The MVC Rundown

Only four bids went to the “non-power” conferences this year, continuing the decline that began in 2005 after 12 mid-majors were at-larges in 2004.

There isn’t much more to say that hasn’t already been said by major media outlets and countless message boards.

Go Panthers!

One meaningful game today remains for bubble watchers around the nation — Mississippi State battles Tennessee for the SEC crown.

Should MSU win, that would be another “stolen” bid from the at-large pool, as the Bulldogs are not going to get in without the automatic. The Vols are currently 5½-point favorites.

There’s been a lot of talk about where Creighton falls into this cloudy picture of teams on and off the NCAA tourney bubble.

Bracketography has assigned the Jays a 47% chance of getting an at-large bid. Joe Lunardi at ESPN has Creighton as the second-to-last team in. NIT-ology also has Creighton in.

Not too many things went wrong yesterday, although a few late results were potentially troubling (USC, Baylor).

Bubble teams will be hoping these things happen today:

USC loses to Arizona State in the Pac-10 title game.

Auburn loses to Tennessee in the SEC title game.

Baylor loses to Missouri in the Big 12 title game.

All three of those teams are underdogs, although USC is only a slim one (1.5 points).

Utah St. beats Nevada to win the WAC. Although USU is still isn’t guaranteed an at-large if they lose, it would really make things murkier than they already are.

Creighton and fellow bubble members anxiously are following today’s games. Here’s a rundown of what to look for:

Memphis needs to win.

Virginia Tech losing was extremely key. Tough calls down the stretch in that one, as well. Hokie fans are surely not pleased.

South Carolina (in progress as this is typed) must lose. They trail by one point with 13:00 left.

Xavier needs to beat Temple. Should Temple win, the Owls almost assuredly jump ahead of Creighton.

Dayton needs to win. And then win tomorrow in the A-10 final, preferably against Xavier.

Cleveland St. snatched away one of the at-large spots from the “bubble teams” around the country when the Vikings upset Butler on its home court Tuesday.

Butler is a sure lock to get an at-large bid into the NCAA tourney, but couldn’t win the Horizon League tourney.

Pretty much everything else described yesterday has to fall into place exactly for teams like Creighton to have any shot at getting announced into the 65-team field on Sunday.

Northern Iowa clinched the MVC’s automatic spot into the NCAA tourney last weekend. The Panthers will most definitely be a tough matchup for anyone, and will probably earn a 13 seed.

This week will now prove to be another nail-biting sweat bucket for Creighton as they are relegated to hoping conference tournaments around America go like this:

In the ACC it’s Miami, Virginia Tech, Maryland and Boston College that can’t go deep in the ACC tournament. Maryland probably has the best chance as of right now, but anything less than two wins for all of these schools and they are probably all out.

What a game.

Creighton dominated for the first 25 minutes. Wichita dominated for the next 14:58.

On an inbounds play with 1.9 seconds left, Booker Woodfox hit a leaning 15-foot jumper as time expired, allowing the Bluejays to continue on their quest for the NCAA tourney. Creighton won 63-62.

The Shockers couldn’t do much right and found themselves trailing 47-25 with 15 minutes left in the game. Still trailing 61-53 with 1:45, they held the Jays scoreless until the final shot of the game.

With Arch Madness just around the corner, the Valley gears up for the last non-conference action of the regular season.

BracketBusters are here, and for the first time in a couple years, there are games that may actually affect at-large bid consideration.

Creighton is the only MVC squad with any hopes of an at-large. I wrote just a few days ago that it was going to be nearly impossible, but, there is strong opinion around the nation that the Bluejays are definitely in the running. Here’s a couple of interesting pieces:

www.thebracketbusters.com/?cat=4

content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=indystar&sParam=33433158.story

www.collegehoopsnet.com/gamenight-creighton-evansville-164570

Hello.

We here at the Ledger haven’t had the necessary quantity of time to keep regular articles posted, but wanted to let any random hoop junkies know that we are paying attention to the state of the Valley.

It’s been a relatively mediocre season in the MVC, but you didn’t need magical insight to dream up that conclusion.

Illinois St. looked good in the non-conference itinerary. Er, maybe not. Strength of schedule was clearly ignored by coach Tim Jankovich — the Redbirds’ pre-MVC schedule was 319th in the nation.

Those wily Bulldogs streaked through the latter portion of the Valley schedule and ran through Arch Madness with seemingly no trouble.

How good is this Drake team? Regardless of NCAA tourney results, this team is solid.

Then there’s Illinois State. Every expert had them penciled in for an at-large as long as they made the MVC finals.

Well, that happened, on top of a few other upsets around the country (South Alabama, San Diego), and it’s all up in the air. And there’s still several conference tournaments left where rogue substandard big-conference teams can get hot and win a few games to steal away at-large bids from bubble teams.