Live Blog
ISU vs. Wichita St.
Chat with Pantagraph sportswriter Jim Benson before the ISU men's basketball game.
- Welcome to Redbird Arena! ISU will entertain the 19th-ranked Wichita State Shockers. Wonder what the excuse is for a small crowd tonight. Opponent no good? Wrong. Bad weather to travel? Wrong. Ash Wednesday? Yeah but most church services are already done, aren't they? Parking? Yeah, it's always parking. Ahhhh .... let the questions begin.
- Former ISU player Dana Ford is here tonight as a Wichita State assistant coach. Wichita State associate head coach Chris Jans was an ISU assistant under Porter Moser. Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall already is out watching warmups. Some head coaches come out before games, others don't. It's about 50-50. Tim Jankovich stays in the locker room, I guess writing out plays and last-minute instructions.
- John Wilkins is always smiling, even while doing "slide jacks" warmup drills with strength coach Jim Lathrop.
- Jim, what do you think the Birds chances are tonight?
- I'm going to say ISU has a 25 percent chance of winning. Call me crazy, but I think this ISU team has another gear we haven't seen yet this season. Maybe it will take a victory over an opponent like Wichita State for them to reach that gear. Maybe they won't reach it until next season. I would really like to see Tyler Brown be aggressive from the start tonight. When he scores 18 or more points, ISU is 7-1. Brown has been battling a stiff back the past couple weeks. Hopefully, it's 100 percent tonight. He seems to be moving fine in warmups, but you never know.
- I think ISU will go back to its usual starting lineup tonight. That means Jon Ekey will be back as a starter instead of Anthony Cousin. They did that more for matchup reasons than anything against Oakland. Ekey responded with his best game in a while. Maybe they should keep him coming off the bench.
- Do you think a team other than Creighton or Wichita St can realistically win the championship in St Louis?
- I really think Wichita is going to be very difficult to beat in St. Louis. This is a team that has been right there the past couple years. I think they want to finish the job. A team on Thursday won't win, just too hard (I know, UConn won five games in five days last year, but Kemba Walker nowhere to be found in bottom four of Valley). I think the teams seeded Nos. 3 and 6 have the best chance to win because they wouldn't have to play Wichita until the final. The way Creighton is stumbling home, the 3-6 winner stands a good chance of getting in the final.
- Let me tell you this: Wichita is out warming up and they have the physical build of a Big Ten or Big East team. I covered the Big Ten for 18 years so I know what that looks like. Gregg Marshall has done an outstanding job putting this program back together. Hands down Valley coach of the year. Should be uanimous. Hey, I don't see Stutz warming up. Do you think ...
- Hello from Baltimore where we had another 60 plus degree Feb day! I loved the article today about the game from Feb. 4, 1982. Wichita really had some players in that day. Question...Can you discuss the tie breaker for the MVC?
- Randy Kindred wrote that story and is sitting next to me. I passed on your compliment. The Valley tiebreaker is head to head competition first, then nonconference strength of schedule second. If four teams tie for a spot, which easily could happen, the teams' records against each other is first tiebreaker. If still tied, then nonconference SOS. That could be real bad for ISU. The Redbirds only have better nonconference SOS than Southern and the Salukis are almost locked in as No. 9 seed. ISU has been getting hurt the last couple weeks with Illinois and Rutgers going down the tubes. Plus, it would have helped if ISU played one or two other quality non-conference teams. Oh, the scheduling fight is back!
- ISU could finish in four-way tie for fourth with Drake, Evansville and UNI. If that happens, the teams all split against each other. ISU's non-conference SOS is the worst of the four. That means Redbirds would be No. 7 seed and have to play Bradley at 8:30 p.m. Thursday in play-in game. Ugh
- You said exactly what I thought. If ISU, Evansville, Drake and No Iowa tie at 9 and 9 then we are last, 7th. Lets hope for a few upsets which almost always happen.
- Actually, Southern Illinois could be ISU's best friend. If the Salukis win tonight at Drake or Saturday at home vs. UNI, the Redbirds should be safe in top six ... provided they don't stumble at Bradley. I just saw Ben Simons is probably going to play for Drake tonight. That probably means SIU is gonna lose tonight and will need to beat UNI on Saturday. That could happen. Best thing would be for ISU to win tonight. If ISU wins two this week and Missouri State loses one, ISU actually would be No. 3 seed. What are the chances of that happening?
- I would rate that at 25% or less. However, there are some other games that could go our way. Notably, MSU at Evansville. Depending on how we do tonight, we could be for either team come Saturday.
- I think if ISU loses tonight and Missouri State wins to clinch the No. 3 seed, the Bears won't have much incentive and will lose at Evansville. The Aces have to be sick after losing that game at Creighton last night. That was a punch in the stomach kind of defeat. Evansville had that game!
- Stutz is out on the court. Oh, well ...
- I would not think a MSU win tonight would clinch the 3. Some of the 8-8 teams will win and MSU will still have pressure on Saturday
- The Springfield (Mo.) reporter tweeted that the Bears would clinch No. 3 seed with win tonight and ISU lose based on tiebreaker with Drake at 10-8. MoState and Drake split and MoState better SOS. Evansville and ISU would be 8-9 going into Saturday.
- Officials tonight are Zelton Sneed, Hal Lusk and Jeff Campbell.
- Maybe you or Randy could do a review of ISU 30 years in the MVC. Championships, records against all opponents, etc. I am thinking we may have a winning record against everyone except maybe Wichita and Creighton and we are close against them.
- That might be interesting. I'll keep it in mind. Shouldn't take that long.
- Have a good night and GO BIRDS and I hope to see you in STL!
- Hopefully, we will still all be in St. Louis on Saturday afternoon!
- I can tell eight of you are on here. Surely, you have a question, observation, rant, etc. I can take it!
- Chris Jans looks like a politican shaking hands with various fans at Redbird Arena. Basketball secretary Sue Gerike is talking with him now. Chris is a good guy and is doing a great job at Wichita. You have to wonder if Marshall will be on the radar screen of some BCS programs (Illinois?) after this season. I would think so.
- Do you think Jank's coaching philosophy has changed since he took over as head coach? Seems like he is a little more hands on this year.
- I definitely think Jankovich is more hands-on this season, mainly because of the team's inexperience. I hate saying inexperience because this is game No. 29. Nine minutes to tip and this place pretty empty. I don't get it.
- I am with you guys tonight. I say we ride these Shockers like a rented mule.
- Hah! Ekey is back in starting lineup.
- Well, time to get to work. Thanks for participating. We will do again at noon Saturday from Peoria. You can follow my game reports at twitter.com/Pg_Benson and track scores at pantagraph.com/scores. Be good!
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