Let's get this discussion started...

With the release of several of the preseason college basketball magazines, surely college basketball talk will heat up....and I can't wait!

This is the season I like the best...and I am going to try to help get the talk started......

I am going to hype and promote all the other message boards in the Missouri Valley and encourage all the fans of MVC teams to get on board and get involved in the discussions. I enjoy it and I think it's what actually gets my mind functioning better, more focused, and MORE efficient!!

A good fan site and message board is a MUST in this day and age to keep a team's fan base and enthusiasm built up...it's no wonder the teams with the best fans and biggest crowds also have the best message boards....and I can assure you the teams themselves and the folks that run the athletic programs really appreciate when there's a well run board and fan site. They also agonize when there's a poorly run one as they generally won't have control over all the backstabbing and bickering.
And kudos to all the folks at the vaious Valley sites who put in their time, efforts, and even money to do the message boards. They are good fans and giving something worthwhile to their team.


Bradley's message board:
www.BradleyFans.com
...is the busiest board in the Valley and although there are a few trollers and flamers, mostly it allows opposing views, but moderates well to keep the foul mouthed and haters off.
I know I'm biased, but there's pretty good info on BradleyFans.com on all of the Valley and even elsewhere in college basketball, and I am not the only one who thinks so -- I have been told that personally by plenty, including D-I head coaches who admit they check in often!
The presence of many fans of opposing Valley teams is likewise proof that they all find BF.com the best place to be....
And I am independent in this process of reviewing the boards, because contrary to a few uninformed people, I don't run it, don't control it, and don't moderate it!
http://bradleyfans.com/

Creighton's board - generally pretty good...the Bluejay fans are pretty positive and you don't often see attacks on other posters or other teams and their fans, although once in a while a post goes off with a bunch of attacks, and it seems like forever that they let it run and don't moderate.
Seems to have lost a lot since going to their new Rivals format -- they have a premium board that has split the fan base into two different groups (sorta have's and have-not's) that seem to have issues with each other...and the premium board is as dead as can be!
Pretty good coverage on various recruits, but little on the stuff happening at other Valley schools. But they really do have great fans that are enthusiastic and fill the arena!
http://creighton.rivals.com/forum.asp?sid=1209&fid=2688

Drake's board - my vote for the best and classiest of the boards that aren't very busy.
The people on the Drake board are as positive towards their team as any other Valley board. They just don't have a lot of activity and info as to what's going on..someone needs to sneak into a practice and give a report!! But I like Drake and I like the Drake fans -- I have never seen anything childish or inappropriate there, they do a great job.
If Drake wins a bunch then this board will heat up...
One thing everyone notices about Drake's fan -- they are always as polite and classy towards the fans of other teams as you'll see anywhere. They are classy and fans elsewhere can surely take a lesson from them.
http://www.drakenation.com/Forum8-1.aspx

Evansville - really slow -- a new thread every 4-5 days at most...sad....
but the few fans who are regulars are pretty well informed...they just don't talk much about the various hot college basketball that get discussed on most message boards... It might still be far away, but Evansville really needs a coiuple GOOD, winning years to boost the fan base back up where it ought to be. I'm pulling for them to surprise people and knock off a couple of the league's favorites!
http://www.thepurplecode.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=6a9543ff569ea59788864953007dfa50

ISU - Although like anywhere else, they do have good fans, they also have the most reactive fan base of anyone...they blow up over just about anything. For decades they have been largely more about attacking everyone else than supporting their own team, but even in big winning years, they still attack their own team a lot.
Typically they blame everything that goes wrong on one single Bradley fan who they don't seem to like.
They even find obscure posts on message boards I have never heard of and blame them on their scapegoat. But that's totally OK because it's draws them down and draws their attention away from what they should be doing -- supporting their own team. It even seems to deflect any criticism that have away from opponents' players and coaches..and as long as they hate on some nameless, obscure fan, then they are the embodiment of the old saying...
"bitterness destroys the vessel that holds it".
If the guy they obsess over had even half the powers they attribute to him, he'd be Superman. Were they to actually take a solid interest in their own team, they'd find that there's lots to discuss. Most times there's more ISU people on the Bradley board than there are here -- so what gives?
But.... then it's the way ISU basketball is since the Donewald era...always being more anti-everyone else than they are pro-their own team.
I have interacted with thousands of Valley fans in the decades I have been a BU fan, and yet I have yet to find an ISU fan who isn't a BU-hater first then an ISU fan second. Even their signatures and avatars are all about their obsession with Bradley instead of their own team. Then they have the gall to act freaked out when their own team has issues and someone else notices.
Even some of their "best" long-time fans are bailing. The guy who had run their message board quit and closed down -- even wanting nothing to do with anyone who wished to step in and take over. He took his board and went home -- but another has sprung up at a different URL.
Strange.... and then one ISU fan who ran a board in BU's back yard also just bailed and hung 'em up, left the room, and went into hiding.
Better get ready for the fallout if they actually have a season where they fail to win 25 games or get a little scrutiny. I see a lot of similarities between Jank & Bruce Pearl...
http://www.redbirdfan.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=6

