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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SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State (24-12) had five players in double figures and shot 57-percent from the field to turn back Pacific 78-65 in the championship game of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament here Tuesday.

The Bears got a team-high 16 points from Caleb Patterson who came off the bench to score 11 in the second half and finished 7-for-10 from the field with 5 rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. Kyle Weems scored 14, while Nafis Ricks added 13 for MSU.

After Pacific led 35-29 at the half, Patterson hit a pair of critical jumpers early in the second half – both with the Tigers up by four points – to keep the Bears close. With 11:06 to play in the game, Joe Ford’s basket put Pacific up 50-44. However, the Bears reeled off 11 unanswered points over the next two minutes, capped by a steal and dunk by Jermaine Mallett with 9:02 to go to put Missouri State on top 55-50.

Cuonzo Martin’s Bears would never trail again, and Missouri State increased its advantage to double figures on a layup by Patterson with 3:33 on the clock. The 67-56 lead capped a 23-6 run, and the crowd of 6,205 at JQH Arena helped the Bears close out the game with 7-for-8 free throws in the final two minutes to seal the win.

The victory was the 19th at JQH Arena this season for the Bears, which tied Kansas for the national lead in home-court wins. The Bears’ 24th victory of the year overall matched the second-most in a season by a Missouri State club and marked the first time the program has ended the season with a win since 1978-79.

The Bears landed three players on the CIT All-Tournament team, including most-valuable player Will Creekmore who was 3-for-3 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 at the line en route to 10-point night. Adam Leonard, who also had 10 points against Pacific, joined Creekmore and Weems on the all-tourney team.

Pacific (23-12) was helped by Ford’s 16 points, while Sam Willard posted 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Both were rewarded with all-tournament honors along with Appalachian State’s Donald Sims and Fairfield’s Anthony Johnson.

Missouri State outrebounded Pacific by a 31-24 margin in the game, giving them the rebounding advantage for the 29th time this season and 10th game in a row. The Bears were 27-for-47 from the field and 19-for-26 (.731) at the line with five three-pointers.

Pacific finished 22-for-51 (.431) from the field, but struggled at the line in the second half with a 7-for-13 (.538) performance in the second period and 13-for-20 line overall. Pacific knocked down eight three-pointers in the game, including three by Demetrece Young who had a game-high 17 points as one of four Tigers in double figures.

The CIT national title brought to a close a milestone season for Martin’s Bears who were 11-20 a year ago. The team’s +10.5 turnaround matched the fifth-best improvement in the nation, according to the NCAA.

The Bears will depart with just one senior, Justin Fuehrmeyer, who had 2 points and 2 assists in his final appearance at JQH Arena.

In the first half, the Bears jumped out to a 10-4 lead just over four minutes into the game on a Mallett three-pointer. After a Weems layup at the 14:28 mark, Pacific reeled off 13 of the game’s next 15 points to build a 20-14 advantage over the next four minutes.

Missouri State climbed back ahead with just under eight minutes to play in the half as it capitalized on a steal and layup by Nafis Ricks, a short jumper by Mallett and a traditional three-point play by Ricks to lead 24-22.

The Tigers ended the half on a 13-5 run that included a clutch three-pointer by Pat Eveland at the 1:01 mark to make it a six-point game at the break.

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If you’re a fan of college basketball … and if you’re here I assume you are … you’ve no doubtedly heard the rumors of the NCAA Basketball Tournament expanding its field from 64 65 to 96.

Now, this isn’t the first time the field has been expanded. The tournament first started with 25 teams, then expanded over time to include the 64 65 (seriously, the tournament is really 64. Can we stop saying 65? Does the Tuesday play-in game really matter in the tournament?)

I’m all for including more teams. I would be the first to say that the selection process is flawed. It has a good starting point, 31 conference tournament champions receive an automatic entry, but the rest of the field is completely biased … and there is no question to that.

I’ll be the first to say that my favorite college team (Missouri State) got hosed multiple times over the past 10 years. Twice they set the record for the highest RPI rating team to be left out of the big dance (32 and 21 respectively). Why is this a big deal? Because the selection committee tried to explain their selection process and how much stock they put into the RPI. How is the RPI calculated? Play a strong schedule and perform well. For years, Missouri State tried to play the numbers game (as laid out by the selection committee) and performed well enough for their numbers to be worthy of a bid … yet have been denied selection.

Expanding the field to 96 would have been a no-brainer to include Missouri State (in their case), but of course then you’ll have teams 97-150 wondering “why weren’t we selected?” And on and on.

SO, I would propose a better selection process. Whether you expand the field or not, change the automatic bid process to the following:

• 1 automatic bid per REGULAR SEASON CONFERENCE CHAMPION
• 1 automatic bid per CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT CHAMPION (if different)
• follow the at-large selection process to fill out the remaining spots (if needed)

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that this is not a fool-proof selection process, BUT I think the emphasis/importance needs to be placed on the regular conference season b/c any team can get hot in a 3 game tournament and take a spot away from a team who played well enough over the course of the season to deserve selection.

Just like the college football playoff debate, this won’t be put to rest easily.

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With a $30 million gift from Missouri State alumnus and Springfield, Mo.-based hotel developer John Q Hammons, construction has begun on JQH Arena, the new home to the MIssouri State Bears and Lady Bears basketball teams and an iconic tribute to Missouri State intercollegiate athletics.

The arena, located adjacent to Hammons Student on John Q. Hammons Parkway, will contain more than 11,000 seats – including 50 courtside seats – The Grand Entrance, 22 suites, a club and other amenities. The design also includes shell space for home locker rooms, offices and a training room, which can be completed later. For now, the current Hammons Student Center facilities will be used for these functions, with a connecting corridor to JQH Arena.

Building a new basketball arena has been a long-time dream for Missouri State. Establishing one as grand as JQH Arena will allow Missouri State to live up to its name, be a magnet for Springfield and make the community proud. The JQH Arena will impact recruiting efforts, putting the basketball programs on par with other Division I schools in the country as we move into the 21st century. The new arena will be a premier basketball facility that will give Missouri State an overwhelming home-court advantage and make the Bears’ and Lady Bears’ games the place to be in Springfield.

In addition, JQH Arena will qualify to host women’s NCAA postseason games and will be an ideal place to host local, regional and statewide high school events, plus concerts and other public events.

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