[January 24, 2018] Indiana State (10-10) at Southern Illinois (12-9)

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Jason Svoboda

Jason Svoboda

The Bird Level
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Indiana State Sycamores (10-10, 5-3 MVC) vs. Southern Illinois Salukis (12-9, 4-4 MVC)

SIU Arena - Carbondale, IL
Wednesday, January 24th
8:00 PM EST Tip​
 

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Regardless of the magnitude of the historic victory by the Sycamores over the Redbirds on Saturday, BarbiePOM still has this game forecasted as a Snowballs Chance In Hell of ISU Winning.

BarbiePOM also says if GL coaches the SYCAMORES to a road win over the SALUKIS, that this win will also go down as historic and GL will be out of the Dog House as a very poor away Coach until the next road game, and then the road game after that, etc. etc.
 
As nice as it is to only be 1 game out of first, I hope GL is telling everyone that they are only 1 game out of Thursday right now as well. Everyone in the conference except Valpo has a higher RPI than us, so we would lose any tie breaker this season as of right now. This game at SIU is big and it is almost a must win situation yet again.

Bradley on Saturday is definitely a must win game for us, because it is a home game. Three of our next four games are on the road so we have to protect the home court. I think @SIU and @VU are very winnable, while @UNI will be a lot more difficult. I think we need to go at the worst 2-2 in this stretch. If we survive this stretch then the last 4 of 6 are at home. We just have to stay out of Thursday and we can't get overconfident after blowing out an ILST team that really isn't very good.
 
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I think if we can go 2-2 it will go a long way towards keeping us out of Thursday.

Not saying 2-2 should be our goal (4-0 should be the goal) but I won't be crushed by 2-2. 3-1 would be ecstatic, and 4-0 would have me buying lottery tickets and out in the back yard with a metal detector.
 

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Sycamorefan96 said:
As nice as it is to only be 1 game out of first, I hope GL is telling everyone that they are only 1 game out of Thursday right now as well. Everyone in the conference except Valpo has a higher RPI than us, so we would lose any tie breaker this season as of right now. This game at SIU is big and it is almost a must win situation yet again.

Bradley on Saturday is definitely a must win game for us, because it is a home game. Three of our next four games are on the road so we have to protect the home court. I think @SIU and @VU are very winnable, while @UNI will be a lot more difficult. I think we need to go at the worst 2-2 in this stretch. If we survive this stretch then the last 4 of 6 are at home. We just have to stay out of Thursday and we can't get overconfident after blowing out an ILST team that really isn't very good.
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As much as I appreciate your logical rationale thinking, with how this conference is playing out, I say Fuck it - let's just win the damn thing. Will it tough? yeah. But there isn't a game on our schedule that we can't win.

Our bigs have been much improved this conference season. Who is coaching them? Because we did not get this kind of production from them under some former assistants.
 
treeman said:
As much as I appreciate your logical rationale thinking, with how this conference is playing out, I say Fuck it - let's just win the damn thing. Will it tough? yeah. But there isn't a game on our schedule that we can't win.

Our bigs have been much improved this conference season. Who is coaching them? Because we did not get this kind of production from them under some former assistants.
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To answer your question: The guy that worked with ISU big men the last 6 years is gone. He’s now associate head coach at a school dominating the WAC with only 3 overall losses and getting votes in both Top 25 polls. So there’s that.
 
Our lack of production from our bigs was more of an issue of talent than development in my mind.

I think that Murphy finally developed a pretty dominant hook shot that he’s got some confidence in. He’s always been a strong defender when he doesn’t foul too much.

Rickman hasn’t quite figured it out - but again he came in pretty raw and was always going to be a project of sorts.

People are quick to point towards coaching this and coaching that. How much can a coach teach Rickman to make his free throws? About as much as a Track coach can teach a kid to be faster out of the starting blocks. You just have to practice and put in the time.

I think that’s the biggest difference between being really good and really average at this level. The guys that separate themselves are guys that put in the time. You don’t see a lot of guys at this level that are just so damn gifted it doesn’t really matrer what they do in preparation.
 
Agreed about Murphy.

He either does the sweet little hook or he dunks it. There are very few in-betweens for that guy and I love it. His conference-only FG % is at 72.2% 26 of 36.
 
TreeTop said:
Agreed about Murphy.

He either does the sweet little hook or he dunks it. There are very few in-betweens for that guy and I love it. His conference-only FG % is at 72.2% 26 of 36.
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That's pretty damn solid. Removing the in-between is what transformed his game. He would always go up indecisive about just laying it up and or just dunking it. When he did that he would usually get it blocked or lose control of it going up because his head was saying one thing and his body was saying another. He's been a lot quicker to the rim and his positioning around the rim (receiving it where he wants to receive it) has been much improved.

When Barnes takes care of it.

When Scott plays unselfish.

When Davis makes jump shots.

When Key defends.

When Murphy finishes in the paint.

This team is really difficult to beat.
 

