MVC Round Up

I think it's safe to say that the Missouri Valley Conference season isn't playing out as predicted. Southern Illinois , Bradley and Creighton got most of the preseason talk and even though conventional wisdom held that it would be hard to find a second tournament-worthy team after the Salukis, people assumed that there would be quite a fight between those teams.

Reality has proven to be quite different. If SIU doesn't win the tourney, they ain't playing in the postseason, Bradley is 0-3 in conference after losing to Wichita State, which only improved to 1-2. Creighton has the same lackluster mark after squeezing past Missouri State 50-49 yesterday and the teams to watch are Drake, Indiana State and Illinois State.

Illinois State struck the biggest blow yesterday by sending Southern Illinois to another loss, 56-47 at Redbird Arena. Levi Dyer and Osiris Eldridge, two All-MVC candidates who come off the bench for Tim Jankovich, combined to hit seven three-pointers and bury the Salukis. The 'Birds led 31-13 at the half as SIU turned in their customary nightmarish offensive performance. Joshua Bone missed all eight of his shots, the team was 13-of-50 overall and they turned the ball over 21 times in a stomach-turning and all too common display of ineptitude.

In Terre Haute, Larry Bird's alma mater dropped Northern Iowa 74-56 to join Illinois State at 3-0. The Sycamores started the game on a 14-2 run and led by as many as 27 in handing the Panthers their first MVC loss. They did it by shooting the three, 13-of-24, and by getting another complete performance from Gabe Moore. He filled the box score with seven points, eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals to complement Jay Tunnell's 19 points.

Drake didn't play yesterday, they face Evansville in their shot at 3-0 today and then host the Sycamores on Thursday. That game is looking like a biggie in deciding the regular season champion, but is it too soon to count out the Shockers? They shot 64% from the floor yesterday and beat Bradley 80-73 in Peoria to right their ship a bit. They were down eight at the half to the Braves, who relied on 12 threes for their offense, but held a 38-22 rebounding edge and wore down the home team. The Shockers had such a topsy turvy offseason, with Sean Ogirri transferring and Mark Turgeon leaving, that they may only now be finding themselves. They've got experience in P.J. Cousinard and, if he gets healthy, Mark Braeuer to go with some intriguing newcomers. They could come on strong as the MVC season progresses.