ST. LOUIS — Indiana State isn’t the only Missouri Valley Conference school excited about an Iowa transfer this season.
Southern Illinois welcomes former Iowa swingman Tony Freeman to the Saluki fold. Much in the same way ISU guard Jake Kelly stood out for the Hawkeyes last season, Freeman starred in Iowa City during his junior season in 2007. Freeman was a third-team All-Big Ten selection that season, averaging 13.8 points, 3.2 assists and 3.1 rebounds. He’ll have one year of eligibility in a SIU uniform.
Freeman was Kelly’s teammate for one year with the Hawkeyes, when Kelly was a freshman for the Hawkeyes. He thinks the excitement ISU fans have expressed in having Kelly in a Sycamore uniform is justified.
“Jake can do what you ask him to. He’s long enough as a guard to do lots of things and I think he’s become a better shooter. His forte is handling the ball and passing, but most of all, he’s just a good athlete. Jake is an all-around good player and he’s an attribute to any team he’s on,” Freeman said.
ISU opens its Valley campaign against the Salukis at Carbondale, Ill. on Dec. 29. Freeman is looking forward to seeing and playing against his former Iowa teammate.
“Them having Jake makes [Indiana State] more dynamic. I’m looking forward to it. Jake is like a brother to me, I think the match-up will really be fun,” Freeman said.
n Getting more bids — The MVC has qualified just one team into the NCAA men’s tournament in the last two seasons. Considering that the league peaked at four bids in 2006, the paucity of league representation has been a letdown.
The Valley was very young the last two seasons, so the notion prevailed that the league is better positioned to get multiple bids again this season.
However, the pie for non-BCS league schools to get at-large bids has shrunk from 12 in 2006 to four last season. It’s a trend that had several coaches concerned.
“If you’re in the 27 conference that aren’t BCS conferences, it’s very disturbing. Nationally, there’s 27 conferences that are really, really being adversely affected. The graph is going down, down, down. There are four non-BCS that are being allowed in? That’s nothing but disturbing,” Illinois State coach Tim Jankovich said.
Bradley coach Jim Les publicly favored an expansion of the NCAA tournament field.
“I know it’s tied into TV, big business and big dollars. CBS controls those first 32 games, that’s why the play-in game is on ESPN, they don’t want expansion because they’d lose control over that. I just think there’s a lot of good basketball teams that don’t get an opportunity to play in [the NCAA] tournament. We need to be inclusive, and it’s not going to hurt that tournament [if it’s expanded]. Expansion in both the NCAA and NIT need to be looked at,” Les said.
MVC commissioner Doug Elgin did not go as far as some of the coaches did in expressing concern over the make-up of the field. He said the fate of the league’s tournament status is ultimately in its own hands.
“It’s a trend, but lets face it, the league has been down as far as the competition on the floor. I think it has to do with the lack of maturity [in terms of average roster age] on the men’s side. You look at how we’ve competed against top 50 programs, you go back five years, four years, three years, we had greater success,” Elgin said. “I think you’ll progress this year and be even better next year, but to earn respect on the court, you have to play good teams and you have to beat some of them to have a chance.”
n Women’s coaches feel league is stronger — While the men’s coaches pondered how to get back to a multi-bid league after just two seasons, its been eight years since there were multiple representatives in the NCAA Tournament from the women’s side.
If there is a year where that’s going to change, the women’s coaches felt this is it.
“I think with where the league was last year from top to bottom, we’re getting better as a conference. We had teams that hadn’t been in the mix for a while have started to improve,” ISU coach Jim Wiedie said. “There’s probably four or five teams that have a legitimate shot at the regular season and its proven during the tournament that anyone can win. I just think it’s going to be really competitive this year.”
Creighton coach Jim Flanery said it’s time to think about the MVC as a possible multi-bid league.
“Our schedules in a lot cases are a lot better and I think the gap between us and the Big Ten and Big 12, I don’t think there’s not as much difference as there was five years ago, especially with players six-feet and under,” Creighton coach Jim Flanery said. “I think we can get more than one team in the tournament."
Elgin announced that the contract to have the MVC Tournament at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo., was extended through 2011.
College
Former Iowa teammates excited about facing each other
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A time for firsts: SMWC seniors have national title aspirations
Even though St. Mary-of-the-Woods College has won eight national titles in softball in the last 16 years, seniors Sara Goelz and Jessica Jonas are among the many current Woods players who have not been part of a national championship team.
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Win over SIU puts Sycamores in first place
As Indiana State’s baseball team tried to climb to the top of the Missouri Valley Conference mountain on Saturday against Southern Illinois, it stood to reason that the air would get more rarefied as they neared the summit.
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Major Clay takes fourth straight MVC high jump title
For the fourth straight year, Indiana State’s Major Clay will climb to the top spot on the awards podium as the Sycamore captured his fourth high jump championship at the 2012 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference outdoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday.
The competition was conducted at Cessna Stadium on the campus of Wichita State University. -
Edgewood takes Western Indiana Conference golf crown
Edgewood and senior Jackson Cowden took top honors in the Western Indiana Conference boys golf championship played Saturday at Idle Creek.
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North grad wins 10,000 at Big Ten Championships
Terre Haute North alumnus Zach Mayhew ran a Dan McClimon track record at the University of Wisconsin to win the 10,000 meters at the Big Ten Championships.
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Top-seeded Rose-Hulman falls in opener of HCAC Tournament
A couple of Rose-Hulman streaks came to an end Thursday night in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball tournament action, but the home-team jinx looks to be still alive.
