MVC Hoops 2019-2020

[VUGrad1314]

Rumor has it McCarty's replacement is going to be Todd Lickliter, former Butler coach who took the Bulldogs to a pair of Sweet 16s a pair of NITs (both of which they won a game) and won at least a share of three conference titles. He also won National Coach of the Year in 2007. Beauty out of ashes. This is a home run hire if true!

It's true! Here's the confirmation!

https://twitter.com/UEAthletics_MBB/status/1219826276602609665?s=20

[VUGrad1314]

A reminder that this means that a former National Coach of the Year is going to be coming to the ARC in about a week. It doesn't really feed into the Butler rivalry because he had left before we got to the HL but the fact that he is a former Butler coach might motivate some fans to come watch. He essentially built the foundation of what Stevens took to the highest heights (not to denigrate or take anything away from Brad Stevens at all but he had a firm foundation from Collier and Lickliter from which to work that is beyond dispute.)

[VUGrad1314]

I'll definitely be tuning in. This should be a good episode.

https://twitter.com/FatherHarry1/status/1219835189045735424

[wh]

A reminder that this means that a former National Coach of the Year is going to be coming to the ARC in about a week. It doesn't really feed into the Butler rivalry because he had left before we got to the HL but the fact that he is a former Butler coach might motivate some fans to come watch. He essentially built the foundation of what Stevens took to the highest heights (not to denigrate or take anything away from Brad Stevens at all but he had a firm foundation from Collier and Lickliter from which to work that is beyond dispute.)

He was great at Butler, but failed miserably at Iowa and was fired after only 3 seasons. That was 2010. He hasn't held a head coaching position since. I guess I'm wondering a few things. Why has no one has taken a chance on him until now? He's taking over a broken program at 64 years old. His recruiting connections are long gone. How long (if ever) will it take him to recruit competitive players?  Can he relate to today's players with such a big age gap?  Has the game itself passed him by? For the sake of the conference, I hope he does very well and wish him my very best. I just wonder.

[VUGrad1314]

I checked his Wiki page after Evansville hired him as an assistant and rechecked it when I thought he might be hired as a coach. Yes, he was a miserable failure at Iowa. The year after he was fired he became an assistant at Miami (OH) for a year then went on to coach Marian for three years (middling results) before becoming a scout for the Celtics between 2015-2018 so he has NBA connections which players will respect. Then of course he was an assistant to McCarty last year. It's not as glitzy and glamorous as the McCarty hire but it's still a splash. It's very possible the game has passed him by and I readily acknowledged that when I first brought up this possibility on MVCfans right after McCarty was placed on leave BUT he got a taste of what the game is like now last year so he's not coming in completely cold. He's also worked in the NBA very recently as I mentioned before. He has stayed involved in the game and has no doubt seen how it has evolved in recent years. I look at the hire this way: Maybe the names and accolades of the players he brings in won't be as flashy but he's going to coach them up and Evansville is going to become a very tough team to play against. They could become like UNI has historically been: not the most talented team, but extremely well-coached and a massive pain to play against. His Butler teams were like that. Some coaches are just well-suited for mid-major hoops and don't do well in big time conferences and I think Lickliter is one of those guys. I've said this before and I'll say it again: if I was looking to revive or resurrect a program or keep momentum going in a reinvigoration project, basically if my program was at the stage Evansville's is at now, I would love to have a coach with Lickliter's resume leading me especially knowing that all of the off court stuff under McCarty is done for good. If he was an available candidate he would be among my first calls if not my first call. I think this is a dream hire for Evansville and the program and the conference will be better for it. He'll run a good program. He'll run a clean program. And he'll get the most out of the talent he recruits. Of these things I feel very sure.

