What's Up In The Missouri Valley: What's Up In The Missouri Valley 12/24/2018

News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Saturday, Dec 22nd--Hoops HD

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
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-INDIANA STATE VS COLORADO (Diamond Head Classic). Colorado is a very quiet 8-1 on the year, and if they could win this tournament they’d be one of the few bright spots in the Pac Twelve that has been rather lousy overall. They face a pretty good Indiana State team today that they should beat, but that they won’t beat if they overlook them.
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-NEW MEXICO STATE VS DRAKE (Las Vegas Classic). Both teams have impressive records with just two losses, and New Mexico State has proven that they are a strong team. Doing well in this tournament should help to continue to grow their resumes.

Saturday Notes – December 22, 2018--Hoops HD

Indiana State 72, Colorado 67: The Buffaloes couldn’t pull one out like the Wildcats did, though, so the conference takes another hit in a Diamond Head Classic quarterfinal.
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Drake 66, New Mexico State 63: Drake is quietly 9-2 after this win, and it’s a quality win at that. They also handed Texas State their only loss prior to Saturday (the Bobcats lost a close one at Arkansas).

The Morning Dish – Sunday, December 23, 2018--Hoops HD

Today’s Menu: It’s a light one two days before Christmas with just 10 games, four of them at the Diamond Head Classic.

The semifinals in Hawaii have Indiana State against UNLV (4:30 p.m. Eastern, ESPN2) and Bucknell facing TCU (10 p.m., ESPN2). The Horned Frogs are certainly heavy favorites to win this event now, though Indiana State’s three-point shooting and Bucknell’s experience and comfort playing top competition could pose a few problems. Consolation bracket games are Colorado against host Hawaii (7 p.m., ESPNU) and later Rhode Island against UNC Charlotte (12:30 a.m., ESPNU).
The Continental Tire Classic Las Vegas Classic finishes with upstart Drake against San Diego in the title game (7:30 p.m., FS1). The consolation game follows that as New Mexico State takes on Washington State (10 p.m., FS1).

The Morning Dish – Monday, December 24, 2018--Hoops HD
News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Sunday, Dec 23rd--Hoops HD

NEWS AND NOTES
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-This is mentioned below, but Colorado looked to be a quiet dark horse riding to the rescue of what is a mostly pitiful Pac Twelve. The Diamond Head Classic was set up to give them 3 wins away from home and put them at a rather impressive 11-1. Well, they lost to Indiana State yesterday.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
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-INDIANA STATE VS UNLV (Diamond Head Classic). Indiana State doesn’t have much a profile, but they don’t have anything that’s really awful on their resume either and they just picked up a pretty good win against Colorado. If they can win this tournament and knock off a team like TCU in the process, then they may be better set up for an at-large bid than anyone else in the Missouri Valley.
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-SAN DIEGO VS DRAKE (Las Vegas Classic). An interesting game between two teams with good records, but not a whole lot of good wins (at least by the standards of the selection committee). This game is a chance for one of these teams to pick up a decent win against a decent team away from home.

Brown's late 3 gives Bradley 63-60 win over SE Louisiana--CBS Sports
Reynolds: Winning ugly a thing of beauty for Bradley in last-second 63-60 win over Southeast Louisiana--Peoria Journal Star
Brown Wins it Late for Bradley Basketball--bradleybraves.com

Checking in on 2018’s biggest college basketball coaching hires--College Basketball Talk

BEST OF THE REST

For the most part, taking over a new job is never going to be an easy endeavor. There’s usually a reason the jobs open up in the first place, and it’s not normally because the coach that was there the previous season was hired by a bigger school.

Here are four names off the beaten path that are excelling in their first year at a new program.

DARIAN DEVRIES, Drake: Devries walked into a pretty good situation. He took over for Niko Medved, a notorious program builder that was in charge for just one year before taking Colorado State, and has thrived. Drake is 10-2 on the season after wins over a pair of good teams in New Mexico State and San Diego in the Las Vegas Classic. With the Missouri Valley wide open this season, the Bulldogs are a team to keep an eye on.