Missouri Valley Tournament

[IzzyFlexion]

This is a tournament that interests me and likely a few other Bison fans.

In the quarter-final round, Creighton barely slipped by Wichita State last night (Friday) in a controversial finish.
63-62.
Creighton now plays Illinois State in the last semi-final game today at 4:05.

In another quarterfinal, Northern Iowa got by Indiana State in a close one.
73-69.
Northern Iowa plays Bradley in the today's first semi-final tipping off soon (at 1:35.)

[IzzyFlexion]

At the half at the Scottrade Center is St. Louis, Northern Iowa and Bradley are tied at 32.

[tjbison]

At the half at the Scottrade Center is St. Louis, Northern Iowa and Bradley are tied at 32.

LETS GO BRADLEY!!!!

[IzzyFlexion]

The Kittys are pulling away.
UNI: 55.
Bradely: 48.
7:21 left.

[IzzyFlexion]

It's a final in St. Louis. Northern Iowa advances to the MVC finals with a 76-62 win over Bradley University.

[IzzyFlexion]

Illinois State blows out the number 2 seed Creighton 73-49.
The final game is set as Northern Iowa takes on the ISU Redbirds at 1:05 tomorrow.

[IzzyFlexion]

The championship game in the Missouri Valley Conference will be televised on CBS this afternoon beginning at 1:00 pm.

Mid-Major # 8 Northern Iowa faces Mid-Major #13 Illinois State.

This is the kind of "Mid-Major" respect that this conference enjoys and deserves. Compare that exposure, (THE March Madness station showing this game on a Sunday afternoon) vs. the Summit League Championship airing on ESPN2 on a weekday night.
Mid-Major # 12 NDSU has a tremendous opportunity to advance the Summit conference to a higher level of respect and notoriety by first winning this damn tournament and moving on to being competitive (and not just showing up) in the NCAA tournament.

[Hammersmith]

I'm sorry, but the Summit is still a low-major conference. Probably the best low-major, but still a low-major. We've got three programs that are solid mid-majors(NDSU/ORU/Oak) and the rest are either on the line or deep in low-major territory. The MVC is in the same position as a mid-major. They have a few programs that are at the high-major level, but the majority of the conference is comprised of mid-majors. It makes them the best of the mids like we're the best of the lows(arguably).

[IzzyFlexion]

My point is aimed more at increasing the recognition of the Summit by some of its higher achieving members in order to accelerate it's position. The exposure that UNI and Illinois State will get with that CBS telecast is priceless for recruiting, boosters, etc. I am certainly not questioning the aggregate level of programs across each league and not expecting anyone to call them equal. But if you look at the top 4 teams in the MVC (the only teams with a higher rpi than NDSU) and examine thier schedules, there really are not many games played against high-major schools. And when there are games in this category, there isn't a great deal of big success.

For example, UNI loses at home by 5 to the same team (Iowa State) that SDSU beats at Iowa State by 7.
Also, that same UNI team got thrashed at Marquette by 30.

Is there any validity in assuming that by a bunch of teams in the MVC jumping out of the gate well and earning sub-100 rpi numbers have slanted their overall league rpi simply because they are all playing each other in intra-league play for most of the season?

This might just be a hair brained theory by an under-educated Bison fan....but I would encourage you all to watch that MVC championship game and make your own evaluation outside of a computer's analysis.

[Hammersmith]

Many years ago, the Valley decided to improve their image by deliberately manipulating the RPI system through their non-conference scheduling. And it worked - to a point. They did their job so well that the selection committee no longer relies on RPI the way they once did. Coupled with some modifications to the RPI formula, the Valley is back where they were, albeit with a higher media profile. The problem is that we can never replicate what they did because the "loophole" has been closed.

Back then:
Careful scheduling = higher conference RPI
Higher conference RPI = more NCAA tournament bids
More NCAA tournament bids = more tourney wins
More tourney wins = more MVC Cinderella stories
More Cinderella stories = more media attention and higher national profile

Today:
Higher conference RPI =/= more NCAA tournament bids


Until we figure out a way to get more Summit teams into the NCAA tourney, we will never reach the level of the Valley. The only hope for the moment is a couple of Sweet Sixteen runs by Summit schools. Those runs will require 12-13 seeds, and that means NO mistakes during the regular season. Even in a absolute best case scenario, we are 5-10 years away from having decent media recognition(as a conference).