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In 2010-2011, there were a lot of reasons why we played so well to end the season and ultimately won the MVC tournament, but one of the things I remember most about that great run was the emergency of Myles Walker. Walker was a guy similar to Murphy. You looked at him and thought he should be dominant, but he just wasn't. I've looked at Murphy through a similar lens over the last few years, but as a Senior he's starting to emerge similarly to Walker. Having a post presence and rebounder on the block that allows us to play inside out is crucial to Lansing's offense.

Just about everyone on the team is playing well, but there's no doubt that Murphy's production is correlating to more wins and more production for everyone. If we make a run here (or if we don't), Murphy is going to be a big part of the reason why.
 
Hooper said:
To answer your question: The guy that worked with ISU big men the last 6 years is gone. He’s now associate head coach at a school dominating the WAC with only 3 overall losses and getting votes in both Top 25 polls. So there’s that.
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Any idea how the WAC compares to the MVC in RPI? Try #16 v. #8. NMS had ONE big win this season over Miami (#6/7) over the X-mas Holidays in Hawaii. If you examine their roster stats., their primary production comes from a 6'4" graduate G (19.9 ppg) and a 6'5" senior F (11.3 rpg).

They bring a 6'10'' R-Sr. & 6'7" R-Fr. off the bench. Combined, they avg. 33 mpg, 7 rpg and 10 ppg. About the same as Kitchel & Gant.

Their RPI is #45.
 
BrokerZ said:
In 2010-2011, there were a lot of reasons why we played so well to end the season and ultimately won the MVC tournament, but one of the things I remember most about that great run was the emergency of Myles Walker. Walker was a guy similar to Murphy. You looked at him and thought he should be dominant, but he just wasn't. I've looked at Murphy through a similar lens over the last few years, but as a Senior he's starting to emerge similarly to Walker. Having a post presence and rebounder on the block that allows us to play inside out is crucial to Lansing's offense.

Just about everyone on the team is playing well, but there's no doubt that Murphy's production is correlating to more wins and more production for everyone. If we make a run here (or if we don't), Murphy is going to be a big part of the reason why.
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Solid point on Walker. Walker had the excuse of just arriving and working through D1 ball for the first time and Murph has been a starter for 3 years..but the production aspect of it is accurate. If we could just get Thomas to have a Walker type 2nd half we could be in serious business. Side note..Anyone know if Hughes is planning on going Wednesday? Would like to have as much depth as possible to run on SIU due to their injuries and lack of bodies.
 
BankShot said:
Any idea how the WAC compares to the MVC in RPI? Try #16 v. #8. NMS had ONE big win this season over Miami (#6/7) over the X-mas Holidays in Hawaii. If you examine their roster stats., their primary production comes from a 6'4" graduate G (19.9 ppg) and a 6'5" senior F (11.3 rpg).

They bring a 6'10'' R-Sr. & 6'7" R-Fr. off the bench. Combined, they avg. 33 mpg, 7 rpg and 10 ppg. About the same as Kitchel & Gant.

Their RPI is #45.
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I just looked at the NMS roster and they have a former Redbird in Lofton, who the Birds were really high on.
 
Good news is Sean O'Brien is gone and we made him look like an All-American every time out.

Just looked through SIU's last couple box scores and it looks like their big Pippen has figured it out. We had better be ready for him, because his length could pose similar issues as Fayne did. Also, if I'm not mistaken Sean Lloyd carved us up pretty good both times last year doing anything needed to get his team the sweep.
 

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BankShot said:
Any idea how the WAC compares to the MVC in RPI? Try #16 v. #8. NMS had ONE big win this season over Miami (#6/7) over the X-mas Holidays in Hawaii. If you examine their roster stats., their primary production comes from a 6'4" graduate G (19.9 ppg) and a 6'5" senior F (11.3 rpg).

They bring a 6'10'' R-Sr. & 6'7" R-Fr. off the bench. Combined, they avg. 33 mpg, 7 rpg and 10 ppg. About the same as Kitchel & Gant.

Their RPI is #45.
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They're getting votes. There is no MVC school getting even one vote. Though, yes, top to bottom the MVC is a better league. Both are probably one bid leagues--though I could see NMSU getting an at-large if they continue this win streak, get to 25/26 wins and into the Top 25 and trip up in the WAC tourney.
 
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Jason Svoboda said:
I just looked at the NMS roster and they have a former Redbird in Lofton, who the Birds were really high on.
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Not often you see a player (JC nonetheless) end up at 4 D1 universities! Very talented but a complete headcase...ISUR tends to have multiple kids like that every year.
 
Hooper said:
They're getting votes. There is no MVC school getting even one vote. Though, yes, top to bottom the MVC is a better league. Both are probably one bid leagues--though I could see NMSU getting an at-large if they continue this win streak, get to 25/26 wins and into the Top 25 and trip up in the WAC tourney.
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Let's be real here. NMSU is doing well because Jans is there and he is a hell of a coach. Gudino isn't the guy that has brought about this sudden improvement. Jans is going places (assuming he has his personal demons at bay) and Gudino is smart to hitch his wagon to him.
 
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