I enjoyed checking out some of Arch Madness today -- that is to say the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament from St. Louis. The Valley is one of the most entertaining conferences in America, with longstanding rivalries, exciting finishes, and teams that play the game hard and the right way. Today's quarterfinals lived up to my expectations, with 3 of the 4 games going down to the final possession -- not bad at all in terms of excitement.
Top seed and regular season champion Missouri State overcame a 9-point deficit in the last 3 minutes to beat (8) Southern Illinois. (5) Creighton held off (4) Northern Iowa 60-57. (2) Wichita State easily handled (10) Bradley in the only match-up that didn't come right down to the finish. And in the night cap, (3) Indiana State got a last-second jumper to top (6) Evansville by two. It's a shame this conference is likely to only get one NCAA Tournament bid this year because they play an exciting brand of basketball.
The semi-finals are tomorrow, starting at 12:30 p.m. MT with (1) Missouri State vs. (5) Creighton and continue at 3 p.m. MT with (2) Wichita State vs. (3) Indiana State. Having lived in Wichita for a brief time, I have to say I am cheering for Wichita State to win this thing. The semis aren't available nationally (on Fox Sports Midwest and Comcast SportsNet Chicago), but the final is on Sunday at noon MT on CBS, so you should check that out.
Welcome
- Derek Payne
- Welcome to my sports blog! My favorite teams are the Utah Utes, San Francisco Giants, Utah Jazz, Toronto Maple Leafs and Philadelphia Eagles. These teams will likely be mentioned more than others. Feel free to peruse and comment if you feel so inclined. To comment, click on the name of the post you want to comment on like "Baseball Weekend Preview 4/23/2010" and then scroll down to the bottom of the post and there will be a box you can write comments in. Write your comment and then select from the "comment as" box to post it as anonymous or to leave a name which you can do with the name/URL option even without signing in. You can also sign in and make a comment. I'll try to respond to comments, but keep in mind that I'll be more likely to respond to ones that are polite and have fact-based arguments. Depending on the number of posts and the demands of my schedule I may not always have time to respond to all comments. I hope you enjoy my blog!
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