MVC Hoops 2021-2022

[VUGrad1314]

Kicking this year's thread off with news of a good scheduling get for Indiana State! Though with the rebuild going on there and the quality Purdue has coming back it could be  tough going for the Sycamores.

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/1384142584096837639

[wh]

I don't recall if someone already covered this, but I'll mention it in case. Each unit from this year's tournament was worth $2,022,846 paid in increments over the next 6 years. By earning 5 units, the league made a whopping $10,114,230. That's more than a million dollars per program, less the league office's cut.  That is a load at a crucial time of need.

[valpo64]

And some want to expand the Valley with, in some cases, mediocrity?  I guess what I am saying is that  I don't want to share our money.  I am sure all 10 MVC schools can use the money generated from this past season, especially after the big revenue losses from the pandemic.

[VUGrad1314]

In not surprising news Cameron Krutwig is moving on. I was hopeful he would stay out of selfish desire for the MVC to have an easier path to multiple bids but it appears that he is moving to the next stage in his life. I wish him well! As someone wrote on MVCFans Krutwig might be a recruiting point to the rest of the conference: It's not where you do it it's how you do it. You can still be one of the best college players of all time in the MVC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXfPjPlR4Xk

[valpotx]

As he should.  He has a bright future in professional basketball

[vu72]

That is great news for Valpo and the rest of the league.  Several bigs who ate our lunch have departed, most recently Dusan Mahorcic at Illinois State (the Redbirds seem to be in a tail spin!) but also LaRavia and Tre Williams at Indiana State.  That combo killed us.

[EddieCabot]

I don't recall if someone already covered this, but I'll mention it in case. Each unit from this year's tournament was worth $2,022,846 paid in increments over the next 6 years. By earning 5 units, the league made a whopping $10,114,230. That's more than a million dollars per program, less the league office's cut.  That is a load at a crucial time of need.

This really highlights the benefits of Valpo moving to the MVC.  There was no team in the Horizon that was ever going to win a NCAA tourney game, so Valpo's move allowed them to cash in on the success of Loyola and Drake.

[justducky]

There was no team in the Horizon that was ever going to win a NCAA tourney game, so Valpo's move allowed them to cash in on the success of Loyola and Drake.

Well worded. Can we assume your careful phrasing was not just a clumsy accident? 

[VUGrad1314]

I don't recall if someone already covered this, but I'll mention it in case. Each unit from this year's tournament was worth $2,022,846 paid in increments over the next 6 years. By earning 5 units, the league made a whopping $10,114,230. That's more than a million dollars per program, less the league office's cut.  That is a load at a crucial time of need.

This really highlights the benefits of Valpo moving to the MVC.  There was no team in the Horizon that was ever going to win a NCAA tourney game, so Valpo's move allowed them to cash in on the success of Loyola and Drake.

There was one--us in 2016--but we'll never see how many that team would have won. Thanks Selection Committee! Honestly that made me not only advocate for a conference move (which we accomplished) and also hate Bubble Boeheim and Syracuse with a passion (even though they made the Final 4 that year which really burns me to this day. It makes me wonder if maybe we could have done the same or at least the Sweet 16 which would have been huge for us. I guarantee a Sweet 16 for us means more than a Final 4 means for Syracuse or at least as much.

[valpo95]

It may have been posted elsewhere, yet there is a very nice article on CBS Sports about Loyola's new coach Drew Valentine, as well as most of their key players returning. I didn't remember that Valentine is an Oakland graduate.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/loyola-chicago-hired-29-year-old-drew-valentine-to-take-over-a-top-mid-major-and-then-things-got-even-better/

[EddieCabot]

There was no team in the Horizon that was ever going to win a NCAA tourney game, so Valpo's move allowed them to cash in on the success of Loyola and Drake.

Well worded. Can we assume your careful phrasing was not just a clumsy accident? 

No, as 1314 pointed out, even the really good teams that Valpo had in the Horizon were going to get hosed by the NCAA (through seeding or no invite).  As shown this year, the MVC gets much more respect when it comes to selection and seeding for the tourney.

[IrishDawg]

No, as 1314 pointed out, even the really good teams that Valpo had in the Horizon were going to get hosed by the NCAA (through seeding or no invite).  As shown this year, the MVC gets much more respect when it comes to selection and seeding for the tourney.

