2008 Woodie Awards
Give some love to the Valley
Nelson Gray
Issue date: 3/4/08 Section: Sports
The Missouri Valley Conference is legit. They've put out great, competitive basketball teams for a decade, and they'll continue to do so for years to come. So why is it that they still get no love? They're still lumped into the category of a mid-major conference, yet they have been consistently knocking off larger, more established basketball programs in the NCAA tournament. It took Gonzaga 10 years of running over opponents like Stanford, Louisville and Florida and into the Sweet 16 before they finally were able to drop the label as a Cinderella Story, and it appears that the Missouri Valley is stuck in that same boat.
Good basketball programs continue to surface and stay afloat in the Missouri Valley, like notable giant killers Creighton and Southern Illinois, but it always seems like a new team from the Valley is giving a college basketball goliath a run for its money. The Valley has been putting out consistent products for years, yet they continue to be slighted by analysts and fans alike. Take a look at some of the programs that make up this conference.
Creighton: The highest profile coach in the conference, Dana Altman, has put this program on the map. They are one of only nine teams with 20 or more wins in the last nine seasons. With an average attendance that ranks 13th in the nation, their fans have obviously noticed the program's success.
Southern Illinois: Perhaps the most successful program come tournament time, the Salukis have five tournament wins since 2002 when they galloped into the Sweet 16.
Bradley: Though they're far from being considered consistently successful, nobody will soon forget their 2006 upset of the Kansas Jayhawks in the first round and the Pitt Panthers in the second round as a 13 seed.
Missouri State: Even a team like Missouri State has proven they can hang with the big boys when they were a 12 seed and topped both number five Wisconsin and number four Tennessee before being ousted in a Sweet 16 appearance of their own.
Good basketball programs continue to surface and stay afloat in the Missouri Valley, like notable giant killers Creighton and Southern Illinois, but it always seems like a new team from the Valley is giving a college basketball goliath a run for its money. The Valley has been putting out consistent products for years, yet they continue to be slighted by analysts and fans alike. Take a look at some of the programs that make up this conference.
Creighton: The highest profile coach in the conference, Dana Altman, has put this program on the map. They are one of only nine teams with 20 or more wins in the last nine seasons. With an average attendance that ranks 13th in the nation, their fans have obviously noticed the program's success.
Southern Illinois: Perhaps the most successful program come tournament time, the Salukis have five tournament wins since 2002 when they galloped into the Sweet 16.
Bradley: Though they're far from being considered consistently successful, nobody will soon forget their 2006 upset of the Kansas Jayhawks in the first round and the Pitt Panthers in the second round as a 13 seed.
Missouri State: Even a team like Missouri State has proven they can hang with the big boys when they were a 12 seed and topped both number five Wisconsin and number four Tennessee before being ousted in a Sweet 16 appearance of their own.
Be the first to comment on this story