This gave me the biggest laugh.....off of ku fan page

[bunck]

You get two thumbs up for this one.

[RoyalShock]

Maybe what they are is their potential.

[Cdizzle]

Maybe what they are is their potential.

Ouchies.

[kcshocker11]

I don't think Illinois State has ever reached its potential. They have a decent arena, decent fan support and they are just two hours from Chicago, where there at 50+ division one prospects every year.

Maybe what they are is their potential.

[ShockBand]

We are very fortunate that Gregg has built the program he has here. Can you imagine drudging through the Valley and beating everyone by 20 each game? Stands would empty at halftime and there wouldn't be near as much to talk about. Not to mention the outside risk of a bad loss derailing our at-large hopes.

[ShockerFever]

I don't think Illinois State has ever reached its potential. They have a decent arena, decent fan support and they are just two hours from Chicago, where there at 50+ division one prospects every year.

They have 6 NCAA appearances all-time and have never won more than a game in it. They're going on nearly a quarter century without being relevant. At some point, you are what you are.

[Stickboy46]

We are very fortunate that Gregg has built the program he has here. Can you imagine drudging through the Valley and beating everyone by 20 each game? Stands would empty at halftime and there wouldn't be near as much to talk about. Not to mention the outside risk of a bad loss derailing our at-large hopes.

Look at UNI this year .. that is WSU every year in that league. They had a relatively good non-con (besides scheduling 2 D2 games for some reason) and lost 1 game in conference to a team tha that hasn't done anything in decades and is off the bubble for now

[Kel Varnsen]

That's why I laughed at them when they thought they were the next big thing and would dominate the Valley after WSU left. It's all cyclical with these mid-majors. They thought they were comparable to WSU. They have a random year of success and then it's gone. The even funnier thing with Illinois State is their random year of success only resulted in a 2nd round NIT appearance. That's their ceiling.

We are very fortunate that Gregg has built the program he has here. Can you imagine drudging through the Valley and beating everyone by 20 each game? Stands would empty at halftime and there wouldn't be near as much to talk about. Not to mention the outside risk of a bad loss derailing our at-large hopes.

[ABC]

I don't think Illinois State has ever reached its potential. They have a decent arena, decent fan support and they are just two hours from Chicago, where there at 50+ division one prospects every year.

[ShockerFever]

Illinois State is the only Valley team I really dislike. So it's kind of funny. I think their fans have started to drop the bravado after being putrid for a couple of years, though, so I'm a little more sympathetic than I was 2.5 years ago.

That's why I laughed at them when they thought they were the next big thing and would dominate the Valley after WSU left. It's all cyclical with these mid-majors. They thought they were comparable to WSU. They have a random year of success and then it's gone. The even funnier thing with Illinois State is their random year of success only resulted in a 2nd round NIT appearance. That's their ceiling.

[Kel Varnsen]

Here is some fun stats they dug up themselves over there in Redbird land...

"Looked it up. Since we last danced. Marshall took over Winthrop the following season, he has had 16 seasons of 20 plus wins, 19 conference championships, 18 post-season appearances, 14 NCAA Tournament appearance, 8 NIT wins, and 11 NCAA Tournament wins."

Illinois State is the only Valley team I really dislike. So it's kind of funny. I think their fans have started to drop the bravado after being putrid for a couple of years, though, so I'm a little more sympathetic than I was 2.5 years ago.

[Stickboy46]

Illinois State has a funny thread on WSU right now. It is a 180 from the last couple years. Reality has finally sunk in for them, it's hilarious. They have fallen very far from "We're actually better than WSU" to "Now we will win the Missouri Valley" to "We'll never have a program like WSU, we've won 3 total games, all time, in the NCAA tournament."

Of course one guy is crediting Koch as the reason why WSU has been so successful.

Here is some fun stats they dug up themselves over there in Redbird land...

"Looked it up. Since we last danced. Marshall took over Winthrop the following season, he has had 16 seasons of 20 plus wins, 19 conference championships, 18 post-season appearances, 14 NCAA Tournament appearance, 8 NIT wins, and 11 NCAA Tournament wins."

[pogo]

Double post

[pogo]

Dizzle has a valid point when he talks about great teams vs great programs. In our case it has been continuity in retaining our head coach. VCU has had great teams and promptly lost them when a bigger program came calling. Butler lost Brad Stevens and was down a little but the present coach seems to have them back on track. Gonzaga...same head guy.

[WSUwatcher]

Do people always qualify Oregon success by saying “Well, they have that Nike money?” No? Okay, then I don’t want to hear squat about Koch’s support.

Actually, 16, I'm with WstateU -- I do always think Nike whenever I think of Oregon's recent success, mostly because to a considerable extent it has correlated with the big infusion of support from Nike. And that's true in football as well as hoops.