A few weeks back, I posted a Missouri Valley Basketball Survey on several message boards and other public sites around the league, asking 10 questions pertaining to conference hoops. After several hours of laborious number crunching, several conclusions were reached.
I should preface the outcome by saying that there obviously are homer fans, and some schools that have a more passionate fan base than others. There isn't a level number of responses from each campus, so while the digits might look skewed, I think it's as close to a fair representation of the league as we will get.
Ten questions. 115 responses. The results are in..jpg)
Question 1: What is your favorite MVC team?
This was the question meant to set the tone for where the responses came from, and it didn't disappoint. Just one of the 115 respondents has a favorite school different from the one they attended. A bad experience with a girl, maybe?
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1. Wichita State – 33
2. Illinois State – 19
3. Creighton – 16
4. Drake – 14
5. Bradley – 13
Question 2: Did you attend a school in the MVC? If so, which one?
Similar to the first question, the responses didn't vary much, save for those that didn't attend school in the Valley. That's 20 people that didn't get to experience life in the MVC. Shame on them.
1. Wichita State – 28
2. No Valley School – 20
3. Illinois State – 17
4. Creighton – 16
5. Drake – 12
Question 3: Who is your all-time favorite MVC player?
Many eras of Valley hoops were found within the answer to this inquiry, as 44 different players made an appearance on the list. Two survey takers had no favorite player, and two members of the Korver family (Kyle and Klayton) were listed.
1. Xavier McDaniel – 16
2. Larry Bird – 10
3. Hersey Hawkins – 9
T4. Dave Stallworth – 6
T4. Nate Funk – 6
Question 4: Who do you think will win the MVC regular season in 2009-10?
This seemed to be one question where homerism didn't enter the equation too strongly. Four teams (Drake, Evansville, Missouri State, and Indiana State) got no love with this question, and one man wrote that he didn't think anyone would win it. What?
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1. Northern Iowa – 31
2. Illinois State – 24
3. Creighton – 22
4. Wichita State – 19
5. Southern Illinois – 6
Question 5: Who do you think will be the MVC Player of the Year in 2009-10?
No surprise here, as one player earned the largest percentage of responses to any one question. There were 12 different players mentioned here, and two readers that didn't list anyone. Are they predicting death to the award?
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1. Osiris Eldridge – 81
2. P'Allen Stinnett – 9
3. Toure Murry – 6
4. Josh Young – 5
5. Kevin Dillard – 4
Question 6: How many teams from the MVC will make the NCAA Tournament in 2009-10?
The most creative response came from a poster on the examiner.com site named sanantoniobird, who answered "0" and stated that the "big six/NCAA/CBS will banish us." If Jim Nantz and Billy Packer had their way, you would be correct.
1. Two teams – 67
2. One team – 24
3. Three teams – 21
4. Four teams – 2
5. No teams – 1
Question 7: Who do you think is the best coach in the MVC?
With 20-win seasons seemingly every year since the Truman administration, it's no shock that one bench general stood above his peers. Despite the grades offered in this article, the rest were hometown picks. Call it a hunch.
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1. Dana Altman – 66
2. Gregg Marshall – 26
3. Ben Jacobson – 6
4. Tim Jankovich – 5
5. Jim Les – 4
Question 8: If you favorite school could emulate one program in the MVC, which would it be?
This question provided the most entertainment, as one team is obviously the envy of the league, and 21 of the responses from the Wichita State camp wouldn't change a thing. Apparently, there are quite a few Marshall backers. I'm not sure everyone understood the question; Three people responded asking what the word "emulate" meant… make your own joke on what school they were from. Also, one gentleman answered "Louisville" to this question… the Cardinals haven't been in the conference since 1975.
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1. Creighton – 46
2. None – 40
3. Southern Illinois – 15
T4. Northern Iowa – 2
T4. Wichita State – 2
Question 9: Where is the toughest place to play in the MVC?
Despite being the favorite choice to win the league next season, absolutely nobody chose Northern Iowa as an intimidating venue. One Missouri State fan listed "everywhere" on his response… a painful truth because the Bears didn't win a single road game in the league last season.
1. Wichita State – 43
2. Southern Illinois – 33
3. Creighton – 19
4. Bradley – 11
5. Illinois State – 5
Question 10: Do you participate in a college message board or forum? If so, which one?
Of those that responded, 34 visit multiple message boards, and almost all the rest are simply dialed in to their hometown forum. In all, 16 different places for debate were listed.
Thanks to those that responded, and continue to visit the Bradley Examiner site for all things Missouri Valley!
As always, for the best in Chicago Pizza, visit fellow BU alum Martha at the Chicago Pizzeria Examiner Page!
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