Patrick Marshall of Bluejay Basketball is the RTC correspondent for the Big 12 and Missouri Valley Conferences.

Current Records and my standings  (Conference Record)(Last Week Rank)

1. Northern Iowa (16-6) (10-1)(1)
2. Creighton (17-6)(7-4) (5)
3. Illinois St. (18-4) (7-4)(2)
4. Bradley (13-9) (7-4) (3)
5. Evansville (14-7) (6-5) (6)
6. Drake (14-9) (5-6) (4)
7. Southern Illinois (10-12) (5-6) (7)
8. Wichita St. (10-12) (4-7)  (8)
9. Missouri St. (9-13) (2-9) (9)
10. Indiana St. (4-18) (2-9) (10)

The Missouri Valley Conference is part of the ESPNU Bracketbusters event once again this season.  Matchups will be announced on ESPNU at 5:30 on Monday.  With the struggles of this conference this season, it will be interesting to see how many TV games they get this season. 

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Patrick Marshall of Bluejay Basketball is the RTC correspondent for the Big 12 and Missouri Valley Conferences.

Current Records and My Standings (Conference Record) (Last Week Rank)

1. Northern Iowa (14-6) (8-1)(1)
2. Illinois State (17-3) (6-3)(2)
3. Bradley (12-8) (6-3) (4)
4. Drake (14-7) (5-4) (3)
5. Creighton (15-6)(5-4) (5)
6. Evansville (12-7) (4-5) (6)
7. Southern Illinois (9-11) (4-5) (7)
8. Wichita State (9-11) (3-6) (9)
9. Missouri State (9-11) (2-7) (8)
10. Indiana State (4-16) (2-7) (10)

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Patrick Marshall of Bluejay Basketball is the RTC correspondent for the Big 12 and Missouri Valley Conferences.

Current Records and my standings  (Conference Record)(Last Week Rank)

1.    Northern Iowa (12-6) (6-1)(1)
2.    Illinois St. (16-2) (5-2)(3)
3.    Drake (13-6) (4-3) (2)
4.    Bradley (11-7) (5-2) (5)
5.    Creighton (14-5)(4-3) (4)
6.    Evansville (12-5) (4-3) (6)
7.    Southern Illinois (8-10) (3-4) (7)
8.    Missouri St. (8-10) (1-6) (9)
9.    Wichita St. (7-11) (1-6)  (10)
10.    Indiana St. (4-14) (2-5) (8)

So many things have happened this week and the Valley power has shifted this week.  Thus life in the Missouri Valley Conference.

GAME OF THE WEEK:

Creighton 73, Southern Illinois 72 (OT)—Creighton was able to pull a rabbit out of their hat not only once but twice in this game.  They were down 3 towards the end of regulation when Cavel Witter was fouled on a three point shot and made all three to tie and send it to overtime.  Then in overtime, Creighton was down 4 with under a minute to play and a quick steal and a 3-pointer by P’Allen Stinnett and then a huge three by a limping Booker Woodfox and two free throws at the end by Kenton Walker, let the Bluejays escape against Southern Illinois.  This rivalry was as advertised.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK:

Champ Oguchi, Illinois St.—Champ had a great week and was a huge key to the win against Drake this week 65-61.  His 29 points, 8 rebounds and 4 steals were the things the Redbirds needed to break a 2-game losing streak from the week before and to get them back into the Valley race.

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Patrick Marshall of Bluejay Basketball is the RTC correspondent for the Big 12 and Missouri Valley Conferences.

Current Records and my standings  (Conference Record)(Last Week Rank)

1. Northern Iowa (10-6) (4-1)(6)
2. Drake (13-4) (4-1) (5)
3. Illinois St. (14-2) (3-2)(1)
4. Creighton (13-4)(3-2) (3)
5. Bradley (10-6) (4-1) (4)
6. Evansville (11-4) (3-2) (2)
7. Southern Illinois (7-9) (2-3) (9) 
8. Indiana St. (4-12) (2-3) (10)
9. Missouri St. (7-9) (0-5) (7)
10. Wichita St. (6-10) (0-5)  (8 )

So many things have happened this week and the Valley power has shifted this week.  Thus life in the Missouri Valley Conference. 

GAME OF THE WEEK:

Bradley  56, Illinois St. 52—Bradley won this one in a grind it out affair.  Holding Illinois St. to 37% shooting for the game and 23% from 3-point land helped knock off the last non-major conference undefeated team.  Champ Oguchi was held to 3 points in this game which was key since he has been a major part of helping get this team to where it is. 

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Patrick Marshall of Bluejay Basketball is the RTC correspondent for the Missouri Valley and Big 12 Conferences.

