Lansing, Lusk, Hinson and Simmons

[Dave Stalwart]

Can we just get Barry to replace Mark Adams or that other guy he's always with? I'd like to have Barry calling valley games

[ShockerPrez]

and Bruce Weber?

KSU should be scheming to get Underwood somehow.

[WheatShock]

I was pondering this morning about who would be our competition for next season and the prospects don't look very good.... The valley may be even worse next season. I don't see a single team stepping forward like ISUr this year.

ISUr will probably take a step back but should still be relatively good.

Loyola loses Doyle but should be a deeper team next year, they have a couple of big kids coming in so I don't think they'll be worse than they were this year. They might even take a step forward.

MSU could be dangerous unless they fire the coach or lose a bunch to transfer. They don't lose anyone of significance as far as I know.

The real wildcard for me is Bradley. Their youngsters have made some serious improvements over the course of the season. I think we will see a big step forward from them.

I don't think anyone will challenge WSU for a title but overall I think the Valley may be slightly better. Its not much but at least there's a little hope for improvement.

[WuDrWu]

K-State fans are going to be pissed about Underwood for a very long time, and rightfully so.

As long as they are pissed for the right reasons. Not because they should have hired him because they knew he'd be good. They couldn't have, and he didn't have the chops yet.

If they're pissed because they should have taken a chance on a probable KSU lifer, what they need to succeed for any length of time, then I would agree.

KSU fans, however, too often refuse to embrace what they are. Their only success in the last 20 years mostly was Huggy built and Martin ran, and that was embarrassing day after day.

[Walker]

The real wildcard for me is Bradley. Their youngsters have made some serious improvements over the course of the season. I think we will see a big step forward from them.

It will be really interesting to see what they can do next year. I don't think they'll be challenger good yet but I think they can move into the upper half of the Valley. Young team that won't lose any major contributors and Wardle seems to be a decent coach that is hungry to get better.

[WuDrWu]

UE loses Brown and a lot of size. They will struggle.
Bradley will be better.
Drake will be better in the non con, not sure about the conference.
ISUb will struggle.
Loyola will be solid.
MSU should be very good.
UNI will be middling.
SIU should be solid (probably get pounded in the non con) with O'Brien, Bol, Smithpeters, Fletcher and Lloyd all returning.
I like ISU's young bigs. Fayne and N'Dyaie or whatever it is, both could be really good. IF McIntosh comes back, they just need a PG to succeed.
WSU will be top 10 barring injuries or unforeseen changes.

WSU
ISUr
MSU
Loyola
SIU
Bradley
UNI
Drake
Evansville
Indiana State

[1972Shocker]

ISUr will probably take a step back but should still be relatively good.

Loyola loses Doyle but should be a deeper team next year, they have a couple of big kids coming in so I don't think they'll be worse than they were this year. They might even take a step forward.

MSU could be dangerous unless they fire the coach or lose a bunch to transfer. They don't lose anyone of significance as far as I know.

The real wildcard for me is Bradley. Their youngsters have made some serious improvements over the course of the season. I think we will see a big step forward from them.

I don't think anyone will challenge WSU for a title but overall I think the Valley may be slightly better. Its not much but at least there's a little hope for improvement.

MSU is losing Dequon Miller but there is talk on their message board that Ronnie Rousseau might rejoin the team next year. They will have plenty of talent. Just don't know if Pual Lusk is up to the task.

I agree that Bradley is interesting. I think they made a good hire in Brian Wardle although i don't know if they will be able to make that big of a jump in one year.

Really hard to predict improvement in the conference overall. Might be a little better, might be a little worse. The one team that almost has to be better is the Shockers.

[HockeyShock]

Can we just get Barry to replace Mark Adams or that other guy he's always with? I'd like to have Barry calling valley games

The second Barry Hinson gets fired, we need to hire him as Director of Basketball Press Conference Relations, get him a minority share at Bite Me BBQ, something. Barry Hinson is a national treasure.

[WheatShock]

My thoughts on Bradley are that they can be in the top half of the League next year. If their current players keep improving and they have a decent recruiting class I don't think thats unreasonable.

[Shoxthemonkey]

The second Barry Hinson gets fired, we need to hire him as Director of Basketball Press Conference Relations, get him a minority share at Bite Me BBQ, something. Barry Hinson is a national treasure.

After digging a little deeper and reading quotes where he throws assistants and players under the bus, I want him nowhere near my favorite team. He seems like a good guy on the surface but they don't call him the Huckster for nothing. Pass

[Jhook89]

I don't think anyone will challenge WSU for a title but overall I think the Valley may be slightly better. Its not much but at least there's a little hope for improvement.

I agree that there will be many teams in the league that will improve from this year to the next, but I think the issue for next year is there will be no ISUr like this year. No UNI like the 2 years before. I don't see a single MVC team being anywhere near the top 50 in RPI next season. Right now most the league is somewhere between 140-225 in the RPI. I could see that improving to 100-200 next season, but I just don't see anyone taking that jump to "quality win" territory....

[WheatShock]

I agree that there will be many teams in the league that will improve from this year to the next, but I think the issue for next year is there will be no ISUr like this year. No UNI like the 2 years before. I don't see a single MVC team being anywhere near the top 50 in RPI next season. Right now most the league is somewhere between 140-225 in the RPI. I could see that improving to 100-200 next season, but I just don't see anyone taking that jump to "quality win" territory....

You're probably right. I guess we'll have to pin our hopes for top 100 conference wins on ISUr not dropping off as much as we think they will and Loyola, SIU, or MSU being better.

[wusphlash]

So, none of those coaches should get another extension. That means their "recruiting" will be hampered by queston about how long they'll be around. Catch 22. After 5 years of mediocrity I say write em off, get some bigger bait ($$$$$$$) and start fishing deeper water. There's got to be some good catches out their if these other schools would stop fishing with ultralights.

[WheatShock]

The problem is $$$.

Unless MSU can come up with private $ there is no way they can afford to buy out Lusk. SIU is likely to be in the same boat with Hinson the way public university funding in Illinois is right now. Simmons just got an extension so his buy out is probably pretty high for the next couple of years, i'm not sure they are even considering firing Simmons anyway. Lansing is the unknown for me, I have no idea if ISUb would like to get rid of him or if they can afford to.

[Stickboy46]

The problem is $$$.

Unless MSU can come up with private $ there is no way they can afford to buy out Lusk. SIU is likely to be in the same boat with Hinson the way public university funding in Illinois is right now. Simmons just got an extension so his buy out is probably pretty high for the next couple of years, i'm not sure they are even considering firing Simmons anyway. Lansing is the unknown for me, I have no idea if ISUb would like to get rid of him or if they can afford to.

For ISUb, it depends on how well the GoFundMe campaign goes.