Big Week In the Valley

(St. Louis, MO) – Will Valley teams find presents or lumps of coal?  This week both the Missouri Valley and Ohio Valley conferences have huge opportunities to make their mark on the college basketball scene.

Signature non-conference wins are hard to come by and the opportunities only come along once in awhile. This week the leagues have several pre-Christmas chances to put a bow on their seasons.

The MVC picked up two such wins this past weekend when Wichita State took out the Southeastern Conference’s Tennessee and Northern Iowa bounced the Atlantic Ten’s VCU.  This week there are more challenges to meet.

There are none bigger than Missouri State’s Tuesday night visit to fourth ranked Louisville!  The defending champion Cardinals are flying high and nearly unbeatable at KFC Yum! Center and they have a Hall of Fame coach in Rick Pitino.

Missouri State is getting healthy at the right time. Both Marcus Marshall and Keith Pickens returned to the Bear line-up on Friday. The Bears are 8 – 1 and Louisville is 9 – 1. The game can be seen on ESPN2.

Meanwhile, the MVC’s best team, ninth ranked Wichita State goes on the road for more SEC action when they play at Alabama on ESPNU.

Wednesday Indiana State travel’s to A-10 favorite St. Louis, and Saturday Northern Iowa visits Virginia of the Atlantic Coast Conference and Evansville entertains Big East member Butler.

There are similar opportunities for the OVC.  Tuesday Austin Peay plays at the SEC’s Vanderbilt and Saturday not only will the Belmont ‘giant killers’ take on the mighty Kentucky Wild Cats in Lexington, but the red hot Redhawks of Southeast Missouri travel to Memphis for a game with the 14^th ranked Tigers. Remember, Belmont beat North Carolina in Chapel Hill earlier this year.

With the MVC having a better collective RPI than the OVC, there are several interesting games that include both leagues.  SIUC visits Murray State and Illinois State hosts Tennessee State.  Next Monday, the two Southern Illinois Universities collide when Edwardsville visits Carbondale.

These last three games will go a long way to declaring bragging rights between these neighboring conferences. Our two “Valley” leagues have split the first eight games played between them.

Do Good