Kentucky wins, Louisville loses, Indiana takes it to the wire and wins again. These situations come up at every sportscast on the local network newscast, but what won’t be heard on a daily basis is if the Evansville Aces won or if Western Kentucky Hilltoppers won. There’s an update to the lesser known of the local schools, the likes of which won’t get the exposure of the local television station, the Unknowns.
By Cameron Jacobs
Indiana State University Sycamores
Record: 17-6 (8-3 Missouri Valley Conference)
Stats:
Jake Odum 12.3 points a game
Jake Odum 4.4 rebounds a game
Jake Odum 4.8 assist a game
NCAA Tournament Outlook: In the Missouri Valley Conference, only one team may be able to get in without winning the conference championship, and that would go to the number four ranked team in the nation, Wichita State. That means, for ISU to be able to make it into the NCAA tournament, they would have to win the conference championship.
Evansville Aces
Record: 10-14 (3-7 Missouri Valley Conference)
Stats:
D. Balentine 22.6 points a game
E. Mockevicius 7.7 rebounds a game
D. Balentine 4.2 assists a game
NCAA Tournament Outlook: Evansville’s tournament outlook isn’t very good, and their only chances are winning the conference tournament and losing more of their conference games than winning doesn’t make that very reasonable.
IUPUI Jaguars
Record: 5-20 (0-8 Summit Conference)
Stats:
I.Chiles 15.9 points a game
M. Barksdale 6.9 rebounds a game
M. Barksdale 3.6 assists a game
NCAA Tournament Outlook: With terrible record, and a winless in conference record, the hopes of winning the conference championship may be a miracle, but bigger surprises have happened in the world of sports before.
Murray State Racers
Record: 13-9 (8-2 Ohio Valley Conference)
Stats:
C. Payne 15.4 points a game
J. Williams 10.5 rebounds a game
C. Payne 5.6 assists a game
NCAA Tournament Outlook: With Belmont and Murray State neck and neck in the conference, all Murray State really needs to do is beat Belmont and run the tournament and they with get the automatic bid into the field and get to play.
Morehead State Eagles
Record: 15-9 (6-3 Ohio Valley Conference)
Stats:
A. Warner 17 points a game
C. Posthumus 11.5 rebounds a game
K. Storey 5.5 assists a game
NCAA Tournament Outlook: Being in the same conference as Murray State and only one of the two getting in, it looks that Murray State will take the Ohio Valley Conference’s automatic bid, leaving Morehead State without a sit at the dance.
Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
Record: 15-7 (7-2 Sun Belt Conference)
Stats:
T. Price 16.8 points a game
G. Fant 7.2 rebounds a game
C. Harrison-Docks 2.6 assists a game
NCAA Tournament Outlook: Western Kentucky might be deserving of an at large bid, but if they can top Georgia State in conference, they could get in by winning their conference tournament, even though Georgia State is having a great year, not losing a game in the conference.
Ball State Cardinals
Record: 4-16 (1-8 Mid-American Conference)
Stats:
Z. Turner 12.1 points a game
M. Majok 9.9 rebounds a game
Z. Turner 3.2 assists a game
NCAA Tournament Outlook: Ball State’s chance of getting into the tournament are slim, they would really have to win their conference tournament, and that is a far reach as they have only one win in conference.
**Includes games through February 10.