Indiana State's board - they have two boards, one of which is antiquated and nearly flat-lined..
The other is pretty good - but just doesn't have a lot of traffic.
However -- they shoot themselves in the foot in more ways than one..
First -- Indiana is the basketball hotbed of the universe....this should by all rights be the most active message board in the Valley.
BUT -- they force you to register and log into their system each time you want to even view a single post for a single second.
This is a huge pain in the neck and it keeps me from wasting my time there...and obviously it keeps a ton of other people away, too. Most of their posts sit for weeks with few responses and also amazingly few views!
Also - as slow as it is - it is self-defeating to split their discussions into so many different forums...Basketball, Recruiting, Women's Basketball, Football, Football Recruiting, Baseball, even Track & Cross Country have their own forum..which of course sits virtually idle for months until competition starts.
They have everything they need to develop a great and active message board, but need to tweak it a bit to get there.
http://members.boardhost.com/isuhoopforum/
http://www.sycamorehoops.com/forumdisplay.php?f=3

Missouri State's board - this board's getting busier all the time, and has a good format..
The Bears fans definitely keep up on all the happenings in and around the Valley and I think their people have done a great job with this board.
Bickering and petty negativity is minimal. Their guys have done a very good job. Someone in Terre Haute should ask these guys to help them with their board.
http://www.msubearnation.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?7-Bears-Basketball

UNI - they have a lot of forums on their board to sort through but if you can find your way to the basketball board, it's actually pretty good.
But for a team that's been at the top of the MVC for 6-8 years, I am stumped why it is so slow.
Precious few of the threads are relevant to what's going on and lots just say things like "let's go team" or "just two more months 'til practice"...
The only thread for the past two weeks about their current team is the one about O'Rear but that's news from JUNE!!!
Lastly -- someone needs to check or clean up their sticky'ed threads....you gotta wonder just how many people are still anxious to repeatedly check that sticky'ed thread at the top from April of 2008 talking about the 2008-2009 schedule, since the most current post in that thread was over a year ago.
Speaking of ancient discussion that's endlessly sticky'ed to the top of the board, thankfully with the change in format at the ISU board they finally lost their endless sticky's about Margaratiaville and 2008 schedules....
http://www.panthernation.com/forumdisplay.php?f=8

SIU's board-- a lot of negativity -- and largely attacking their own team -- this stuff should get deleted...
Nobody needs to wallow in that and it's killing their board.
The SIU board used to be the 2nd most active among all Valley boards..now they rarely even have anything new..
Teams desperately need fans that stick with 'em even in down years, but it's obvious to some teams and many fans that such a thought is foreign.
I guess this was predictable since some of the Saluki fans have been the most vicious and hostile fans in the Valley for years -- now they're turning it all on themselves..instead of on Bradley and everyone else...
http://www.salukitalk.net/st/viewforum.php?f=1

Wichita State - this is a really great board and I enjoy going there...
Well run, well moderated...don't see fans trashing themselves and other fans..
(the bad apples who do the non-stop trashing look for places like ValleyTalk or MVCfans)
Even when they encounter something on another board they disagree with the ones on Shockernet seem to have an ability that's lacking elsewhere in the Valley -- they can discuss it without feeling horribly offended and ripping back at the other team's fan or fans.
In addition the guy who seems to be in charge, tropicalshox has by far the best info to be found just about anywhere in the Valley -- and has done his homework...
so - of the non-Bradley boards, this one is the best by far....great job guys.....
http://www.shockernet.net/sn/viewforum.php?f=1




Also --for you ISU fans, nice to see that even your own people now confirm what we've known all along....that Jank hired Paris Parham as a package deal to stroke King O and keep him at ISU... Not that it mattered, but nice that the truth is confirmed.
Even more reason to just read the news on BF.com instead of waiting a couple years to see it confirmed on RBF.com
And have you seen all the talk by Osiris about his gf?? Is he getting married??
And the talk about his injury and getting stitches?? There's some really good sources that follow his team minute by minute - and their season's getting started. With his NBA caliber talent - he should be able to lead the team in most every category...

Oh -- and a lesson on efficiency....
a full week has 168 hours, right?? And even if a guy has a job that generally takes 60-75 hours a week, if he's efficient than he can get those 60 hour's worth of work done in a little less, say -- just 48 hours or so...
So if you can do all the work you need for a challenging but nice, lucrative career in just 48 hours per week...then by even a 1st grader's calculation, that still leaves 120 hours a week remaining -- so that's 5 full days to do everything and anything else you want! Not bad having the equivalent of 5 days a week off!! Remember that next time you're inclined to say you don't have time for anything else.