team that would have otherwise made it. That by itself leaves 58 spots.

[Kung Wu]

True, I was being too generous.

[ShockerFever]

Well there's only 36 or whatever at-large spots. And about 8ish or so automatic qualifiers that would be at-larges that aren't. So really, it's about the Top 45 or so that make the NCAA cutline. A team may be ranked the 48th best team, but that doesn't mean they're getting in because of automatic bids.

A common fallacy with these preseason projections is that if you're in the Top 68, you're NCAA bound, which of course, is wrong.

And I see ST has just summarized this.

[SHOCKvalue]

Looking back at what could have been. Here are the predicted finishing spots in the league and the ranking for a few Valley teams

#2 - Illinois State - 66
#3 - Southern Illinois - 76
#4 - Bradley - 91
#5 - Valparaiso - 112

It's good to see Hinson and Bradley moving up in the standings, but are they moving up or is the rest of the league moving down?

Not many quality wins and certainly no quality losses in that league.

MVC #2 < AAC #5

In a year where all major programs in the AAC are in some level of rebuild.

And the MVC left-behinds like to call it a “lateral move”.

[Wuzee]

What is this “MVC” you speak of?

[FadedCrown]

Misery Valley Conference

[SHOCKvalue]

Not sure, but I think the “M” has something to do with midgets.

Might also have something to do with a collection of public and private schools so financially constrained that sports are an afterthought, and the number one consideration for association is the geographic ability to travel amongst themselves in the same fashion the elderly take bus tours on casino trips.

[choida]

We were once in the Valley... I'm not gonna sit here and bash that conference... But Wichita State is exactly where it belongs though

[SHOCKvalue]

We were once in the Valley... I'm not gonna sit here and bash that conference... But Wichita State is exactly where it belongs though

I’ll happily bash it in your absence then.

It’s not as if we left a group of like-minded friends pulling the load together towards a common goal; we basically left the college sports equivalent of a trailer park of users and enablers. We, the upwardly mobile party busy humping it and paying taxes into a system that helped subsidize the balance so they could sit around on their ass and watch Jerry Springer all day and during commercial breaks talk about how much they hated the taxpayer.

What exactly are we supposed to be grateful of with the MVC? Honest question. Elgin helped us with Marshall, and... I’m drawing a complete blank here otherwise.

Good riddance to the MVC, says literally every school on a laundry list of known brands that has managed to wiggle free from its death grip of mediocrity. They were an ugly asterisk next to our name in the realm of college sports that we are finally free of.

[Aargh]

Come on. Tell us how you really feel.

[Dan]

I remember how everyone hated Creighton and the way they talked about the MVC after they left. I’m glad we finally made a move, but there’s no need to start acting like Creighton fans.

[SHOCKvalue]

Intellectual nuance.

Creighton fans ish-talked on the MVC from a position of spoiled child hubris.

WSU fans - to include me - ish-talk the MVC because _________. (Insert favorite analogy that conveys trying to improve yourself when those around you actively wish you failure.)

There’s a difference, and it doesn’t require a class in philosophy to recognize it.

[ShockerFever]

Valley fans are jealous of the fact that we were able to leave. They even know how bad that conference now sucks and that they will always be on the outside looking in with everything.

If they know how bad it is, I don't think there's any harm for us to say how bad it is either. Weren't we all complaining about being stuck in the Valley and complaining about the lack of quality wins and potential ankle-biters wrecking our season a few years ago or am I misremembering things?

Good riddance to the irrelevant.

[WuShock16]

Valley Creighton was the old name kid in the small town who was big time in said town but never did $#!+ outside of that town's city limits.

Valley Wichita State was the chip-on-his shoulder guy who never could be part of the popular crowd in that small town but achieved great things in spite of never being in the in-crowd and finally was able to leave that crummy town for bigger and better things.

The rest of the Valley (save for MAAYYYBBBBBBEEEEE Northern Iowa) was the lowlife scum who never wanted to improve his life and made fun of those who did.

