Valley News and More

Bradley's Strength of Schedule is now Top 30!!....They also have a Top 100 RPI!
BU is the only Valley team with even a TOP 100 SOS and TOP 100 RPI!!!
http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_mvc_Men.html


An interesting thing happened in the Wichita State-Missouri State game Wednesday -- an altercation occurred where a Missouri State fan gave a 2-handed shove to the Shockers' Toure Murry, shoving him into the cheerleaders.
This is really a classless act by the Missouri State fan/thug.
http://www.kansas.com/sports/story/1127518.html
(if anyone can find this clip on YouTube - let me know)

This is reminiscent of Central Illinois native Chas McFarland of Wake Forest being attacked by a classless Clemson fan!
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Video-Clemson-fan-tackles-Wake-Forest-player?urn=ncaab,135081&cp=2


SIU fans are ticked...they want to know why Chris Lowery didn't start Kevin Dillard, they are booing, and some are ticked that Chris Lowery is firing back and criticizing the crowd!
Saluki fans are booing...
but I have no sympathy at all for them...The Southern (their local newspaper) reports that with nearly 12 minutes to go when SIU fell behind by 22, the fans started en masse heading for the exits...
Gimme a break....what kind of fans are those?? Good riddance to them...
In my entire life I have never seen BU fans exit in large numbers that early!
http://www.salukitalk.net/st/viewtopic.php?t=30789
http://www.salukitalk.net/st/viewtopic.php?t=30837
http://www.salukitalk.net/st/viewtopic.php?t=30836


Here's a surprise comment from ESPN Chicago....
the guy says SIU head coach Chris Lowery is dangerously close to being canned and is an embarrassment to SIU fans!!!
read this...
"I have always liked SIU coach Chris Lowery, but he is dangerously following the Lovie Smith path. He was at the Sweet 16 a few years back but has really underachieved since getting his big contract. After six straight seasons of making the NCAA tourney under Bruce Weber, Matt Painter, and Lowery, the Salukis will probably make it three straight years of not making it to the dance. If Butler could stay on top through a few coaching changes, why couldn't SIU? Wednesday's loss to the University of Northern Iowa on ESPNU was an embarrassment."
http://espn.go.com/chicago/columns/blog/_/post/4806886/name/silverman


Anyone see the Michigan-Penn State game last night...I watched it at Buffalo Wild Wings, and Michigan trailed 31-16 at half and already looked beat!
But Michigan outscored PSU 48-24 in the 2nd half to win 64-55!
Penn State's Talor Battle sure didn't look all that good...4-12 overall and 1-6 from 3-pt. Penn State draws only about 5,000!!


As many predicted, Illinois' Joseph Bertrand appears to be going to redshirt-
http://pantagraph.com/sports/college/illinois/article_9e952c20-fbee-11de-9112-001cc4c03286.html


The Illinois game at Indiana is only a day away and Bruce Weber is reluctant to reveal his starting lineup - and won't answer questions about player personnel at all.
Where is the outrage from the Peoria press and message boarders who demand transparency and want to know these things...and claim the God-given right to know??
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=14247


One of the Pantagraph blogs stated that Dodie Dunson was out for the season with a "season-ending knee injury" - but that's obviously just a mistake as we all saw Dodie Wednesday night and his knee is fine!
http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/article_862ea3dc-fa63-11de-b105-001cc4c03286.html


DePaul is doing so bad (and now that Koshwal's back they can't use the excuse of their best player being out) that they really didn't need more bad news....or could this be good news in disguise?
Head coach Jerry Wainwright was knocked down in the last game by a diving player at the sidelines, and has reportedly sustained "a MCL tear and a fractured tibia."
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=430&f=2585&t=5421011
http://twitter.com/ZachZaidman

DePaul fans have long since bailed and really don't care...
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=430&f=2585&t=5415027

Although a lot of people have been touting Chicago native and Obama brother-in-law, and current Oregon State coach Craig Robinson as the potential next coach to replace Wainwright.
But that might be a real disaster as badly as Robinson (Michelle Obama's brother) is doing.
Oregon State just got blown out by Seattle by 51 points!
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=14241


Did you see where a hacker broke into and disrupted the Big East Conference phone in press conference??
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/1407/hacker-invades-jim-calhoun-conference-call


There's turmoil at Quincy University! Quincy, home of Peoria's Josh Edwards, has had two players suddenly leave this past week.
First Billy Hayes leaves, likely over the issue of playing time..
then a much higher-level player, Larry Dumas, has now bolted. Dumas was a pretty good player out of high school, who went to WIU. But he bolted when that coach left and Molinari took over. Then he went to Southeastern CC in Iowa (where John Wilkins is)and was a key player with Dwight Buycks, Dwight Hardy, and Laron Dendy....but then took the D-II scholarship to Quincy.
He hasn't played yet at Quincy since he's been in so much legal trouble after beating up another student.
He kinda sounds like a poor-man's Ryan Hare.
http://www.whig.com/story/sports/Dumas-gone-for-1-8-10
http://www.whig.com/story/news/Dumas-for-10-27-09


BTW- Quincy is actually doing pretty well...they are 14-0, with only 5 games even closer than double digits, and no game closer than a five-point win!
Ex-ICC Billy Baptist is their best player, Josh Edmonds averages 8 ppg.
http://www.quincy.edu/Athletics/MBasketball/0910mbbstats_003.HTM


The Cornell-Kansas game was interesting....Cornell, a good team, almost went to Lawrence, KS and knocked off the Jayhawks. Only a phenomenal game by Sherron Collins prevented the upset.
Kansas goes to Tennessee Sunday, and it looks like Tennessee will play without their four gun/drug criminals but only one was a starter...I am sure Bruce Pearl will give alibis of how shorthanded they are. But the shorthandedness is really due to Pearl janking scholarships from Daniel West, Josh Tabb, Duke Crews, Ramar Smith, Josh Childress, Tony Passley, Cordell Passley, and many others (including all the druggies he recruited) while playing walk-ons like his son Steven Pearl and ex-Saluki Josh Bone....all the while going hot after every available disgruntled transfer - almost as passionately as Tim Jankovich & Chris Lowery do.
Remember - it was Bruce Pearl's lust for the instant help he got from the talented Iowa transfer Tyler Smith, that has now blown up in his face!!
This is just another of the special favor NCAA waiver players who didn't have to sit out a year when transferring that has totally backfired in a kind of karma-payback!


Ex-USC commit and now Mississippi State freshman Renardo Sydney still hasn't been cleared by NCAA as it is obvious that his family was taking illegal benefits from agents and living in a $1.2 million California home, and none of the family will release the records to prove what they claim.
Think of it...if even chronically cheating USC cut the kid loose, he must be a total loss, but the NCAA is still looking for ways to clear the kid...
had the kid gone to a mid-major, he'd have been closed out long ago - trust me!
http://www.sportingnews.com/college-basketball/article/2010-01-08/attorney-mississippi-state-mishandling-renardo-sidneys-eligibi