2014-15 Games of Interest

[Dave Stalwart]

Why is everyone crucifying UNI? We lost to Evansville twice just two years ago. We always struggle there. What's to keep UNI from still having a season beneficial to the MVC. We are just so quick to scream crappy conference,crappy teams. The psychology of this escapes me.

1. I am just trying to have some fun with the disappointment even though the truth is that I pull harder for the valley than most.
2. They may still have good seasons (UNI and UE) but the timing of this game has likely removed UNI permanently from the rankings no matter what they do going forward short of sweep WSU. On the other hand, this win won't bring UE even into "receiving votes" just yet. It's just a bad situation. They are both very good teams for sure. It's just that the national perception of 2-10 in the MVC will have to wait for another year unless we fall on our sword for everyone and lose games in a way that propels them back.

[Shocker-maniac]

@ESPNLunardi: UNI goes down. It's those two four-letter words again. Road. Game. Unbeatens from Kentucky to TCU take note...

[DUShock]

I don't think it is that folks think the Aces are a push over but they have a SOS rank of 193 compared to ranked UNI SOS rank 40 and ranked WSU SOS rank 20. We (MVC) need the ranked teams to win, if for nothing else than to keep up appearances.

[wusphlash]

I don't think a 3 point loss at Evansville will remove UNI from the minds of the national media. It will most likely drop them from the top 25, but they will still be in the mix of "others". At least have them go through a prolonged slump before writing them off completely.

[1972Shocker]

I don't think it is that folks think the Aces are a push over but they have a SOS rank of 193 compared to ranked UNI SOS rank 40 and ranked WSU SOS rank 20. We need the ranked teams to win, if for nothing else than to keep up appearances.

True but it is only 1 game at this point and I don't think anyone really expected UNI or WSU to run through the Valley schedule undefeated like the Shocks did last year. That is just something that is just pretty rare.

Now had they lost to Eville in Cedar Falls that would have been a much bigger deal.

[DUShock]

True but it is only 1 game at this point and I don't thing anyone really expected UNI or WSU to run through the Valley schedule undefeated like the Shocks did last year. That is just something that is just pretty rare.

Now had they lost to Eville in Cedar Falls that would have been a much bigger deal.

I agree but the timing is such that UNI will likely not see the Top 25 for the rest of the season. We all know that MVC a teams have a much smaller margin for error than the P-5 teams. It was just bad timing for UNI.

[Blackmag]

I don't see this as a blow to the league, I think it shows this could be a three team race instead of just a two team race. Evansville has always given us fits up there, and as wusphlash stated they beat us twice the year we went to the final four. Outsiders looking in really don't follow the Valley enough to have a solid and thoughtful opinion. UNI is a good team, with some very good wins, Iowa just being one of them (Iowa knocked off a ranked Ohio State team). I think the Valley has showed up over the last few weeks, and as of right now we have 4 teams with at least 10 wins and only 2 losses. It's a step in the right direction. Now if UNI proceeds to go into a freefall then that wouldn't be good. It's an 18 game grind in the Valley, this won't be easy, and I will be pleasantly suprised if we go undefeated again in the league. LMU won't be a cakewalk at their place either. I for one am glad it won't be a cakewalk, it makes for a much better league.

[wusphlash]

I don't see this as a blow to the league, I think it shows this could be a three team race instead of just a two team race. Evansville has always given us fits up there, and as wusphlash stated they beat us twice the year we went to the final four. Outsiders looking in really don't follow the Valley enough to have a solid and thoughtful opinion. UNI is a good team, with some very good wins, Iowa just being one of them (Iowa knocked off a ranked Ohio State team). I think the Valley has showed up over the last few weeks, and as of right now we have 4 teams with at least 10 wins and only 2 losses. It's a step in the right direction. Now if UNI proceeds to go into a freefall then that wouldn't be good. It's an 18 game grind in the Valley, this won't be easy, and I will be pleasantly suprised if we go undefeated again in the league. LMU won't be a cakewalk at their place either. I for one am glad it won't be a cakewalk, it makes for a much better league.

Yes, don't forget Loyola. Any team that gets used to winning is a dangerous team in my book.

[1972Shocker]

The problem with the Valley this year isn't really in the top half of the league. We have 2 teams with Top 20 RPI's and 2 others with Top 100 RPI's. Illinois State fell out of the Top 100 with their home loss to Indiana State. That was the bad loss for the league in this 1st round of games not the UNI loss.

The problem with the Valley this year is the poor RPI's that the bottom half of the league carries. You simply can't afford to lose games to those teams even on the road.

http://warrennolan.com/basketball/2015/conference/Missouri%20Valley

[ShockerFever]

He's saying last year it was all about us. This year the MVC is not just about WSU. There are other good teams regardless of what Shockernetters think..

Nobody is saying the league hasn't improved from last year, especially a few select teams. However, a lot of media and Valley fans have been saying that UNI is now the team to beat based on a 10-1 record over a lot of meh teams and WSU is behind them because of an 11-2 record against a Top 10 SOS.

I think those reactions were premature. If you wanna be the man, you gotta beat the man. And until somebody drops WSU's 22 game Valley win streak, it's WSU's to lose, not anybody else's. I don't care who the **** says it.

[wusphlash]

Nobody is saying the league hasn't improved from last year, especially a few select teams. However, a lot of media and Valley fans have been saying that UNI is now the team to beat based on a 10-1 record over a lot of meh teams and WSU is behind them because of an 11-2 record against a Top 10 SOS.

I think those reactions were premature. If you wanna be the man, you gotta beat the man. And until somebody drops WSU's 22 game Valley win streak, it's WSU's to lose, not anybody else's. I don't care who the **** says it.

My comment was to Bikidiot's question about Jon Rothsteins Twitter comment. He was simply saying that last year there was WSU and nobody else. This year there are some other teams to look at besides us in the MVC.

Yes, we are still the champion with no plans of relinquishing our belt.

[shockmonster]

People on here have a short and selective memory. The F4 year, we lost twice to Evansville, and once to SIU who were both Thursday type teams. Top 20 Creighton always lost a couple of games to teams at the bottom of our league. Last year was an anomaly, not the routine.

This year, it is a bad loss if you lose to Bradley, ISUB, MSU, Drake, and SIU. But on the road, it could happen to us this year. We will most likely lose 3-4 games this year. and that should still win the league. Again, last year was an anomaly.

As for UNI, it is tough to win when you are in the Top 20. Everyone gives you their best shot. That is still happening to us. Everyone wants to beat us. Get used to it.

[AZ Shocker]

Does Evansville still have all those Holsinger, Anslinger and Risinger guys???

[mjbaker84]

Wtf Evansville beats uni....?

[Ricardo del Rio]

When the Shocks play the Aces, I dread the 5 matchup. We better start playing Bush, even if it hurts a little.

I suggest 2 on 1 against Mockevicius.... and 3 on 4 against the other aces.