OPINION |
Pardon this “get off my lawn” moment, but as a long-time college basketball observer — as a fan and media member — conference play should begin in January. Period. End of discussion.
Missouri Valley Conference games on the men’s side began on Tuesday night when Indiana State beat Southern Illinois. Four more Valley games are set for Wednesday night, Nov. 29, including Missouri State at home against Evansville. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. inside Great Southern Bank Arena.
It’s not even December yet, for crying out loud, but here we are playing games that will help seed the field for “Arch Madness” in St. Louis 99 days from now. This is a little bit like eating turkey and dressing along with a slice of pumpkin pie in September. Or running 10 laps of the Indianapolis 500 in February, then tossing the yellow and re-convening in May.
Valley expansion means more league games
Missouri State coach Dana Ford agrees and has since long before discovering he might not have his starting backcourt for the opener. The Bears play a second Valley game on Saturday, at pre-season league favorite Drake, then go back and play five non-conference games before 18 straight Valley games.
The Valley has plopped two league games into the middle of the traditional non-conference schedule since expanding to 12 teams before the 2022-23 season and opting for a 20-game schedule after three decades of a true round-robin 18 games.
In theory, the reasoning makes some sense. It avoids compressing an extra game into the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, plus having a three-game week in late January or early February. But playing 10 percent of the schedule by Dec. 2 also adds to the randomness as some teams are going to be a lot different on Nov. 29 than on Feb. 8 due to injuries and other factors.
Mason, Mayo will be game-time decisions against rejuvenated Evansville
As mentioned earlier, the Bears are far from healthy as they enter their first league game. Guards Alston Mason and Damien Mayo Jr. didn’t practice on Tuesday and will be game-time decisions. Promising freshman forward Tyler Bey remains out for another week or two with an MCL sprain in his knee. Missouri State will rely on Raphe Ayres and Dawson Carper to play more significant roles — and perhaps others if foul trouble or further injuries occur.
The timing couldn’t be much better for a rejuvenated Evansville program. The Purple Aces already have surpassed their victory total (five) from all of last season. Ben Humrichous, a senior transfer from NAIA Huntington University (coached by former Missouri State coach Steve Alford’s son, Kory), is averaging a team-leading 19 points.
This will be a key week for the Bears, with the home league opener and the trip to Drake. A year ago, Missouri State lost its home league opener on Dec. 3 to Bradley, making for an uphill climb and a month to stew over the defeat.
There is reason for cautious optimism with these Bears
Fans have been let down so often over the last decade that caution is advised, but … if the Bears are able to get healthy and stay that way … they should contend for a Valley title. The talent is there and the togetherness this team seems to have is enough for measured optimism, at the least.
Meanwhile, ready or not, the Valley schedule has arrived. Or at least an appetizer-sized portion of it.
“It kind of gets you in a different mindset,” guard Matthew Lee said of Valley play. “You’re a little more serious, even though we attack every game with seriousness. There’s more at stake. We just have to lock in and get some wins.”
Lady Bears still developing and evolving
Looking at the women’s side of the Valley, league play won’t begin until just ahead of New Year’s Day. The women play 20 games, but because the league tournament is a week later than the men’s the calendar is not as compressed.
The later start to Valley play is a good thing for the Lady Bears, who obviously need time to develop and evolve as a team. An 82-51 loss on Sunday at Oklahoma State was an eye-opener and a result that should bring a sense of urgency when Missouri State (2-2) returns to action at 6:30 p.m. Friday at home against Tulane.
Drury women are back in the NCAA-II rankings
Over at Drury, coaches change on the women’s basketball side but the beat goes on. Drury (6-0) climbed 11 positions on Tuesday in the latest NCAA Division II rankings and is No. 6 entering road games Thursday at Lewis and Saturday at Indianapolis.
New head coach Kaci Bailey, formerly head coach at Quincy, guided the Lady Panthers past her former school 81-56 on Monday. Bailey said afterward that it was challenging to return to Quincy.
“You could tell we were pressing and panicking early,” Bailey said. “We told them to settle down in every timeout and even at halftime, we looked frustrated, but I told them that we’re up 14, to relax, stick to the game plan, and make them work for four quarters. I thought we did that in the second half, and we wore them down.”
Transfer Beth Matas Martin, who played two seasons at Quincy and was a first-team all-Great Lakes Valley Conference selection last year before transferring to Drury, led with a game-high 20 points.
Drury entered this season with an all-time record of 607-118, with its winning percentage of .837 the best in NCAA-II women’s basketball. Drury has won 12 conference championships and five regional titles, and has advanced to the Final Four three times.
Bailey replaced Amy Eagan last spring when Eagan accepted the head-coaching job at Division I Lindenwood University, after the Lady Panthers’ 31-2 season.
Drury men off to a winning start
The Drury men also are off to a great start, taking a 5-1 record into games Thursday at Lewis and Saturday at Indianapolis. Freshman forward Juok Riak is averaging 16.7 points as the Panthers look for a big turnaround after going a combined 19-35 the two previous seasons. The next chance to catch Drury at home is Tuesday when the University of the Ozarks visits the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
