Basketball

Southern Illinois - St Louis

Ok, I beat this drum often.  St Louis fits in the Missouri Valley.  They should be in the Missouri Valley.  Put them and Butler (who is way too good of a program to be stuck in the shitty Horizon) in the conference.  I'm not a big advocate of 12 team conferences as I grew up with, and still love the round-robin nature of conference play, but this makes sense.  It drives me a little crazy that St Louis plays in the ATLANTIC 10, when they have naturally geographically correct rivalries throughout the Missouri Valley.  The Missouri Valley has great interest and support in the area and this would made it even stronger.  St Louis ended the first half on an 8-0 and ended the second half on a 10-0 on its way to a 5 point victory.  I am a lucky stunned about what to do make of Southern Illinois at this point.

Arkansas - Missouri State

An interesting game for me.  Arkansas hasnt lived up to expectations in the games I have seen and Missouri State is an unknown to me this year in an always competitive Missouri Valley (that might be down a tad this year.)  Missouri State already has wins over UNCG  and Winthrop squads that have been under consideration for my Mid Major Top 10.  Also, they have a win over the Rick Majerus -led St Louis team and a close loss to potential sleeper Toledo.  Missouri State led early in the game by taking advantage of open lanes to the basket.  The Razorbacks had a 13-2 run at the end of the first half to help them go into halftime with a 5-point lead. Missouri State fell out of contention in the second half as they only shot 20% from the field.  Former Wake Forest recruiting target Patrick Beverley had a horrible night shooting.