What's Up In The Missouri Valley: What's Up In The Missouri Valley 12/12/2017

Elgin Joins Missouri Sports Hall of Fame--Valley Hoops Insider

As Bradley returns from break, an expanded role for freshman Ryan Stipanovich--Peoria Journal Star
Braves Host Little Rock Wednesday--bradleybraves.com

Anneke Schlueter Named COUNTRY Financial Scholar-Athlete Of The Week--bradleybraves.com

The Morning Dish – Tuesday, December 12, 2017--Hoopville

It may not have been good news for Minnesota, but the Drake Bulldogs provided us something of note by nearly scaring the pants off Goldy Gopher before finally falling 68-67 at ancient Williams Arena.

Drake led Minnesota early on. It led by four points at halftime, and it led well into the second half. The Bulldogs were up nine early in the second half before the Gophers started their rally, finally took their first lead with just over nine minutes left, and then had just enough points to hold on when Drake scored a layup, came up with a steal and hit a three-pointer all in the final five seconds.

Minnesota received more brilliance from Jordan Murphy, who finished with 24 points and 18 rebounds, his 12th double-double in 12 games. The Gophers needed all of it. All five starters played at least 32 minutes, putting in a long night of work trying to catch the Bulldogs, who played loose and hit 12 three-pointers.

Forget about the program’s relative anonymity; Drake is still a Missouri Valley Conference school and much like a Penn State or Nebraska-type program in the MVC. The Bulldogs typically rank near the bottom of the league but are experienced, have some energy under first-year coach Niko Medved, and are good enough to be dangerous, as evidenced earlier this season by a win over Wake Forest.

Minnesota is clearly a team trying to find some on-court chemistry, and undoubtedly will benefit from a 10-day break coming up. it would seem playing through its star inside even more would be a better strategy than a poor-shooting team continuing to fire away from outside and mid-range, especially given Murphy made 11 of 14 shots in this one (the rest of the team combined to go 16-for-45). The Golden Gophers’ relative lack of depth also is a factor, and it’s possible there is something to this team not being a surprise any more this year. Early on, it’s a somewhat disappointing team, but that maybe shouldn’t be totally unexpected.