Not that I speak from personal experience on this...

[another shocker]

meanwhile, loyola went to the frickin final four last year. mvc was underrated when wsu and cu were there.. they were underrated when wsu was there wrecking havoc.. and they are still underrated today.

that grind it out style works

[ShockerFever]

meanwhile, loyola went to the frickin final four last year. mvc was underrated when wsu and cu were there.. they were underrated when wsu was there wrecking havoc.. and they are still underrated today.

that grind it out style works

I'm banking Loyola pulls a George Mason but that's just me.

[SHOCKvalue]

LUC is most definitely of the GMU model, as opposed to the WSU/Butler/Zag/VCU model. There’s nothing there - budget/support/coaching - to indicate otherwise.

[Aargh]

I think it says something when two formerly fired coaches are now coaching teams rated 1st and 3rd in the league. Hinson and Moser were fired because they couldn't get their teams past mediocrity. Hinson had MSU quite a ways past mediocre, but that wasn't good enough for MSU fans. Same guys are now among the leagues top coaches. Hinson took over the biggest train wreck I've seen in a long time.

Loyola got a huge boost by joining the Valley. The rest of the league responded by more or less rolling over and playing dead.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

meanwhile, loyola went to the frickin final four last year. mvc was underrated when wsu and cu were there.. they were underrated when wsu was there wrecking havoc.. and they are still underrated today.

that grind it out style works

Loyola had a great team last year. They were definitely underrated.

To think Evansville, or Missouri State, or Valpo, or UNI, or Bradley, or [pick any non-Loyola team here] was underrated by the same degree is ludicrous.

Just because you have one great team in a conference doesn't mean the conference is great. This is the same thinking that justifies calling programs like Boston College a major program because it's in the ACC. WSU and CU were underrated when they were in the MVC because they have good programs--not because they were in the MVC.

[mattdalt]

I would suggest that Loyola was not "great" as much as they were lucky. 3 straight last possession games. Games that are at best a 50/50 proposition. Statistics says the probabilty of winning 3 straight 50/50 games is 12.5% They got lucky, then stayed lucky and got K-State in the Elite 8.

[WSUwatcher]

Nailed it, mattdalt. Loyola was indeed a very good team (although "great" would be a considerable stretch, and recognized as such by some of the same metrics mavens who usually love WSU. Had they not been, it would have taken more divine intervention than even the mighty Sister could muster with her prayer arsenal just to get into three straight last chance opportunities to pull out wins. And they were no doubt underrated because of their association with a Valley containing neither WSU nor the Sweater Vests.

Still, to keep things in perspective, remember that Loyola won its three straight nailbiters by a TOTAL of four points, never faced a #1 or #2 seed, and was a bit overmatched in their semifinal game. By contrast, WSU's Final Four team won by four in its closest victory (Against #2 Ohio State), by six over #1 Gonzaga, and cruised in its other two wins -- and then was on the brink of beating eventual champion Louisville in a semifinal game it's still hard to believe they lost.

So Loyola had a season for their history books (although not quite like what happened once upon a time many years ago), but it absolutely was as much luck as greatness, if not quite a bit more.

[Stickboy46]

Loyola's brand name along with a big sweet 16 rematch on Nov 27th with Nevada (potential Top 10 team) is going to get major national attention. So much so it's being televised on ..... ESPNews ....

https://www.nevadaappeal.com/sports/nevada-wolf-pack-loyola-rematch-to-be-televised/

[WstateU]

https://media.giphy.com/media/loiXJFdBFc1nq/giphy.gif

[Dan]

The Loyola thing is a bit intriguing. On one hand, it's a small school with not a lot of support or funding (it appears). On the other hand, they are doing a good job of getting some quality midwest guys that are under the radar or wanting to play close to home, which isn't a bad thing if you're in Chicago. If they can build on the local brand, they may be able to keep it going. Moser is not a bad coach, plus the style of play (back door cuts and threes) is fun to watch. If they can bring in another batch of players, I can see them staying on top of the MVC for a while.