BE Opening Weekend Game Thread - Nov 13, 2015...

[HoosierPal]

Same thing with Providence; Harvard, Illinois, Evansville, Arizona, maybe Michigan State, and throw a NJIT team in the middle of that, that beat Michigan last year and returns all starters from a 21 win team.

Creighton folks could help me out but I think Evansville is expected to give Wichita State a run at it this year.

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2011/11/02/college-basketball-preview-missouri-valley-conference.html

PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH: 1. Wichita State, 2. Northern Iowa, 3. Evansville, 4. Missouri State, 5. Indiana State, 6. Illinois State, 7. Southern Illinois, 8. Bradley, 9. Drake, 10. Loyola-Chicago

[Omaha1]

Same thing with Providence; Harvard, Illinois, Evansville, Arizona, maybe Michigan State, and throw a NJIT team in the middle of that, that beat Michigan last year and returns all starters from a 21 win team.

Creighton folks could help me out but I think Evansville is expected to give Wichita State a run at it this year.

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2011/11/02/college-basketball-preview-missouri-valley-conference.html

PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH: 1. Wichita State, 2. Northern Iowa, 3. Evansville, 4. Missouri State, 5. Indiana State, 6. Illinois State, 7. Southern Illinois, 8. Bradley, 9. Drake, 10. Loyola-Chicago

Whoever made this list is just uninformed. Loyola is a Top 5 team in the MVC this year and Bradley started five freshman in their exhibition and is overwhelmingly last. It's WSU and then a couple of teams like Evansville and Illinois State that are fringe NCAA teams if thhey get a few breaks or beat WSU.

[FlyByNight101]

That article on the Valley was published in 2014 so that could be part of the issue.

[milksteak]

Blue Ribbon Yearbook (sorry I'm a zealot) says:
1. Wichita State
2. UNI
3. Evansville
4. Illinois State
5. Loyola
6. Indiana State
7. Missouri State
8. Drake
9. Southern Illinois
10. Bradley

Bradley must be really, really bad. Southern Illinois has gone through an insane amount of turmoil over the last year, and they are expected to be better. That says a lot.

[marquette]

Bradley has a new coach, which has lead to some transfers out. However, I expect Wardle to have them as a perennial top 3 team in a couple of years.

[MUPanther]

For the first time in six months, Wagner goes man to man!

[MUPanther]

Friday, November 13
Wagner/St. John's- Kenny Albert, Bill Raftery

Fairleigh Dickinson/Villanova- Scott Graham, Donny Marshall

Dartmouth/Seton Hall- Scott Ackerman, Jim Spanarkel

Miami [OH]/Xavier- Alex Faust, Dickey Simpkins

Belmont/Marquette- Jim Levering, Stephen Bardo

[stever20]

The only 4 timeouts in a game is going to be tough for coaches.

[BEhomer]

nova looks even better than last year. 3 solid newcomers in brunson, bridges, and divincenzo. add reynods. and they are just loaded.

[Hall2012]

Fairly satisfied with Seton Hall's first half. They turned the ball over too much, but a lot of it looked like over-aggressiveness/first game jitters. The only really concerning aspect is free throw shooting. If they just hit their foul shots, the Pirates would be out of sight right now. As it is, it's still a game, hopefully they finish strong.