The MVC Rundown

Southern Illinois gave Kansas a hell of a battle, and Tony Young’s long three-pointer at the buzzer nearly forced overtime, but Kansas prevailed Thursday night in San Jose, 61-58.

So the long offseason starts, but for some Valley programs, it had already begun several days prior.

Gone are coaches Porter Moser (Illinois State, fired), Steve Merfeld (Evansville, resigned), Tom Davis (Drake, resigned) and Royce Waltman (Indiana State, fired).

None of those moves are particularly shocking, and if nothing else, represents the demand for success that MVC schools are looking for.

Kansas is going to be just too much tonight.

Throw in the fact that SIU probably won’t get an effective Matt Shaw, along with the amount of depth and talent Kansas has, and it’s probably not going to be a close game.

As much as we dislike predicting this, the Ledger says Kansas wins 65-52.

Southern Illinois forward Matt Shaw will probably be sitting on the bench during Thursday’s regional semifinal matchup with Kansas.

Though Shaw not playing against Virginia Tech in the second round game didn’t seem to matter (SIU won by 15), it wasn’t because Shaw’s replacement did well.

Tony Boyle scored no points on one field goal attempt, had three rebounds and committed four fouls in just 20 minutes of action.

Thankfully the other starting four regulars had very solid games, most notably Jamaal Tatum and Tony Young hit more three-pointers than they missed, and the Salukis rolled.

For the second straight year, the Valley has at least one team headed to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament.

Southern Illinois is headed to what most call the Sweet Sixteen, after beating Virginia Tech for the second time this season.

The Salukis face Kansas this Thursday in the West regional semifinal in San Jose, Ca.

All of this was accomplished after losing Matt Shaw at the halftime buzzer of the first-round win over Holy Cross on Friday. Shaw hurt his ankle and was questionable for Sunday’s game, but didn’t play. It was the first game the Salukis were missing a starter due to injury this season.

Please pardon the lack of content on the site. If you’re still reading, you’re a truly hardcore Valley hoops fan.

I write this from the Las Vegas airport. It’s a yearly tradition among some buddies of mine to meet up in Vegas and take in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

The Salukis drew a four-seed and an interesting matchup in the first round as they face 13-seed Holy Cross, the Patriot League champions.

It should be a low-scoring game, even more lower scoring than what typically one would expect when SIU hits the floor with its in-your-face defense.

The server that the Ledger runs on was compromised this weekend, and thus we weren’t able to do anything since Friday.

We’re back online and will continue coverage through the remainder of the season.

Not a good day for bubble teams.

Xavier and Nevada both lost, which allows an A-10 and WAC team a bid into the NCAA tourney, taking the spot of two hopeful at-larges.

Oklahoma St. pulled an upset of Texas A&M in the Big 12 quarterfinals. Some say the Cowboys need to win the Big 12 tourney to get in, but that was a big win and seriously increase their chances of an at-large.

About the only positives were Michigan, Georgia and Florida St. bowing out of their respective conference tournaments.

Three days until Selection Sunday, major conference tournaments are in full swing, and the Valley teams are stuck sitting around watching it all and hoping for the best.

Missouri St. is the only MVC team that has a justifiable reason to be sweating the bracket pairings on Sunday evening, but the Bears could be one of the final teams considered for an at-large bid into the NCAA tourney.

Breaking down what has to happen to optimize the Bears’ chances:

Teams that can’t lose their conference tourney

Memphis, Nevada, Xavier

Creighton’s in.

That’s all we know at this point. Five days until Selection Sunday, still several conference tournaments are yet to start, and the rest of the Valley has to wait to see their fate.

OK — Southern Illinois is in. But what seed? It’s hard to punish the Salukis for winning 13 of their final 14 games. Look for a four-seed, but SIU could feasibly end up with anywhere from a three-seed to a six-seed, depending on the moods of the tourney committee members come Sunday.

When Creighton played Southern Illinois in Omaha on Jan. 20th, the Salukis made Anthony Tolliver cry.

This time around, Tolliver returned the favor.

The burly forward scored 15 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as the Jays upended SIU 67-61 to win the Missouri Valley Conference tournament in St. Louis.

Tolliver’s success around the rim was due in large part to the absence of Salukis big man Randal Falker, who fouled out with just three points and 22 minutes of floor time.

Joining Tolliver in double digits for Creighton was Nate Funk, who had 19, and Nick Porter and Dane Watts, who had 15 and 12 points, respectively.