Creighton Wins MVC Tournament--Beats SIU 8-6 In Come-From-Behind Fashion (5/26)

[bluepower]

From worst to first! Crighton will take a 26-28 record into the NCAA Tournament! A travesty that will keep ISU out as a second pick from MVC likely to be Missouri State!

Creighton, who was 6-14 during the regular MVC season, won FIVE STRAIGHT games against MVC teams this week.

Creighton becomes the first to have bask-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tourney since Wichita Statedid it in the mid-ninties.

The only way ISU can make the NCAA field is if they choose three MVC teams.

NCAA brackets to be announced Monday at Noon (ET).

 

[Coach]

No travesty here. Just good hard "refuse to lose" play. Every team had the same opportunity & the last place team made the very best of it.

 

[bluepower]

No travesty here. Just good hard "refuse to lose" play. Every team had the same opportunity & the last place team made the very best of it.

I'm not taking anything away from Creighton by saying it was a travesty. Their coach said going into the tournament that they were wiping the slate clean and that they felt they had a shot at winning the whole thing. They did it. The circumstances are what made it a travesty. The top three seeds falling out so quickly. A 6-14 team winning five straight to basically block ISU's chances of getting into the NCAA Tournament--Had Missouri State been the winner and we having won a game or two in the tourney would likely assure us a spot. Now, all we can do is hope a 41 game win season and a conference championship will get us the second spot. With the MVC being the sixth strongest conference in the nation, we're likely to get two spots--something we haven't done in yeaers. But can we get three? We just have to wait (until noon Monday) and hope.

 

[BankShot]

OK...so is there a "lesson" or two to be taken from this MVC Creighton "rags to riches" story? In the future, should we just treat the MVC regular season as a "Spring Training" of-sort, in FULL PREPARATION for the MVC tournament? I've read pro & con on this thus far.

 

[Bluethunder]

Once again the regular season has been rendered irrelevant. I understand (still don't agree though) why they do this in basketball due to the money that can be made through television and ticket sales, however, I don't know why they do it in baseball. You play 50+ games across several months and then just throw it all out and essentially say "that was just practice for the tournament". Never have agreed with this, in any sport. However, money talks and common sense walks in most decisions that the NCAA makes.

 

[Coach]

Anyone here starting to feel for the teams that got left standing when our Sycamores stole the automatic bid in basketball year before last? I am sure all of them feel for us now.

 

[ISUWillWinTheMVCTitle]

Creighton becomes the first to have bask-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tourney since Wichita Statedid it in the mid-ninties.

Just a slight correction. WSU made the NCAA Tournament from 1984-2000 and 2002-2009. So the last time back-to-back teams to make the Regionals was 2009, not the mid-90s.

 

[Bluethunder]

Once again, I understand why it is done in basketball (ie money from tv and tix sales) but I just can't wrap my head around why they do it for baseball. Why play around sixty games if the last four or five are the only ones that matter? If the big boys want to do it since it won't impact whether or not their top teams make the tournament, go for it. However for the middies, it just doesn't seem to make any sense. If we were getting a huge tv paycheck from a network like in basketball, ok then (still wouldn't like it but would understand), but that is not the case. Seems more like we do it because everyone else does, and that shouldn't be a good enough reason.

 

[BankShot]

Just saw a TV screen with the # of games that KEY Mississippi State players had missed during the season because of injuries...I thought that playing in the warm weather facilitated baseball FITNESS? Hmmm...something sounds a lil' fishy.

The ISU SID needs to send Twitter messages to the NCAA Baseball Committee highlighting ISU late-season injuries, as the NCAA Baseball Chair (Kallander) stated that these issues were a "consideration."

Anyone see where Mizzou def. OK for the Big 8 Championship...like Creighton, they'd never made it on their reg season record. Didn't the Trees beat Mizzou in Columbia? Another FACTOR to throw @ the Baseball Committee.

 

[BankShot]

...Seems more like we do it because everyone else does, and that shouldn't be a good enough reason.

I agree, BT...compare MVC attendance v. SEC (topped 2m THIS year). Perhaps eveyone's swayed by the "hope" of getting multiple bids each year, although it rarely happens. The MVC doesn't even have a school hosting a Regional...ya, the final series is yearly held in Omaha, but look at this year's tournament regional host pattern:

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