By Tom Reck
No Missouri Valley Conference teams are left in current postseason competition, but the men’s basketball teams are off to one of the best starts in league history.
Valley teams have posted a 49-19 mark for the best start in the last 47 seasons.
Illinois State and Missouri State both are 7-0 and are two of the 16 teams still undefeated in the country. Both of those teams have received votes in The Associated Press poll along with 5-1 Northern Iowa, while Wichita State at 7-1 and Bradley at 5-2 both have beaten some good teams.
In the weekly RPI list, the Valley is No. 8 of 31 leagues with Missouri State having the top ranking at seventh and having a nice victory over Tulsa.
Valley teams are 9-2 in the last 11 true road games and eight of the league’s 10 teams are undefeated at home, with Creighton beating state rival Nebraska last week.
In last week’s Sagarin rankings, Missouri State also had the top mark at 63 followed by Wichita State 73, Northern Iowa 76, Southern Illinois 80, Illinois State 86, Bradley 95, Indiana State 117, Creighton 144, Evansville 164 and Drake 174.
In other college hoops, Texas Tech, coached by Pat Knight, is off to its best start since 1929 at 8-0 following its victory over a ranked Washington team.
Two teams from Indiana will be in the Jimmy V Classic to be shown on ESPN tonight. Butler plays Georgetown and Indiana takes on once-beaten Pittsburgh.
In other NCAA sports, North Carolina won its 21st championship in women’s soccer.
North Carolina’s men beat Drake 2-1 to eliminate the last Valley team.
Wichita State and Northern Iowa both won opening matches in the volleyball tournament but were eliminated in the second round by Big 12 teams by 3-0 counts, WSU losing to Iowa State and UNI to Nebraska.
Iowa State and Nebraska will meet in the quarterfinals. Penn State, Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota are the Big 10 teams left in the competition.
• Tom-Cattin’ It — Former ISU men’s coach Royce Waltman again is helping Michael Wantz coach the Roncalli High School team while former Shakamak softball coach Beth Wernz is assistant principal and athletic director at Eminence.
n North Central is 2-0 after winning two games at home, beating Hutsonville-Palestine 81-52, and will not play at home again until Jan. 15 when South Knox is the opponent. The T-Birds play North Daviess this week.
Casey also is off to a 2-0 start in Illinois. Its second victory came against Hutsonville-Palestine, which had won its first five games before losing twice last week.
• Central Michigan is the Mid-American Conference champ in football. Senior quarterback Dan LeFevour established a major-college record for combined touchdowns — rushing, passing and receiving — in the MAC championship game.
Three MAC teams and seven from the Big Ten are in bowl games.
Alabama faces Texas for the national championship and already is the pick of one Sporting News writer to give the SEC its fourth straight national championship.
• Indiana fired soccer coach Mike Freitag. He had an 86-32-19 mark in six seasons and guided the Hoosiers to an NCAA title.
• In women’s basketball, Central Michigan rebounded from its defeat at Indiana State to defeat ranked Louisville.
• Friends and family paid their final respects to a friend of mine, Kent “Cosmo” Robertson, on Sunday. He died last week at 59.
Keith Jones said he and Kent both graduated from Clay City in 1970. Kent played fastpitch softball and was a regular in local golf tournaments.
His wife said he had played golf the day before he died and had a great round. Our thoughts and prayers go to his family.
• In case you missed it, the Big Ten men were 6-5 winners in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge. Duke lost for the first time in the event and Boston College now is the lone team not to lose in the event.
Tom Reck may be contacted by telephone at (812) 232-3231, by email at tm_reck@yahoo.com.
