5 Arch Madness Match-Ups I Want to See

St. Louis, MO – It is my favorite time of the year because it’s time for ‘Arch Madness’, the Missouri Valley Conference’s end-of-the-season basketball tournament. ‘March Madness’ genuinely tips off each Spring in St. Louis! With the tournament upon us I have five match-ups I can’t wait to see!

1. SNIPERS OR PICK-POCKETS?  In the very first game of the tournament we have two teams that have completely different strengths, so the question is which strength prevails?  Bradley’s amazing improvement over last season can be traced to one thing…THEY ARE THIEVES! The Braves are the eighth most prolific stealing team in the nation at almost ten thefts per game. Conversely they play a Drake team that is the eighteenth best three point shooting team in the land. So, who wins?  The snipers or the pick-pockets?

2. PAYBACK IS A … BUMMER – Game two brings us to my second desired match-up.  Southern Illinois Head Coach Barry Hinson (who is one of my favorite people in sports) returns to the STL for the first time as a head coach since 2K8 and who does he meet but his former team, the Bears of Missouri State! Barry couldn’t possibly have added motivation in that one could he? The affable and entertaining Hinson has his Salukis playing their best basketball of the season at the right time!

3. HEAT CHECK! Do you like offense?  I would love to see Evansville and regular season champion Creighton meet Saturday in the semi-finals. Why?  Two of the league’s all-time best scorers would be on the floor in the same game. Evansville’s Colt Ryan has been shredding the MVC nets for four years and has accumulated the seventh most points in 106 years of  MVC history. Larry Bird Trophy winner Doug McDermott of Creighton is a finalist for National Player of the Year honors because he is second in the nation in scoring. He’s just a Junior and is twelfth on the Valley’s all time scoring list. He will move into the top ten sometime this weekend. The over/under for these two players would be set near 60 and that may be too low.

4. HOME COOKING – Perhaps the best two St. Louis based players in the Valley meet in the quarter-finals when Northern Iowa tangles with Illinois State. U-N-I’s leading scorer is Normandy High School’s Anthony James. He’s averaging near 13 points per game and is bouncing back from an injury that probably cost the Panthers a chance to contend for the league title. I-S-U’s Bryant Allen is one of the best athletes you’ll ever see.  The Maplewood High product was a stud football and basketball player at the prep level and attempted to play both sports at Minnesota. He transferred to play for the Redbirds and scores nine points per game and is the MVC’s ‘fastest man’.

5. BIG BOY CLASH – As much as I love upsets and Cinderella stories, I want to see a championship game that includes the Valley’s Giants – Wichita State and Creighton. Both spent several weeks in the national rankings this season and neither really like each other. The Shockers pride themselves on taking you off your game and in the season finale, McDermott torched them for 42 points in a Blue Jay win that decided the regular season title. Their records are an identical 24 and 7.  They split their two games and own virtual identical RPI measurements. The winner assures themselves a dance ticket for the NCAA post-season tournament and all kinds of ‘king of the hill mojo’ in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Those are the match-ups I want to see.  What do you want to see? We’ll follow up on your suggestions!

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