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ISU's Ort getting hot at right time for Sycamores
Indiana State’s baseball game notes list game-by-game performance for each Sycamore batter. It lists them box score-style: at-bats, runs, hits and RBI.
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Terre Haute native getting national attention as freshman for Kentucky
On a day where Terre Haute native A.J. Reed returned home to continue his college career, he got plenty of time to be on-stage.
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Top seed, home field doesn’t guarantee Rose success
On the surface, serving as host for the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball tournament would appear to benefit Rose-Hulman’s No. 1-seeded team, which finished the regular season 27-12 overall and 18-6 in the conference.
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Metro roundup: ISU’s Lucas honored by Missouri Valley again
For the fifth time in the last nine weeks, Indiana State junior catcher Jeremy Lucas has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Week.
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Sycamores top Shockers in 10 innings in MVC series opener
If free baseball is what you want, Indiana State has what you need. For the sixth time in the span of a month, ISU’s series opener went extra innings.
- METRO ROUNDUP: Rose baseball team takes first game of doubleheader
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ISU starting pitchers in rhythm heading into Wichita State series
“Gettting into rhythm” is such an oft-used cliché in sports that it’s hard to hear the term and fight the urge to not let it enter one ear and escape another.
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ISU goes to well too many times
Perhaps the most unnecessary pursuit for a Wabash Valley sports fan during the now-completed weekend was watching the first few innings of nonconference college baseball between Indiana State and visiting Nebraska-Omaha.
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ISU baseball living on the edge
Indiana State’s baseball team got its game against Nebraska-Omaha in Saturday between morning and evening rain showers. But in the wake of another walk-off 3-2 victory against the struggling Mavericks, one might be forgiven if they felt the Sycamores are walking between the raindrops a bit.
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PREP ROUNDUP: North Central baseball improves to 10-2
North Central lost a 7-1 game to Vincennes Rivet, and then Nolan Kinnett pitched the Thunderbirds to victory, adding a double and three RBIs against Riverton Parke in a pair of high school baseball games on Saturday.
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METRO ROUNDUP: Jenkins, Goatee win inaugural Rush the Punter 5K
Steve Jenkins and TaPring Goatee were the 5K winners in the inaugural Rush the Punter event on Saturday at Fairbanks Park.
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Providing perspective: ISU’s vets have 2009 as window into 2012
Indiana State’s baseball team has reached dizzying heights, but if the Sycamores have any trouble keeping their feet on the ground, they can turn to three teammates who can remind them how dangerous it can be to get complacent.
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Missouri State wins MVC golf championship as expected
Missouri State was a unanimous pick to win the Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Golf Championship, the pollsters citing their experience with four upperclassmen.
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Uphill Battle: ISU 23 strokes back of MVC leader No. Iowa
Indiana State maintained sixth place after two rounds of the Missouri Valley Conference Golf Championships, but the Sycamores face a tough challenge to move into the top half of the league after today’s final round at the Country Club of Terre Haute.
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Enter Cummings, exit McWhorter
All it took was a stat sheet to show Indiana State men’s basketball coach Greg Lansing the glaring need the Sycamores had as they built their 2013 team.
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TH golf community steps up for ISU
The Terre Haute golf community and the Indiana State women’s golf program can be a thriving partnership, and this week’s Missouri Valley Golf Championships have put that potential on display.
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ISU blue after football scrimmage
One of Indiana State football coach Trent Miles’ stated goals for Saturday’s Blue-White spring football scrimmage was to get through the game unaffected by injuries.
As the 12-minute running clock ticked down — one of the concessions made by the football staff to speed the scrimmage up and get players off the field unscathed — it appeared ISU would make it through its spring game more-or-less unscathed.
But on the last play of the scrimmage, disaster struck. -
Hosting Missouri Valley Conference meet, ISU golf heading in right direction under Towne
It’s been a loooooong time in the making.
When the Indiana State women’s golf program was resurrected in 2005, it had already been on a 28-year hiatus. Since then, the Sycamores have enjoyed modest success, but have not hosted a golf match or invitational.
That changes beginning today — in a big way. -
ISU golfers step up after injury sidelines top player
Indiana State will be missing its best player, junior Reece Feducia, in the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Golf Championships at the Country Club of Terre Haute from today through Tuesday.
Feducia was the team’s medalist in their first five tournaments of the fall season, but is still recovering from complications due to gall bladder surgery. She was all-MVC a year ago, finishing tied for third in last year’s MVC tournament. -
Walterhouse blast keys ISU to victory vs. Dallas Baptist
Ryan Walterhouse couldn’t have picked a better time to get a pleasant surprise.
The Indiana State senior lofted what looked like a routine towering fly to right field with two out in the bottom of the first inning Saturday at Bob Warn Field only to see it disappear — maybe a yard fair, possibly less than that beyond the fence — for a three-run homer that was the big blow in the Sycamores’ 6-3, series-tying victory over Dallas Baptist. -
ISU baseball drops weekend series opener to DBU
Indiana State and Dallas Baptist are playing this weekend at Warn Field for the opportunity to position themselves for a NCAA baseball tournament at-large bid.
The first statement was made by the visiting Patriots. - ISU football hopes to survive as well as evaluate
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METRO ROUNDUP: ISU's Padgett breaks school record in 10,000 meters
Indiana State senior Craig Padgett broke a five-year-old school record in the 10,000 meters late Thursday night and junior Albaro Escalera ran the third fastest 10,000 meters in school history at Hilmer Lodge Stadium during the 54th Mt. SAC Relays.
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Padgett breaks ISU track record in 10K
Indiana State's Craig Padgett ran a time of 29 minutes, 38.70 seconds to set a new school record in the 10,000-meter run.
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