[bbtds]

It has dawned on me this morning that if you want a good answer on why SLU doesn't want to go back to the Missouri Valley the perspective that would be good would be Brandan Wiese. He's a graduate of CBC HS (Christian Brothers College High School) one of the preeminent catholic high schools in St Louis County. He grew up in St Louis during the time that SLU decided to move to the Atlantic 10. He knows the mystique of the SLU tradition among St Louis Catholics. His mother worked for Relevant Radio for many years which is the main catholic radio station over the whole country.

So if you happen to see Brandan Wiese at Arch Madness you could ask him "Why doesn't SLU move back to the MVC?"  I'm sure you would get a well thought out answer but in the end it's about feeling rated above the other teams in the conference.

[IrishDawg]

If Lickliter is going to have success at Evansville, his assistants need to fill the exact opposite role that he and Graves were supposed to play on McCarty's staff.  He's a nice guy, and a good X's and O's guy, but has never been great on the recruiting trail.

He's about as polar opposite personality-wise from McCarty, so will be interesting to see how this goes. Do hope he finds success there.

[VUGrad1314]

I don't expect Lickliter to clean house on the assistant front until the offseason when he has a chance to get the lay of the land and see what's available but off the top of my head both Chris Lowery and David Ragland are Evansville natives who are billed if I recall correctly as recruiters who are also much younger than Lickliter. Could be a good idea to have one or both on staff as a succession plan since Lickliter is in his 60s. This is a good stability hire to salvage and calm things down but it's obviously not a long-term solution.

[VUGrad1314]

It has dawned on me this morning that if you want a good answer on why SLU doesn't want to go back to the Missouri Valley the perspective that would be good would be Brandan Wiese. He's a graduate of CBC HS (Christian Brothers College High School) one of the preeminent catholic high schools in St Louis County. He grew up in St Louis during the time that SLU decided to move to the Atlantic 10. He knows the mystique of the SLU tradition among St Louis Catholics. His mother worked for Relevant Radio for many years which is the main catholic radio station over the whole country. So if you happen to see Brandan Wiese at Arch Madness you could ask him "Why doesn't SLU move back to the MVC?"  I'm sure you would get a well thought out answer but in the end it's about feeling rated above the other teams in the conference.

Thank you I will keep that in mind if I ever make it down to Arch Madness, but looking at the landscape of college basketball I kinda get it now. SLU has a huge budget that is more on par with the A10 than the MVC, they consider themselves a national university so the east coast recruiting exposure makes a lot of sense on fronts other than basketball especially when you factor in institutional fit. and it's clear from both the NET and Bracketology that the A10 is perceived more favorably than the MVC as a basketball conference. SLU has also shown that they have the ability to occasionally compete and be relevant in the A10 which was a reason why I figured they should move as well since I thought the travel was hurting them. In fact it wasn't the travel it was the level of coaching. Now that they have a decent coach they are unlocking their potential. What really swung me though was seeing the reasons why we would be in danger of losing Loyola to the A10 if the conference ever had an opening, because the reasons for Loyola to move align perfectly with the reasons for SLU to be there as nationally focused Jesuit institutions.

[elephtheria47]

Great hire for Evansville. Lickliter knows his basketball and he is as clean and integrity as they came,  which I'm sure Evansville is looking for at this moment.

[M]

Drake (-5) at Evansville feels like free money tonight...

Also, thank goodness they didn't hire Bryce

[VUGrad1314]

Watching Loyola tonight makes you really wonder what could have been with them had they started out healthy... They might have been an at large contender...

[VUGrad1314]

Now no less than UNI is getting absolutely run over in Carbondale... I'm glad that trip is out of the way for us and that should end any lingering feelings of upset about our performance down there. That team is incredible at home. This is both a testament to the depth of this conference and a disaster for our multibid hopes. Getting drilled like this will not look good on UNI's resume and they already took a bad loss.

[valpopal]

Southern Illinois barely holds on to beat UNI. Give them credit for holding home court, but they are also 0-7 on the road this year. Depending upon tomorrow's result against Missouri State, Valpo will either be tied for 4th or tied for 7th.