Current Records and my standings  (Conference Record)(Last Week Rank)

1. Illinois St. (14-0) (3-0)(2)
2. Evansville (10-3) (2-1) (3)
3. Creighton (12-3)(2-1) (1)
4. Bradley (9-5) (3-0) (5)
5. Drake (11-4) (2-1) (4)
6. Northern Iowa (8-6) (2-1)(6)
7. Missouri St. (7-7) (0-3) (7)
8. Wichita St. (6-8) (0-3)  (8)
9. Southern Illinois (5-9) (0-3) (9)
10. Indiana St. (3-11) (1-2) (10)

The yearly battle in the Valley once again has shown some surprises.  Is the Valley down this year?  Hard to tell.  Check out the teams this week and how they are doing.

GAME OF THE WEEK:

Bradley 60, Wichita St. 58—Bradley got the win on a follow up basket by Sam Singh with almost no time remaining to give Bradley the road win to push them to 2-0 at the time and Wichita St. to 0-2 at the time.  Bradley had held around a 10 point lead the whole game but Wichita St. hung around like they have all season with teams and tied the game with 26 seconds left.   Sam Maniscalco just missed the layup and Singh was there with the rebound and put back to win the game.  As Singh said, “It took a good bounce and I got lucky.”

PLAYER OF THE WEEK:

Osiris Eldridge, Illinois St—Osiris was just dominant this week in Illinois St’s blowout wins against Evansville and Creighton averaging 21 points and 7 rebounds per game.  Illinois St. is still one of 6 undefeated teams in the nation and it has been his stellar play that has helped them dominate games and look almost unbeatable in league play so far.  Maybe they will get that “Undefeated Season” they are talking about…well highly unlikely, but it is nice that they are willing to talk the talk.

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Patrick Marshall of Bluejay Basketball is the RTC correspondent for the Missouri Valley and Big 12 Conferences.

Current Records and my standings  (Conference Record)(Last Week Rank)

1. Creighton (11-2)(1-0) (2)
2. Illinois St. (12-0) (1-0)(1)
3. Evansville (9-2) (1-0) (4)
4. Drake (9-4) (0-1) (3)
5. Bradley (7-5) (1-0) (7)
6. Northern Iowa (6-6) (0-1)(6)
7. Missouri St. (7-5) (0-1) (5)
8. Wichita St. (6-6) (0-1)  (8)
9. Southern Illinois (5-7) (0-1) (9)
10. Indiana St. (3-9) (1-0) (10)

Happy Holidays and welcome to a look at the MVC as conference play started.  Valley play started this past Sunday with a full slate of games.  As conference season goes on, there will be a bit of a different format.  Teams that are making an impact on the conference and college basketball in general will be discussed as some teams start to fall off the map.  But to kick off the conference season here is what is going on opening night.

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Patrick Marshall of Bluejay Basketball is the RTC correspondent for the MVC and Big 12 Conferences.

Current Records and my standings (Last Week Rank):

1. Illinois St. (10-0) (1)
2. Creighton (8-2) (2)
3. Drake (9-3) (4)
4. Evansville (8-2) (3)
5. Missouri St. (7-3) (5)
6. Northern Iowa (6-5) (7)
7. Bradley (5-5) (6)
8. Wichita St. (5-5)  (9)
9. Southern Illinois (4-6) (8)
10. Indiana St. (2-8) (10)

The non-conference season for the Missouri Valley Conference basically ended this past week with conference play starting next Sunday.  The non-conference games left for the Valley this coming week are most teams playing lower level competition that should result in wins for the Valley.  Since Conference play will have started by the time I report for RTC, here is a little recap of what I expected versus what we got from the Valley in the Non-Conference.

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Source: http://bigpicture.typepad.com/

Monday
– Stony Brook at #2 UConn at 7 PM on ESPN Full Court, ESPN360.com, and the Big East Network: The only way this game stays within 20 is if the Huskies actually have to take final exams. Nothing to see here unless you know one of the Huskies benchwarmers and want to see him get some PT.

– Cleveland State at #11 Syracuse at 7 PM on Time Warner-New York: Should be another snoozefest, but you might want to check the Orangemen out to see how they are adjusting to life without Eric Devendorf (or not). If Time Warner-New York is on their game, they will run a feature on the 1985-86 Cleveland State team that upset Indiana in the NCAA tournament that was documented in John Feinstein’s classic “Season on the Brink” (great winter break reading for the erudite RTC fan).

Tuesday
– South Florida vs. Vanderbilt at 7 PM on ESPN 2 and ESPN360.com: This game is officially at a “neutral” location, but the game is being played in Nashville. Even Coach K would be embarrassed to call that a neutral site. The Commodores could use a win here as they have been disappointing so far while the Bulls have been surprisingly competitive. However, since Vanderbilt plays in the SEC and USF plays in the Big East the reverse will be true during league play.

