ISU men will try to pull off the Great Escape at Bradley
Someone summon Big X. Bust into the hoosegow and break Hilts The Cooler King out. And gather round Ashley Pitt, Blythe The Forger, Danny the Tunnel King and all of the rest.
Their metaphorical equivalents will be in Indiana State uniforms at 4 p.m. today at Bradley's Carver Arena. And they will be trying to tunnel their way out of the Thursday night at the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in the Sycamores' version of "The Great Escape".
ISU has two possible fates at stake in its final MVC regular season game and neither is entirely within their control. With an ISU win and a Missouri State loss at Northern Iowa, the Sycamores will pull of the Great Escape and be the No. 6 seed at the MVC Tournament ? thus escaping the Thursday play-in day.
If any other combination of results plays out, ISU will be the No. 7 seed and would play No. 10-seeded Valparaiso at 9:30 p.m. next Thursday at Scottrade Center.
The Great Escape part of it comes from the statistical odds ISU is trying to surmount in getting out of Thursday in St. Louis.
Entering the final week of the MVC season, ISU (12-17, 7-10) had just a 12.5 percent chance of escaping Thursday ? and that was without taking into account the probability odds of which teams were favored in each of the games. ISU's win over Evansville and Missouri State's home loss to Bradley were just the right combination the Sycamores needed on Wednesday, so now, ISU has a 25 percent chance to get out of play-in jail.
To borrow a phrase from an entirely different film ... so you're saying there's still a chance?
Certainly, ISU's players would rather be playing for higher stakes in the final regular season game, but playing for something is better than nothing on the final day of the season.
"It's a good opportunity for us to get out of Thursday, but it's another game where we have to come and compete," ISU guard Jordan Barnes said. "It's good to back on the winning side of the column, but we have to be ready to be better for tomorrow."
Given that no team has advanced even as far as the MVC Tournament semifinals since 1998 out of the Thursday play-in game, avoiding the extra game in the four-day tournament is crucial.
"Every game was important for us and the Bradley game is really important because we want that six-spot. Whatever happens in the Missouri State-UNI game, we want to come out and take care of business on Saturday to get ready for St. Louis," ISU guard Brenton Scott said.
Scott said that he's done at least some scoreboard-watching and he paid attention to Bradley's 82-78 win over Missouri State on Wednesday, which ended about 90 minutes after ISU's game against Evansville. ISU will know its fate when it steps on the hardwood at Carver Arena as the Missouri State-UNI game tips off two hours earlier.
"We pay attention, I know I do. Missouri State was at home and Bradley kept chipping away and getting stops to come up with a victory. Bradley is a tough team. We have to be ready for a tough 40 minutes," Scott said.
As for the task at-hand, ISU certainly has room for improvement based on their previous meeting with Bradley ? an 81-73 defeat on Jan. 28 that helped send ISU on a slide in which it lost seven of eight games.
In that contest, ISU allowed the Braves to shoot 11 of 18 from 3-point range. Included was a 25-point performance from reserve guard Nate Kennell as he was 7 of 9 from 3-point range.
Typical of many ISU games this season, ISU fought back and put itself in a position to win late, but failed block outs led to Bradley points late in the contest.
"We have to play our best game of the year," ISU coach Greg Lansing said. "We found different ways to lose that [previous] game against Bradley. They're good at executing and they play good team defense. They're well-schooled and not easy to beat."
Bradley (19-11, 9-8) has been outstanding at Carver Arena this season with a 13-1 home mark. Only one MVC team, Drake, has won there. On the other hand, the Sycamores have been competitive in every MVC road game they've played this season, winning at Loyola, Evansville and Northern Iowa. ISU has just one double-digit road loss in MVC play.
Someone summon Big X. Bust into the hoosegow and break Hilts The Cooler King out. And gather round Ashley Pitt, Blythe The Forger, Danny the Tunnel King and all of the rest.
Their metaphorical equivalents will be in Indiana State uniforms at 4 p.m. today at Bradley's Carver Arena. And they will be trying to tunnel their way out of the Thursday night at the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in the Sycamores' version of "The Great Escape".
ISU has two possible fates at stake in its final MVC regular season game and neither is entirely within their control. With an ISU win and a Missouri State loss at Northern Iowa, the Sycamores will pull of the Great Escape and be the No. 6 seed at the MVC Tournament ? thus escaping the Thursday play-in day.
If any other combination of results plays out, ISU will be the No. 7 seed and would play No. 10-seeded Valparaiso at 9:30 p.m. next Thursday at Scottrade Center.
The Great Escape part of it comes from the statistical odds ISU is trying to surmount in getting out of Thursday in St. Louis.
Entering the final week of the MVC season, ISU (12-17, 7-10) had just a 12.5 percent chance of escaping Thursday ? and that was without taking into account the probability odds of which teams were favored in each of the games. ISU's win over Evansville and Missouri State's home loss to Bradley were just the right combination the Sycamores needed on Wednesday, so now, ISU has a 25 percent chance to get out of play-in jail.
To borrow a phrase from an entirely different film ... so you're saying there's still a chance?
Certainly, ISU's players would rather be playing for higher stakes in the final regular season game, but playing for something is better than nothing on the final day of the season.
"It's a good opportunity for us to get out of Thursday, but it's another game where we have to come and compete," ISU guard Jordan Barnes said. "It's good to back on the winning side of the column, but we have to be ready to be better for tomorrow."
Given that no team has advanced even as far as the MVC Tournament semifinals since 1998 out of the Thursday play-in game, avoiding the extra game in the four-day tournament is crucial.
"Every game was important for us and the Bradley game is really important because we want that six-spot. Whatever happens in the Missouri State-UNI game, we want to come out and take care of business on Saturday to get ready for St. Louis," ISU guard Brenton Scott said.
Scott said that he's done at least some scoreboard-watching and he paid attention to Bradley's 82-78 win over Missouri State on Wednesday, which ended about 90 minutes after ISU's game against Evansville. ISU will know its fate when it steps on the hardwood at Carver Arena as the Missouri State-UNI game tips off two hours earlier.
"We pay attention, I know I do. Missouri State was at home and Bradley kept chipping away and getting stops to come up with a victory. Bradley is a tough team. We have to be ready for a tough 40 minutes," Scott said.
As for the task at-hand, ISU certainly has room for improvement based on their previous meeting with Bradley ? an 81-73 defeat on Jan. 28 that helped send ISU on a slide in which it lost seven of eight games.
In that contest, ISU allowed the Braves to shoot 11 of 18 from 3-point range. Included was a 25-point performance from reserve guard Nate Kennell as he was 7 of 9 from 3-point range.
Typical of many ISU games this season, ISU fought back and put itself in a position to win late, but failed block outs led to Bradley points late in the contest.
"We have to play our best game of the year," ISU coach Greg Lansing said. "We found different ways to lose that [previous] game against Bradley. They're good at executing and they play good team defense. They're well-schooled and not easy to beat."
Bradley (19-11, 9-8) has been outstanding at Carver Arena this season with a 13-1 home mark. Only one MVC team, Drake, has won there. On the other hand, the Sycamores have been competitive in every MVC road game they've played this season, winning at Loyola, Evansville and Northern Iowa. ISU has just one double-digit road loss in MVC play.