[VUGrad1314]

Southern Illinois barely holds on to beat UNI. Give them credit for holding home court, but they are also 0-7 on the road this year. Depending upon tomorrow's result against Missouri State, Valpo will either be tied for 4th or tied for 7th.

We need to lock in and get this win. It means so much. With UNI taking its second Q4 loss maybe I'm freed up to simply be a Valpo fan now because that is a massive blow to the hopes for a multibid MVC. I still think this conference will get there. There's too much depth and talent in this league for it not to. We just need to finish some of those near misses in the non-con.

[wh]

Southern Illinois barely holds on to beat UNI. Give them credit for holding home court, but they are also 0-7 on the road this year. Depending upon tomorrow's result against Missouri State, Valpo will either be tied for 4th or tied for 7th.

I see Green had a bad night - 6-15 FG for 16 points and 6 TO's.

[VUGrad1314]

He was great in the second half but missed a jumper that would have given UNI the lead with just seconds to go. His first half was utterly atrocious. Everybody but Berhow was terrible.

[bbtds]

Watching Loyola tonight makes you really wonder what could have been with them had they started out healthy... They might have been an at large contender...

So do you think they have any chance at all this season? Especially with the Final Four/Sister Jean factor going for them.

[NativeCheesehead]

I don't think Loyola is near as talented as they were for that run. But what they have is talent matched for their system, and complete buy in from the players. But hard to see the NCAA giving a team with a home loss to Coppin State an at large.

[bbtds]

Now no less than UNI is getting absolutely run over in Carbondale... I'm glad that trip is out of the way for us and that should end any lingering feelings of upset about our performance down there. That team is incredible at home. This is both a testament to the depth of this conference and a disaster for our multibid hopes. Getting drilled like this will not look good on UNI's resume and they already took a bad loss.

Final
UNI  66
SIU  68

It's become rather obvious that there are days that Northern Iowa doesn't shoot well on the road.

A.J. Green 3 for 7 from three and 3 of 8 from two. Isaiah Brown 2 of 8 from two and 0 of 3 from three. UNI had 16 turnovers.

[Just Sayin]

Southern Illinois barely holds on to beat UNI. Give them credit for holding home court, but they are also 0-7 on the road this year. Depending upon tomorrow's result against Missouri State, Valpo will either be tied for 4th or tied for 7th.

I see Green had a bad night - 6-15 FG for 16 points and 6 TO's.

I didn't think he was human. Did he miss any free throws?

[4throwfan]

Southern Illinois barely holds on to beat UNI. Give them credit for holding home court, but they are also 0-7 on the road this year. Depending upon tomorrow's result against Missouri State, Valpo will either be tied for 4th or tied for 7th.

We need to lock in and get this win. It means so much. With UNI taking its second Q4 loss maybe I'm freed up to simply be a Valpo fan now because that is a massive blow to the hopes for a multibid MVC. I still think this conference will get there. There's too much depth and talent in this league for it not to. We just need to finish some of those near misses in the non-con.

As was the case last year, there is simply a lot of parity in this conference, and as a result, multiple bids simply aren't coming soon.  Parity means a lot of great games in January, February, and early March, and much fewer games in late March.  That's the unfortunate bittersweet result of the parity.

[NativeCheesehead]

Being a multi bid conference is both the top of the conference being elite and the bottom not being a drag on everyone else.

[VUBBFan]

Southern Illinois barely holds on to beat UNI. Give them credit for holding home court, but they are also 0-7 on the road this year. Depending upon tomorrow's result against Missouri State, Valpo will either be tied for 4th or tied for 7th.

I see Green had a bad night - 6-15 FG for 16 points and 6 TO's.

I didn't think he was human. Did he miss any free throws?

He did miss one in this game, after making I believe 44 or so in a row.

[valpo64]

Multi bids  are fine, but I would much rather see good competition game in and game out throughout the season with good teams and parity.  Watching many good competitive games all year long beats seeing one and done in the NCAA tourney.