MVC Tournament

[wkeown]

Honestly, I put that comment on here just to stir the discussion.  I, too, am glad we are in the MVC.  It is just a better conference for basketball, 1-12 - but I do reserve the right to feel grumpy if we don't go to a tourney at least every third year.  

My biggest concern is just fading into middle of the pack of the MVC.  MSU has worked so hard to build up their brand and this move did come at a risk.  

If anything, I hope the move to the MVC will help invigorate the football program.

[smidge34]

We have had several teams in recent history better than anybody in the MVC while in the OVC. How on earth we could regress to "middle of the pack in the MVC" after the move doesn't make much sense. That's why you're seeing the pushback to your point.

[wkeown]

We have had several teams in recent history better than anybody in the MVC while in the OVC. How on earth we could regress to "middle of the pack in the MVC" after the move doesn't make much sense. That's why you're seeing the pushback to your point.

7th is pretty squarely in the middle of the pack.  I know the circumstances of our team this year were probably a little more adverse than some, but with the landscape the way it is, I know I am not confident yet, and it is pure speculation that we can, that we ever return as a dominant member of this conference.  

[smidge34]

You basically said it yourself, bringing up this season where we would have struggled whether in the MVC or OVC doesn't bolster your argument one bit. I'm dug in lol. 

[wkeown]

I know....I know....I gotta quit putting out this "food for thought".  It sometimes gets chewed up and spit right back in my face.  

[smidge34]

I fielded a few requests from folks who don't post to give you "the business" lol, but I restrained myself. 

[JWSEMO]

All I know is that as a representative of the OVC, Murray has gone to the tourney as a 5 and a 7 seed in the past.  So it wasn't that the OVC was holding us back.

That OVC no longer exists.  If you think we're getting a 5 or 7 seed - even with one of our historically best teams - playing in a league where the next best program is ranked in the mid to upper 200's - you're kidding yourself.  The top half of the OVC left and was replaced by 2 Division 2 move up programs and a bottom feeder D1 program.  Staying in the OVC was no longer an option once EKU, JSU, Peay and Belmont left - it's a crappy league that is destined to never get a seed above 15 ever again.  Only one 16 seed has ever won a game, and only a handful of #15 seeds have ever won a game.  Belmont and Murray gave the OVC a veneer of respectability, but the mid-level core of the league was lost when those other programs left.  Now the former bottom feeders (SIUE, TN Tech, TN State, UTM, EIU, etc.) are the new core of the league, and most of those programs are committed to NOT improving their facilities or programs.  No thanks.

I'm saving this post juuuuust in case 

[ERacerHead]

I'm watching the ACC tournament now and seeing #8 Syracuse currently being smoked by a #9 Wake.  Looking at the Big Ten and SEC seedings as well and seeing how many former Final Four teams are double digit seeds in their conference tournaments.  It's hard to stay at the top of heap in a good conference.  We have our work cut out for us.

[02Racer]

I expect to see us competing for an MVC championship within a couple years. I believe around half of our teams from the last decade or so in the OVC would have been at the top of the MVC. 

Now we have the advantage of recruiting players to a better conference of near peer programs instead of the Martins and SIU-Es of the world.

[jcruse64]

Drake gets a 12 seed in the Midwest bracket against Miami. I feel like this is a winnable game for them, and they'd face the winner of 4/13 IU/Kent State, so at least a possibility of advancing. I'll be rooting the MVC entrant on this coming week.

[ERacerHead]

I was watching the ESPN hosts picks after the selection show last night and two of them had Miami in the Final Four.  Apparently they haven't seen Drake play.

[ERacerHead]

Looks like Indiana State picked up a #1 seed in the CBI
https://dknation.draftkings.com/platform/amp/2023/3/12/23636673/2023-cbi-bracket-odds-how-to-watch-live-stream-date-time-indiana-state-san-jose-state

[popeyejonesfan]

Personally, I'd like to ask Captain Kirk to beam me forward to the beginning of next season.

[RacerSurveyor]

Watching ESPN too and saw them with their BPI stating that Drake has a 17% chance of making sweet 16. 

I hope the bulldogs goes straight scorched earth on Miami.