Valley Power Rankings - December 5

[electricmayhem]

Here are the Valley Power Rankings for December 5 -- the league keeps winning big games! Good luck this week!

http://www.examiner.com/missouri-valley-basketball-in-national/missouri-valley-power-rankings-december-5-from-ragland-to-riches

GO SHOX

[ShockerPhi]

It's nice to see quite a few contenders in the Valley this year. Smells like 2006.

[ShockTalk]

It's nice to see quite a few contenders in the Valley this year. Smells like 2006.

These Valley contenders will all need to put clear separation between them and the rest of the Valley for multiple teams to Dance. A smooth progression of win/loss records through out the Valley will muddy the waters and make more than one team difficult. Whether it's 2, 3, or 4 teams, they need to be clearly separated from the bottom half.

[Shocker85]

These Valley contenders will all need to put clear separation between them and the rest of the Valley for multiple teams to Dance. A smooth progression of win/loss records through out the Valley will muddy the waters and make more than one team difficult. Whether it's 2, 3, or 4 teams, they need to be clearly separated from the bottom half.

And the bottom feeders are not helping the league's cause. From Suellentrop article http://www.kansas.com/2011/12/05/212...#ixzz1flwQhMlh:

While it is too early in the season to put a lot of stock in power rankings (RPI), those wins are helping the MVC.

The Valley ranks No. 7 nationally, according to collegerpi.com, with five schools in the top 50 — No. 4 Northern Iowa, No. 15 Creighton, No. 33 Indiana State, No. 39 WSU and No. 41 Missouri State.

However, four MVC schools are ranked below 200 — No. 210 Bradley, No. 258 Evansville, No. 263 Illinois State and No. 285 Southern Illinois.

These crappy teams need to step up the pace and/or the league needs to do something about it. When the upper tier teams start playing these horrible teams, it will drag us all down.

--'85.

[The Mad Hatter]

These crappy teams need to step up the pace and/or the league needs to do something about it. When the upper tier teams start playing these horrible teams, it will drag us all down.

--'85.

Those teams being bad aren't that big a deal unless they upset the top Valley teams. If the Valley continues to have 4-5 teams in the top-50 of the RPI and those teams don't drop games to the 200+ RPI Valley teams, the conference would be in good shape to get multiple bids.

[ICThawk]

Those teams being bad aren't that big a deal unless they upset the top Valley teams. If the Valley continues to have 4-5 teams in the top-50 of the RPI and those teams don't drop games to the 200+ RPI Valley teams, the conference would be in good shape to get multiple bids.

Very much this. If the top few teams fall to the bottom feeders then they deserve to lose their bid. WSU and Creighton need to blow through the valley. Split their games, and battle it out in the tourny if they both want bids/good seeds.

[SubGod22]

Those teams being bad aren't that big a deal unless they upset the top Valley teams. If the Valley continues to have 4-5 teams in the top-50 of the RPI and those teams don't drop games to the 200+ RPI Valley teams, the conference would be in good shape to get multiple bids.

Exactly. If we can get 5 teams to finish in the top 100 with at least 2 or 3 in the top 50, we'll be ok. That increases quality games and gives more chances at top 100/50 wins. Beating the 200+ teams doesn't help your RPI, and may pull you down a bit, but it won't kill your chances. Now losing to one of those teams can do a lot of damage. Especially if you haven't taken care of business in the noncon. At this point, CU and even UNI may be able to survive a slip up to one of those teams if they finish the noncon strong and stay in the top 3 of the conference by the end of the year. WSU is in a bit of a tougher spot since we couldn't pull off a victory over either Bama or Temple. UNLV definitely helps but we need to run the rest of the noncon schedule to allow us the least bit of wiggle room in case we lay an egg somewhere. And that's no guarantee. We'll know more in a couple of weeks when we look at the RPI and where everyone stands. Movement will still be made, but it's a more solid guesstimate of where teams are at the end of this month.

[shock]

These Valley contenders will all need to put clear separation between them and the rest of the Valley for multiple teams to Dance. A smooth progression of win/loss records through out the Valley will muddy the waters and make more than one team difficult. Whether it's 2, 3, or 4 teams, they need to be clearly separated from the bottom half.

The bottom teams need to do their jobs and lose. ISUb killed all chances of the Valley being a multi bid conference last season.

[Aargh]

If the top few teams fall to the bottom feeders then they deserve to lose their bid.

Does this apply to all conferences? If KU lost to Texas Tech does KU deserve to lose their bid? Or does that only apply to "other" conferences?

[shockmonster]

Very much this. If the top few teams fall to the bottom feeders then they deserve to lose their bid. WSU and Creighton need to blow through the valley. Split their games, and battle it out in the tourny if they both want bids/good seeds.

A loss or maybe two are probably going to happen. In the past, I was more concerned about road games against these teams, but last year, we lost to SIU at home and the year before that, we lost to Evansville (both in the lower 2-3 in the conference). This can't happen if we are going to win the conference.

[ICThawk]

Does this apply to all conferences? If KU lost to Texas Tech does KU deserve to lose their bid? Or does that only apply to "other" conferences?

Slow down turbo. You are attempting to put ideas to my words that I didn't intend. You're taking the actual opponents played out of the equation. If KU beats Baylor, UT, A&M, Missouri, but falls to a craptastic TTech team then it would be a glaring spot on the resume. You and I both know that it would drop them from a potential 3 seed to a 5 seed.

Comparatively say Creighton steals a game from you, then beats Evansville, Drake, UNI, but drops a game to Bradley it hurts their resume more. Drops them from a respectable 12 seed to not getting an invite.

Fair or not, perennial tourny teams (how did Arizona stay in all those terrible years) are cut more slack than MidMajors.

[AndShock]

I think Creighton is going to be closer to a 7 than a 12.

[SubGod22]

The way CU is playing I wouldn't be surprised to see them get a 5 or better.

[ICThawk]

I think Creighton is going to be closer to a 7 than a 12.

No argument there. I only used 12 to make the point.

[AndShock]

No argument there. I only used 12 to make the point.

Doesn't them being closer to a 7 prove your point wrong? I don't think they're going to be on track for a 7, lose to Bradley and end up out of the tournament.