What's Up In The Missouri Valley: What's Up In The Missouri Valley 12/4/2018

The Other Top 25: BYU do not read this. Radford, hello.--Mid-Major Madness

The Other Top 25: Week 5
RANK    TEAM            RECORD  LAST WEEK       POINTS
...
19      Illinois State  6-3     22              81
...
25      Loyola Chicago  5-3     14              44
Also receiving votes: San Diego (30), Georgia State (29), Murray State (22), VCU (20), Southern Illinois (19), Georgia Southern (13), Texas Southern (13), New Mexico State (11), Liberty (9), BYU (9), Indiana State (8), Northern Kentucky (7), Ball State (6), New Mexico (5), Stony Brook (5), The Citadel (3), Old Dominion (1), Fresno State (1), Harvard (1).

Taking the Temperature of MW Hoops--Mountain West Connection

HOTTER THAN FIRE:

Utah State: The Aggies absolutely hammered Northern Iowa at home and then closed the weekend out by hanging 89 points on UC Irvine, the preseason favorite in the Big West. Freshman Neemias Queta had a cool 19 rebounds in the game, and this Aggie team is rolling as the surprise of the Mountain West Conference so far. Oh, and congrats to Sam Merrill for joining the 1,000 point club too.

Last week: “Heating Up”

San Diego State: They played their best game as a team on Saturday in their 75-65 win over Illinois State. They were short-handed going into the game and lost Jordan Schakel to foul trouble during the game. Then the senior backcourt of Devin Watson and Jeremy Hemsley took over for a combined 40 points for a huge road win. A quick turnaround for a tough test against the University of San Diego awaits.

Last week: “Broken Thermometer”

New Mexico: Well, they can still score a lot, as evidenced by their 85-75 win at Bradley on Saturday afternoon. Guard Anthony Mathis came off the bench and scored 23 points and the Lobos got an 18 point effort from Corey Manigault back from...whatever it was he was benched for. Of bigger concern is the flashes that come and go for guard Makuach Maluach that have yet to show up this year. His shooting percentage is down under 40 percent and his turnovers are up.

Last week: “The Mercury Can’t Decide”

WINTER IS APPROACHING:
...
Air Force: The Falcons doubled their win total over Division I foes by beating Missouri State 88-69. The big difference: Air Force buried 17 three pointers as a team, with guard AJ Walker leading the way by hitting 6 of them. Another note on the game, neither Ryan Swan nor Lavelle Scottie started. The excitement was tempered by Pacific coming up to Clune Arena and notching an 82-69 win over the Falcons.

Last week: “Winter is Approaching”
...
UNLV: Well, we know more about the Rebels now. They dropped a 72-64 loss at home to Valparaiso that they needed to have and then hung with Cincinnati on Saturday, only to lose 65-61. The two home losses don’t help and neither does what the Crusaders and Bearcats exposed. If UNLV isn’t able to get both forwards Cheikh Mbacke Diong and Shakur Juiston going, they can’t score and are in trouble.

Last week: “The Mercury Can’t Decide”

ANTARCTICA:

San Jose State: Their final entry in the Missouri Valley-Mountain West Challenge was to get blown out at home by Indiana State by nearly thirty points, 86-57. The good news: Freshman Seneca Knight had another good game off the bench in relief of Brae Ivey, scoring five points, notching three steals, two assists, and only one turnover in fifteen minutes of action. This is a solid unit with some solid pieces, but not solid enough to compete consistently in the Mountain West.