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QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Feb 12, 2006 -> 09:37 AM)
For the record, it sickens me that there is talk of 5 Valley teams possibly getting into the NCAA Tournament and Evansville is not even in the same stratosphere as those teams. 

 

It's sad to see a very strong and historied program so far down. 

 

I think Coach Merfield has found that basketball in Indiana is not like Hampton.  Evansville is a very difficult place to win at as a coach, but it has been proven it can be done.

 

From what I read on valleytalk.net (missouri valley conf messageboard) Evansvills has been suffering from lack of funds in the athletic dept for a long time. Plus, the coach who preceded Merfield was way out of his league, and recruiting DII and D111 talent, which pretty much set them back another 5 years. The great thing about the valley right now is the resurgence of SIU and CU, and even MSU 7 years ago has been the catalyst for other teams to get better. UNI is a damn fine team, and they were nothing when Bruce Weber was coaching the Salukis 3 years ago. WSU has not been in the dance for 19 years now, but anyone on valleytalk with a brain knows that they were their own worst enemy for the past 3 years, they should have made the tourney every year and every year they would have a breakdown in the middle of the year.

Teams like Illinois St, Indiana St, Evansville, and Bradley are on the down cycle right now, which is unfortunate, but it happens. Before Bruce hit the scene, the Salukis were a joke run by Rich Herrin. I have a feeling we will be hearing from the lesser teams in the next couple years or so, Indiana St just took away SIU's longest home court winning streak last week.

Personally I am just excited that the MVC is starting to seriously turn heads.

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I really feel sorry for Mike Davis. There is no question he is a good man and he really makes a connection with his players. I just think he was thrust into a situation he was not ready for. I would imagine the past few years have been hell on him. IU fans right now are worse than they have ever been and it is getting quite personal. I can't see any way he survives this season and remains at IU. But I wish the guy well. I do hope he gets another job somewhere else at some point and has success.

 

Davis: "I didn't quit"

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QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Feb 12, 2006 -> 09:59 AM)
I really feel sorry for Mike Davis. There is no question he is a good man and he really makes a connection with his players. I just think he was thrust into a situation he was not ready for. I would imagine the past few years have been hell on him. IU fans right now are worse than they have ever been and it is getting quite personal. I can't see any way he survives this season and remains at IU. But I wish the guy well. I do hope he gets another job somewhere else at some point and has success.

 

Davis: "I didn't quit"

 

Unfortunately he is in a job where results are the be-all end-all. I feel bad for him to an extent, but hasnt he had some problems with recruits de-committing and players transferring, not to mention an up and down record?

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QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Feb 12, 2006 -> 09:59 AM)
I really feel sorry for Mike Davis. There is no question he is a good man and he really makes a connection with his players. I just think he was thrust into a situation he was not ready for. I would imagine the past few years have been hell on him. IU fans right now are worse than they have ever been and it is getting quite personal. I can't see any way he survives this season and remains at IU. But I wish the guy well. I do hope he gets another job somewhere else at some point and has success.

 

Davis: "I didn't quit"

 

Yeah, I feel bad for the guy. He was just never in a position to succeed, following Knight. I was in his corner up from the beginning until about two weeks ago. With the way things are anymore, it's almost impossible to defend him anymore. And as you said, I hope he has no problem finding a job elsewhere and having success at it. He deserves it.

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QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Feb 12, 2006 -> 10:18 AM)
Unfortunately he is in a job where results are the be-all end-all.  I feel bad for him to an extent, but hasnt he had some problems with recruits de-committing and players transferring, not to mention an up and down record?

 

A little bit, but a lot of that plays into the position Davis has been in. He's gotten a lot of flack for not getting the Indiana players to stay in Indiana, but he hasn't had much trouble getting big time players from out of state to leave their state to come here.

 

Players are hesitant to come here for Davis right now, because they don't know if he'll be here. For example, Darrel Arthur would improve next year's class a ton. If it was certain Davis would be here, DA would be here. However, that's not the case, and Jimbo will rock chalk about that.

