Fan Stop Central

SPRINGFIELD — Missouri State University has announced its 2010-11 men’s basketball schedule, a slate that includes up to 18 home games at JQH Arena, including a pair of preseason exhibition contests.

The Bears will host the Upper Iowa University on October 31 and the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith on November 6 in its two exhibition games. The team then opens the regular season schedule with a home opener against Oral Roberts on Friday, November 12 at its 11,000-seat home facility, JQH Arena.

The start time for the regular-season opener against ORU will be finalized at a later date to accommodate the Preseason WNIT game hosted by the Lady Bears and set for 6 p.m. on that same date.

The Bears then embark on their own preseason tournament journey in the Dick’s Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off, starting November 16-17 in Knoxville, Tenn. The Bears are the No. 6 national seed in the 16-team event, while South Regional host Tennessee is the No. 2 seed. The Bears will play Arkansas State in the first round on Nov. 16 in the preliminary game to the Tennessee vs. Belmont matchup in the other first-round game in Knoxville. The next night, the first-round losers will play each other in a consolation game, while the first-round winners will play for the regional championship and right to advance to Madison Square Garden for the semifinals and finals, November 24 and 26. Should the Bears not advance to New York, they would host two consolation games at JQH Arena, November 22-23. Missouri State is 1-2 all-time in the preseason NIT with previous appearances in 1988 and 1998.

A non-conference road game at Tulsa on November 19 is sandwiched between preseason NIT rounds and is one of just three non-conference road games, outside the NIT Tip-Off, on the 2010-11 slate.

Four of the five non-conference games in December are at home. Dates with Arkansas-Little Rock (Dec. 1) and Central Arkansas (Dec. 4) precede a road game at Big 12 power Oklahoma State on Dec. 11 before the Bears return home to take on 2010 CBI runner-up Saint Louis University on Dec. 18 and a home rematch with Arkansas State Dec. 29.

“We are very excited about the schedule and the quality of teams we will be facing,” said third-year head coach Cuonzo Martin. “With the level of competition in the NIT Tip-Off, we are looking forward to seeing what we are made of right away. We have road games at Tulsa and Oklahoma State which were both postseason teams last season. Our fans will get a chance to see some great non-conference opponents at home like Oral Roberts and Saint Louis as well as the great programs in the Valley.”

Including five Missouri Valley Conference foes, the Bears’ 2010-11 slate features at least eight teams that appeared in one of the four postseason basketball events last season. Oklahoma State, Northern Iowa and potential NIT Season Tip-Off regional foe Tennessee were all NCAA teams last season. Tennessee finished No. 10 in the final RPI and advanced to the NCAA Regional Championship. Tulsa, Wichita State and Illinois State played in the National Invitation Tournament. Making the CollegeInsider.comPostseason Tournament with the Bears was Creighton, while Indiana State saw action in the CBI with Saint Louis.

The Bears open their 18-game Missouri Valley Conference schedule at Northern Iowa on December 29 and will host their first league foe at JQH Arena on New Year’s Day against Illinois State. MSU will also travel to an opponent in the annual ESPN BracketBusters series, Feb. 18-20, which will be announced in early February. The State Farm MVC Tournament will take place at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, March 3-6.

Missouri State, which returns its top six scorers and four starters from a 24-12 season a year ago, is tentatively scheduled to play at least seven games on the ESPN and FOX Sports television packages in addition to nine games on its recently-announced institutional television partnership with KY3, Inc. Additional national and regional television games in the NIT Season Tip-Off, ESPN BracketBusters series, MVC “Wildcard Weekend” (Feb. 26), and MVC Tournament are also possible.

Martin also noted that the Bears still have one open date remaining on the 2010-11 schedule the team would like to fill, if possible. If filled, that date and opponent would be announced at a later time.

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The 2010 NCAA Football season is upon us and what better to do than take a stab at some predictions sure to go wrong.

Last season the Crimson Tide rolled away (get it? Roll Tide – anyway) with the National Championship in convincing fashion. Detractors will say they didn’t play a fair enough schedule … of course that’s said of any non-tournament-style champion … but year in and out, no one can complain of the strength of the SEC. What’s even more spectacular is that you can almost guarantee an SEC team to vie for the top slot – choosing which SEC team that will be from year to year is the tricky part.

So, let’s start there – the Southeaster Conference
No reason to think the SEC won’t be well-represented again this year. Alabama, LSU, Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Auburn, Tennessee … take your pick and run with ‘em, but for Fan Stop Central, we’re going to pull for Arkansas in the West and Georgia in the East with Arkansas taking the SEC title this year. Which also by our pick means no SEC team in the National Championship game. Oh well.

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To the ACC
There’s been a lot of press lately about the “validity” of the ACC football conference, but who can really argue with the likes of Miami, Florida State, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Clemson … well, that’s really all the consistent strength, but strength it is. This year we see Miami returning to top-dog status and winning the conference over Atlantic division rival Florida State.

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Up next is the Big 12 or 10 or 12 or 10, no it’s 12
This looks to be the last season for the Big 12 to have 12 teams as Colorado and Nebraska have bolted for the Pac-10 and Big 10 respectively … which now gives the Big 10 twelve teams and the Big 12 with ten and the Pac-10 with twelve … but who’s counting anyway? The Big 12 will once again be dominated by the south with no hesitation in saying that. Nebraska will be the beast of the North and Texas will again win-out over Oklahoma for the South representative … and just like a repeat from last year, Texas has no reason to not beat Nebraska for the Big 12 title.

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Big 10
Well, we really don’t care much for the Big 10. Ohio State looks to be the odd-on favorite. Iowa and Wisconsin will play a role and provide some heat, but nobody else seems to be up-to-snuff to take the title from Ohio State … which is unfortunate. Maybe Iowa will jump out and surprise us all.

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So, enough with the east coast already. Let’s talk Pac-10!
The Big 10 of the west. ‘Nuff said. Well, USC has a near death-sentence around its neck. UCLA might peek its head up. Arizona? Arizona State? They haven’t seen glory in years. Oregon and Oregon State are overrated. The only teams worthy to be mentioned for a run at the conference title this year are going to be Washington and Stanford. In the end, let’s just say Washington ends up with the trophy.

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OK, so back to the east … the Big East
Not because we’re fans of the east, just because that’s where our notes came back to. Who cares. It used to be a top tier football conference when Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College were there, but now … whatever. OK, so you’ve got West Virginia and Pitt … {cricket} … {cricket} … OK, well, we’re going to go with Pitt on this one.

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Wait! What about the Mountain West?
Oh? Well, Wyoming is doing much. Neither is Colorado State or Air Force. New Mexico might make some noise, and so might San Diego State. Utah is leaving the conference. BYU? UNLV? Blech. Let’s just pick TCU and get on with it. Heck while we’re at it, let’s just take the Big 12 south plus Arkansas and TCU and bring back the Southwest Conference … just saying.

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No Conference USA or WAC or Sun Belt?
Seriously? OK, let’s try it out.
Conference USA will go to Tulsa. WAC (which is rumored to be dismantling) will see Boise State continue its dominance. Sun Belt? Let’s go for the dark-horse Arkansas State. No real reason, just because.

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National Championship
Miami v. Texas – Miami back on top!

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Tim (Rudd) is a rising executive who “succeeds” in finding the perfect guest, IRS employee Barry (Carell), for his boss’ monthly event - a so-called “dinner for idiots” which offers certain advantages for the exec who shows up with the biggest buffoon.

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