Fan Stop Central

from CBSSportsline.com
Missouri State‘s feeling a little left out.

Everybody else in the Missouri Valley Conference, it seems, is knocking off a power-conference program, and the Bears just haven’t had their chance until tonight, when they take a 6-0 record to Arkansas.

“Creighton, Northern Iowa, Indiana State – we need a win like they have so we can catch up with the league,” Hinson said.

On the same day last week, Northern Iowa defeated Iowa, and Indiana State beat Indiana. On Sunday, Creighton walloped Nebraska.

Knocking off the bigger-budget boys is no new development in the Missouri Valley. It’s been happening for years. But it seems as if teams from the Valley and other midmajor conferences have taken an even bigger step toward altering the college basketball landscape.

Now, they’re going after the ranked teams. Iowa was No. 13 when it fell to the Panthers. Indiana State beat the 16th-ranked Hoosiers. Syracuse was ranked 19th when it fell to Bucknell.

There have been so many instances of teams from conferences that usually get no more than one or two spots in the NCAA Tournament whipping the multi-bid league teams that it’s just not raising eyebrows anymore.

It shouldn’t, as far as the Missouri Valley is concerned, Missouri State head coach Barry Hinson insists. Sycamores coach Royce Waltman is now 3-2 against Indiana. The Panthers have won three straight over the Hawkeyes in Cedar Falls. Creighton’s victory over the Cornhuskers was its 10th in a row in the regular season against Big 12 competition.

“This is not unexpected,” Hinson said. “This conference has proved in years past that it can win those games.”

Now, it’s as if the Missouri Valley has shown the way. Followers of Northwestern State called their victory at Mississippi State the program’s biggest in 20 years. The next week, the Demons were even more impressive, winning at Oklahoma State.

• Gardner-Webb over Minnesota.
• Sam Houston State and Davidson over Missouri.
• San Francisco over Texas Tech.
• Tennessee Tech big over Oregon State.
• UC Irvine, Montana and UC Davis over Stanford.
• Iona over Iowa State

Talk about bracket busters.
Factors that separate programs remain in place. Teams from power conferences get greater exposure, get to play mostly home games, and have more resources and better overall talent.

In the preview magazines, the midmajors and smaller schools are lumped together like coach-class passengers in the back of book.

But the midmajors and below have played to their strengths in the season’s first month. They tend to be more experienced and ultra-motivated in these meetings. A talent gap exists, but it’s not nearly what it used to be.

Ratings Percentage Index, a power ranking based on results and schedule, is at its most inexact early in the season, but it’s no system flaw that the Missouri Valley is rated fourth ahead of the Southeastern Conference and Big 12, and the Colonial Athletic Association is ninth, ahead of the Pac-10.

“Other leagues are deeper, with more talent on the roster, and they tend to get the bigger guys,” Drake coach Tom Davis said. “That doesn’t always translate into better players.”

Drake is redshirting three players this season, and the Bulldogs are only following the trend of league powers Creighton and Southern Illinois. Voluntarily sitting out a year to develop is unheard of in major conferences. It’s becoming common in the Missouri Valley.

But more midmajors are willing to do it. Four years ago, the Missouri Valley instituted a fine for teams that dragged down the league’s ratings percentage index by poor scheduling. The conference dropped the rule, but teams got the idea: Go find good competition.

The philosophy makes sense. The better a league’s RPI, the more teams it stands to land in postseason play, which means more cash for all teams.

So maybe it’s time to change the definition or at least widen the circle of major or power conference. Draft picks, recruiting lists, television appearances and larger budgets favor leagues like the ACC, Big Ten and Big 12.

“There are not givens in this league because of the level of coaching,” Davis said. “You’ve got 10 schools playing at a pretty decent level. I can remember in the Big East or Pac-10, there were places where you knew you could go on the road and get two or three road wins. You don’t see that in the Valley.”

What you see are teams taking on power conference programs and winning, not just in the Missouri Valley but throughout the game.

“Indiana State beating Indiana?” Missouri State head coach Barry Hinson said. “I wasn’t surprised at all.”

The surprise these days is to go a day or two without a power conference team tripping over an experienced, motivated, well-coached midmajor.

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