Who you got?

[ISU86]

#8 Northern Iowa 68, #9 Illinois State 65
#5 Indiana State 82, #12 Evansville 64
#7 Murray State 74, #10 Valparaiso 72
#6 Missouri State 67, #11 Illinois-Chicago 60

#1 Bradley 72, #8 Northern Iowa 63
#5 Indiana State 81, #4 Belmont 80
#2 Drake 81, #7 Murray State 67
#3 Southern Illinois 66, #6 Missouri State 59

#1 Bradley 74, #5 Indiana State 68
#2 Drake 73, #3 Southern Illinois 66

#2 Drake 71, #1 Bradley 68

Nothing quite like watching Gargoyle dreams being crushed on a buzzer beater ... weep away, Kaboom!

 

[Redbird222]

I predict one upset on Thursday

 

[Baltimore Bird]

It is about time for IL Chicago to win a close one. Our Redbirds are likely a slight underdog and I expect us to win too.

 

[Tpguy]

Evansville is gonna run the table.

they would have to get by us first

 

[gobirds85]

they would have to get by us first

We can take Eville. Pc. Of. Cake. It's the other 10 teams in the tourney I'm worried about.

 

[fdbird83]

Bradley wins a cat fight over UNI 72-66.

 

[Redbird82]

Born was great didn’t have enough help. How do we Get a player like that?

 

[fdbird83]

Born was great didn’t have enough help. How do we Get a player like that?

Recruit Iowa hard.

 

[Adunk33]

Born was great didn’t have enough help. How do we Get a player like that?

Who says their isn't one coming?

Born's other offers out of high school in 2020, which some would say since this is his third year that he is a junior and not a sophomore....were UNI, Bowling Green, Indy State, Toledo, South Dakota and Drake.

Kinziger held offers from Toledo and UWGB. Pence from Loyola, Belmont, Indy St, Wake Forrest, Depaul, Butler, Iowa State, UIC, Bradley, Akron, UIC, Western IL, and Illannoy.

You never know...

Honestly, if we had a Born type player, the gripe on here would be "yeah, but what happens when he goes down?

 

[DBird]

Born was great didn’t have enough help. How do we Get a player like that?

Kinziger??

 

[Manchester Matt]

Not sure I can recall a better quarterfinal game than the one that just finished

High level basketball on both ends. Wouldn’t surprise me if the Trees win tomorrow.

 

[Bird Friend]

Not sure I can recall a better quarterfinal game than the one that just finished

High level basketball on both ends. Wouldn’t surprise me if the Trees win tomorrow.

Especially if Neese plays like he did today.

 

[cubird]

Got a feeling he won't have legs on his jump shot tomorrow.

 

[cubird]

Glad we expaned the Valley footprint. However, I am very happy the new teams were not allowed to waltz in and make to the semifinals.

 

[Redbird222]

Thursday was the worst day of basketball that I can remember at the MVC Tournament. The trees vs Evansville was painful.

Today the basketball gods are rewarding all of us who suffered through yesterday.

There have been some great individual performances and entertaining basket ball. The Belmont vs Trees was incredible. The shooting was spectacular and as each team exchanged big shots with each other.

I hope MSU vs SIU is entertaining too but I expect a completely different type of game.

A couple of observations

1. There are Freshman stepping up and making significant contributions in the quarterfinals. This great for the league going forward.
2. UNI has the potential to be really good next year especially with injured players coming back
3. Man it would nice to have a go to guy like some of these teams.
4. Indiana St, Belmont, and Murray play a different style than what traditionally has been played in the MVC. I think those coaches are here to stay for a while. I am assuming 1 or 2 coaching changes this year and wonder if the league will continue to tip in that direction.

 

[ILLST25]

This conference needs SIU, Bradley, and ISU to be consistently good. That would be great for this conference in order to get high support and for Arch madness to thrive. I’ve been saying it for a while that we need these three schools to be good. If we can get an SIU vs Bradley championship in STL, that would be a spectacle.

 

[ISU86]

This conference needs SIU, Bradley, and ISU to be consistently good. That would be great for this conference in order to get high support and for Arch madness to thrive. I’ve been saying it for a while that we need these three schools to be good. If we can get an SIU vs Bradley championship in STL, that would be a spectacle.

Interesting that we tend to omit Evansville and Indiana State in statements like the above. Evansville and Terre Haute are similar distances to St. Louis as Normal and Peoria. Evansville fourth among conference members in overall attendance this season with a very poor team, Indiana State fifth.

City | Distance from St. Louis | Home Attendance (2022~23)

~ Carbondale | 105 | 5,034
~ Normal | 165 | 3,509
~ Evansville | 167 | 4,547
~ Terre Haute | 169 | 3,839
~ Peoria | 169 | 4,946
~ Springfield | 215 | 3,299
~ Murray | 219 | 5,218
~ Chicago | 298 | 1,780
~ Nashville | 313 | 2,042
~ Valparaiso | 322 | 1,624
~ Des Moines | 341 | 3,429
~ Cedar Falls | 347 | 3,426

Missouri State travels extremely well when they are competitive, and Murray State did this year for a seventh place team.

 

[Birdswin]

Interesting that we tend to omit Evansville and Indiana State in statements like the above. Evansville and Terre Haute are similar distances to St. Louis as Normal and Peoria. Evansville fourth among conference members in overall attendance this season with a very poor team, Indiana State fifth.

City | Distance from St. Louis | Home Attendance (2022~23)

~ Carbondale | 105 | 5,034
~ Normal | 165 | 3,509
~ Evansville | 167 | 4,547
~ Terre Haute | 169 | 3,839
~ Peoria | 169 | 4,946
~ Springfield | 215 | 3,299
~ Murray | 219 | 5,218
~ Chicago | 298 | 1,780
~ Nashville | 313 | 2,042
~ Valparaiso | 322 | 1,624
~ Des Moines | 341 | 3,429
~ Cedar Falls | 347 | 3,426

Missouri State travels extremely well when they are competitive, and Murray State did this year for a seventh place team.

Evansville and Indy State have not ever had much of presence at Enterprise Center - even when they were in the championship games. Thus, they are immaterial in regard to fan attendance at ArchMadness.

 

[ISU86]

L

Evansville and Indy State have not ever had much of presence at Enterprise Center - even when they were in the championship games. Thus, they are immaterial in regard to fan attendance at ArchMadness.

Last time UE made the final, they were #2 seed and the semifinal session drew over 14K (and UE played InSU in that round); last time InSU made a final, semifinal just under 14K.

Last time we were in a final, the semifinal was under 9K; the year prior, with Wichita State (and we were #1 seed), semis were about 12K.

Considering there is now a curtain in front of the upper level, do not think we should be throwing stones.

 

[Bird Friend]

If we can't throw stones, what's a fan board good for? </sarcasm>