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http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti...S0601/602120479

 

As I said earlier, I'm glad the 'black-out' didn't happen. I wasn't going to participate, or plan to in any other kind of protests/what have you. But I find it retarded for people to complain of the 'black-out' being racist. I think it was more of wearing Iowa's colors for the day. And if the 'black-out' is deemed racist, what about the two 'white-outs' we did against Duke and UConn? What do those mean?

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From what I read on valleytalk.net (missouri valley conf messageboard) Evansvills has been suffering from lack of funds in the athletic dept for a long time. Plus, the coach who preceded Merfield was way out of his league, and recruiting DII and D111 talent, which pretty much set them back another 5 years.

 

Kyyle that isn't exactly true. The coach before Merfield was Jim Crews who coached them to some of their best years and had them in the NCAA Tournament as recently as 1999 when they lost to Kansas. It is true that the program's decline began at the end of Coach Crews tenure, but it has continued on its downward spiral.

 

The athletics landscape has definitely changed at the school. And there will need to be a higher level of commitment from the administration, there is no doubt. But a major reason that revenue is down is the basketball team. Attendance has been at or near an all-time low the past 5 years. From what I understand, the actual attendance is currently far below what they are announcing.

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Here is a quick glance at attendance for Evansville over the last 20 years. I think it speaks volumes about the state of the program.

 

   

Year Attendance NCAA Rank

 

1987 7923 54

1988 9122 43

1989 9280 45

1990 9648 45

1991 10784 32

1992 10198 36

1993 11740 30

1994 10230 38

1995 10489 37

1996 10457 40

1997 8348 56

1998 8177 55

1999 8587 53

2000 8337 55

2001 7148 72

2002 5822 95

2003 6671 80

2004 6618 82

2005 6318 85

2006 5067 TBD

Edited by greasywheels121
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QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Feb 12, 2006 -> 10:45 AM)
Kyyle that isn't exactly true.  The coach before Merfield was Jim Crews who coached them to some of their best years and had them in the NCAA Tournament as recently as 1999 when they lost to Kansas.  It is true that the program's decline began at the end of Coach Crews tenure, but it has continued on its downward spiral. 

 

The athletics landscape has definitely changed at the school.  And there will need to be a higher level of commitment from the administration, there is no doubt.  But a major reason that revenue is down is the basketball team.  Attendance has been at or near an all-time low the past 5 years.  From what I understand, the actual attendance is currently far below what they are announcing.

There were a couple of threads last year discussing the possibilty of Evansville dropping to DII. Apparantly their board is in favor of it, athletic dept is not

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QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Feb 12, 2006 -> 04:26 PM)
There were a couple of threads last year discussing the possibilty of Evansville dropping to DII.  Apparantly their board is in favor of it, athletic dept is not

 

One of the biggest problems is about 10-15 years ago a new President was brought in who had visions of making Evansville a top liberal arts university. The changes hurt well-respected programs such as Nursing, Business and to a degree their Engineering program. I am not sure about the current status of their theater program but not long ago it was considered one of the elite theater programs in the nation.

 

So yes, there is a definite difference in commitment, but the university is well supported by the community. I don't think going back to D-II is remotely an option. I have never read any talk about that at all in the local papers and my mother who works at the University has never mentioned it, so my guess that is the figment of someone's imagination. The local media would be all over that if it were being discussed.

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QUOTE(SnB @ Feb 12, 2006 -> 10:49 AM)
huge, huge, huge game today.

 

Getting excited, though I'm not that optimistic.

 

I'm scared of dials having a monster game because we are too afraid of their perimeter game.

 

 

Should be fun one, and I am sure OSU will be ready. One thing I am a little worried about is Illinois still being pissed about OSU beating them last year. If Foster can stay hot the buckeyes should win this game. If they go cold early and then continue to rely on the outside shot they are doomed.

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QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Feb 12, 2006 -> 06:07 PM)
As of today here's how the valley's rpi looks: UNI-19, Shockers-22, Dawgs-23, Mo State-24, Bj's-29.

 

Assuming none of those teams fall on their face, the Valley this year could certainly test the committee's claim that they never look at how many teams come from each conference and that they only take the best at large teams. Someone will have to lose early in the MVC Tournament though. It better not be a team that loses a couple of games before the tourney begins.

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