More surprising Valley start....

[molly jabali]

.....Missouri State at 2-1 or Illinois State at 0-3?

I've got to go with Missouri State....but both are surprising to me.

[Ta Town Shocker]

I had a feeling Illinois State may be overrated since they had a coaching change but I would not have predicted an 0-3 start in Valley play either. Part of it is due to a tough schedule. I would have never guessed Missouri State would go 2-1 after their horrific performance in the non conference games. I would have to go with MSU also.

[SubGod22]

I'd go with ISU. They're still a good and dangerous team and will be in the Top 4, but they also had a difficult start on the schedule. 1-2 wouldn't have shocked me but 0-3 does. MSU is still bad, all they've done is beat the two of the three teams that will join them on Thursday.

[Trueshock]

Will Illinois State be 0-3 ?

.....Missouri State at 2-1 or Illinois State at 0-3?

I've got to go with Missouri State....but both are surprising to me.

What's up with Charmichael. Is he injured ?

If not ,the team is playing like they've got Hoagie Charmichael instead .

[Aargh]

IlSU played their last gme without Allen due to an ankle. If he's out any extended period, or comes back lame, IlSU could be in for a rough stretch.

[Capitol Shock II]

All of these Valley games except Creighton are becoming must wins. Could split with Indiana State, lose both to Creighton and still be okay. A loss to anyone else look terrible now. Illinois State is doing exactly what I didn't want them to do. Missouri State unfortunately the same.

Another thing, pundits will look back at loss against anyone other than Creighton and say it was bad regardless of many starters we have out. Just more pressure for us...that's all.

[ShockerPhi]

I'm probably equally shocked at both of these. I thought SWOMO couldn't beat a 5A high school girls team until recently. And the way Ill State stuck with Creighton at home made me think SURELY they would win the next 4 or 5 games.

All that really matters though is for our Shockers to go out there and join Creighton at 3-0 today.

[Ta Town Shocker]

A win today would be great. That would only leave us and Creighton unbeaten in conference play.

[CBB_Fan]

I thought Illinois State would end up in 4th place behind Wichita State and UNI, so starting 0-3 isn't incredibly surprising to me (but I am surprised). They have a solid team and good players, but it is always going to be difficult winning conference games with a new coach.

Missouri State, on the other hand, could easily be 3-0 in Valley play, and that is scary. I don't know what demonic pacts were signed in Springfield, but I cannot really understand why a team that lost to a winless SWAC team can even compete in the Valley, let alone post a winning conference record.

All this means is that we need to keep winning.

[1972Shocker]

What's up with Charmichael. Is he injured ?

If not ,the team is playing like they've got Hoagie Charmichael instead .

Carmichael is averaging a double-double in MVC play at 14 PPG and 10.7 RPG. So he doesn't appear to be the problem.

This is a tough one. On the one hand you have the team picked to finish 2nd in the league already with 2 home losses. Granted they have had by far the toughest Valley schedule so far. On the other hand you had a team looking like it was heading down the toilet wake up and go 2 and 1 with the loss on the road in overtime. However, they may have had the easiest schedule so far in the Valley.

They are looking like mirror images at this point and I will call it a tie, with ILS likely to break that tie when they travel to Springfiled on Tuesday.

[1972Shocker]

While we are debating whether it is MSU or ILS with the most surprising start to MVC play the rest of the league may be looking at the Shockers starting 3-0 with a home game against a team picked ahead of them in the standings and with 2 roads wins. Bradley in particular was tough. This after losing our top 5 scorers from last year's team including 80% of our scoring and rebounding and then losing three of this year's starters to injury including our best inside player.

[DUShock]

None of the above! If you watched ESPNU you will know it is Bradley!

[1972Shocker]

None of the above! If you watched ESPNU you will know it is Bradley!

Could well be. Pretty much the same team as last year. The swapped Taylor Brown for Tyson Pickett and that is about it.

Maybe the real question about Bradley is why were they so bad last year?

This Bradley team and this Shocker team are both great examples of the importance of mental toughness at this level of sports.