Sure about that?  Maybe slightly more respect, but much more?  Loyola, a top 10-15 team by the analytics was given an 8 seed this year AFTER they had already made a F4 run.  Illinois State in 2017 was rated exactly right around where the 2016 Valpo team was by the analytics (around 40) and didn't get in at all either.

Maybe the best example of the disrespect for mid-major leagues in general is that Wichita State had 3 top 10-20ish teams from 2015-2017 and the best seeding they got was a 7 (they were a 10 and an 11 the other 2 years).  Again, after they'd already made a F4.  They were rated about 50 spots lower in a better conference this year and also got an 11 seed.

This is why I've consistently advocated for using some combination of the advanced metrics (since they obviously wouldn't want to favor just one) and just be completely done with the committee.

[FWalum]

No, as 1314 pointed out, even the really good teams that Valpo had in the Horizon were going to get hosed by the NCAA (through seeding or no invite).  As shown this year, the MVC gets much more respect when it comes to selection and seeding for the tourney.

Sure about that?  Maybe slightly more respect, but much more?  Loyola, a top 10-15 team by the analytics was given an 8 seed this year AFTER they had already made a F4 run.  Illinois State in 2017 was rated exactly right around where the 2016 Valpo team was by the analytics (around 40) and didn't get in at all either.

Maybe the best example of the disrespect for mid-major leagues in general is that Wichita State had 3 top 10-20ish teams from 2015-2017 and the best seeding they got was a 7 (they were a 10 and an 11 the other 2 years).  Again, after they'd already made a F4.  They were rated about 50 spots lower in a better conference this year and also got an 11 seed.

This is why I've consistently advocated for using some combination of the advanced metrics (since they obviously wouldn't want to favor just one) and just be completely done with the committee.

The more you give the Power 5 (or 6) The more they take. They wanted the NET analytics, said the RPI wasn't good enough and what happens? A Mid-Major is ranked #10 in the NET and #17 in the AP, meeting every criteria to be seeded no lower than a 5 seed and still gets an 8 seed... AN 8 SEED     If that had happened to a Power 5 (or 6) team it would have been THE story on ESPN, FOX Sports and CBS Sports, but as the Sporting News reported, after Loyola beat Illinois, "the outrage regarding the Ramblers' seed registered about 1.1 on the Richter Scale. It wasn't a big deal. It wasn't really even a deal." Nary a single major sporting outlet reported that, by almost all metrics, Loyola had been treated criminally by the selection commitee... until they manhandled Illinois. The selection committee is full of cronyism and corruption and either the selection criterion needs to change to be more objective (less of the "eye" test which is extremely biased toward the Power 5 (or 6)) or the committee should be eliminated.

Pie in the sky, journalist are in bed with the Power 5 (or 6) schools and will never call out the committee in any meaningful way that might advance the cause of Mid-Major programs.

[wh]

Here's how NET was presented in 2018:

"Along with NET and the quadrant system, here are the other criteria the committee considers during the selection process:

•An extensive season-long evaluation of teams through watching games, conference monitoring calls and regional advisory committee rankings;
•Complete box scores and results;
Head-to-head results and results versus common opponents;
•Imbalanced conference schedules and results;
•Overall and non-conference strength of schedule;
•The quality of wins and losses;
Road record;
•Player and coach availability; and
Various computer metrics."

In essence they now had a calculation that was even more favorable to major programs, coupled with a hodgepodge of subjective considerations in case NET alone didn't get the job done. I knew then and there that mids were going to get screwed worse than ever.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.si.com/.amp/college/2018/08/22/ncaa-net-ranking-system-rpi-replacement-explained

[VUGrad1314]

Pretty good field for UNI if I do say so myself. Looks winnable.

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/1389702639135465480

[humbleopinion]

Here's a nice overview of the portal and the MVC:

https://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/watch-now-transfer-madness-enters-mvc-basketball-since-arch-madness-ended/article_4f28d09d-bf2b-59ed-8320-3615be7351f7.html#utm_source=pantagraph.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletter-templates%2Fnews-alert&utm_medium=PostUp&utm_content=e2bfbcb15f126952f3365e91af68d55a79362868