– #23 Marquette vs. #19 Tennessee at 9:30 PM on ESPN 2 and ESPN360.com: The game of the week (before Saturday). Another “neutral” site game in Nashville. The Volunteers will be looking to bounce back from their loss to Dionte Christmas Temple. The loss dropped them 11 spots from a #8 ranking. They can make a case for a top 10 ranking again if they can beat Marquette. Meanwhile, the Golden Eagles have been playing well (7-1) and come into the game with a top 25 ranking. Unfortunately, that only makes them the 8th highest ranked team in the Big East. I know it’s early and sounds ridiculous for a top 25 team, but Marquette could use a win here to start building a case for a NCAA tournament bid in case they fall back a little in the Big East because I still have a hard time believing the Selection Committee will give the Big East 10 bids.

Wednesday
– Cram for your last finals or go through the games you missed while studying for those finals/writing that term paper because this is a weak set of games.

Thursday
– Mississippi State at Cincinnati at 6:30 PM on ESPN 2 and ESPN360.com: The Bearcats (6-2) are off to a respectable start–losses to FSU and Xavier–by almost any league’s standards except for the Big East where they will struggle to stay out of the bottom third of the conference. The Bulldogs (7-3) are also off to decent start, but may be without coach Rick Stansbury who was admitted to a local hospital for new-onset migraines (the administration expects him to be able to coach that night). The Bearcats will have their handful trying to score inside with “The Human Eraser” Jarvis Varnado who comes into the game with a 6.2 blocks per game average.

– Evansville at #1 UNC at 7 PM on ESPN and ESPN360.com: I’m expecting the line for this game to be UNC by 20, but don’t sleep on Evansville. They come into the game with a 7-1 record including a 32-point win over a Western Kentucky team that handled preseason Final Four favorite Louisville its only loss. The Tar Heels may also be a little off their game if they start buying into the hype (we aren’t) or if they continue to have late-night trysts with America’s sideline princess.

– Mississippi at #9 Louisville at 9 PM on ESPN and ESPN360.com: The Rebels shouldn’t really present a challenge Louisville, but I haven’t bought into Rick Pitino’s Cardinals yet. In their only game that could be considered moderately challenging, they fell apart losing to Western Kentucky. If Pitino hopes to contend for a national title this year, his team needs to be able to put away teams like Mississippi early. We’ll also be watching to see Samardo Samuels, who is playing like the best freshman in the country right now.

Friday
– Get some sleep or go get some sun because you’re going to be glued to your couch all day tomorrow.

Patrick Marshall of Bluejay Basketball is the RTC correspondent for the Missouri Valley and Big 12 Conferences.

Current Records and my standings (Last Week Rank)

1. Illinois St. (9-0) (1)
2. Creighton (7-2) (2)
3. Evansville (7-1) (3)
4. Drake (8-3) (6)
5. Missouri St. (5-3) (5)
6. Bradley (5-4) (7)
7. Northern Iowa (5-5) (4)
8. Southern Illinois (3-5) (9)
9. Wichita St. (4-5)  (8)
10. Indiana St. (1-8) (10)

TEAM OF THE WEEK

Evansville (2-0 this week)—I could easily put Creighton in this position after the big win against previously unbeaten Dayton, but Evansville has earned the recognition for  what some would consider a surprising start this season.    Their only loss is to Butler and they just destroyed Western Kentucky on Saturday night.  Shy Ely and Jason Holsinger are leading this senior laden team.   Evansville also gets to fight the big fish this week as they head to Chapel Hill to take on the Tarheels on Thursday night.  So even if they are not the team of the week the rest of the season, it is deserved heading into this week.

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Patrick Marshall of Bluejay Basketball is the RTC correspondent for the Big 12 and Missouri Valley Conferences.

Current Records and my standings (Last Week Rank)

1. Illinois St. (8-0) (1)
2. Creighton (5-2) (2)
3. Evansville (5-1) (3)
4. Northern Iowa (5-3) (5)
5. Missouri St. (4-2) (9)
6. Drake (6-2) (7)
7. Bradley (4-3) (4)
8. Wichita St. (3-4)  (6)
9. Southern Illinois (3-4) (8)
10. Indiana St. (1-6) (10)

TEAM OF THE WEEK

Creighton (2-0 this week)—Creighton regrouped this week by defeating the SWAC’s Mississippi Valley State and then taking a trip to Philly and the Palestra defeating St. Joseph’s 69-58.   The youth of this team is what  has been holding it back.  P’Allen Stinnett is back in the good graces of Coach Dana Altman and his teammates and has really shown it in his play in both games this week.  They have a big game midweek against another A-10 team in undefeated Dayton before hosting preliminary rounds of the Las Vegas Classic.

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