Mid-Con Basketball "Road to Tulsa"

This post has been updated today, thanks to an error check by vcboy2000 on the ORU board, who pointed out that my assumption that IUPUI could sweep ORU if they win Saturday was in error. ORU beat IUPUI a few weeks ago in Tulsa.

Thanks vcboy!

Men's Basketball

   School  W-L  Home  Away   Sweeps       Swept By   Split   Magic Number
   ------  ---  ----  ----   ------       --------   -----   ------------
1. IUPUI  10-1  6-0   4-1    OU,UMKC,WIU
2. ORU     9-2  6-0   3-2    CSU,SUU                 WIU          5
3. UMKC    7-4  4-2   3-2    CC,CSU       IUPUI                   2
4. Valpo   6-5  4-2   2-3    CC                      OU,SUU       2
5. SUU     5-5  4-1   1-4                 ORU        VU           1
6. OU      4-7  3-3   1-4    WIU          IUPUI      VU
7. CSU     3-7  2-2   1-5                 ORU,UMKC
8. WIU     3-9  2-3   1-6    CC           OU         ORU,IUPUI
9. CC      2-9  1-4   1-5                 UMKC,VU,
                                          WIU

This Saturday in "The Jungle" features the top two teams in the conference, with ORU definitely craving a win to hang with the Jaguars. A loss drops them 2 games back and drops their magic number by 2. Of course, Thursday's games come first.

Southern Utah at Chicago State 7:00 PM CT
Valparaiso at IUPUI 6:00 PM CT
Oral Roberts at Oakland 6:00 PM CT

SUU (1-4 on the road) needs a win if they are going to regain 4th. CSU (2-2 at home) needs a win to maintain at least a game lead on WIU.

Valpo, in the thick of middle, needs a win, period. It is going to be tough to come by with a 2-3 road record vs. a 6-0 home record (IUPUI), but history has yet to record a single instance of IUPUI defending their home court against Valpo. With Oakland's breakthrough victory over Valpo this year at the O'Rena, the Jaguars are the only Mid-Con team left that has never defended its home court against Valpo. Even lowly CSU and Centenary have done this at least once.

ORU is highly motivated to beat Oakland to keep alive the opportunity to grab a share of first place on Saturday. Oakland meanwhile is highly motivated to defend their homecourt because they don't have many home games left, because their road record is poor, and because they too have cozy neighbors on both sides of them in the standings.



Women's Basketball

   School  W-L  Home  Away   Sweeps       Swept By   Split   Magic Number
   ------  ---  ----  ----   ------       --------   -----   ------------
1. WIU     9-2  4-1   5-1    CC,IUPUI                ORU,OU
2. Valpo   8-3  5-1   3-2    CC,SUU                  OU           5
3. IUPUI   8-3  4-1   4-2    OU,CC,UMKC   WIU                     4 [1]*
4. ORU     6-4  2-3   4-1    CSU,SUU                 WIU          4
5. OU      5-5  4-2   1-3                 IUPUI      VU,WIU       3
6. UMKC    5-5  3-3   1-4                 IUPUI      CSU,CC       3
7. CSU     4-6  2-3   2-3                 ORU        SUU,UMKC     2
8. CC      2-10 2-5   0-5                 WIU,VU,IUP UMKC         E
9. SUU     1-10 1-4   0-6                 ORU,VU,    CSU

[1]* Getting swept by IUPUI was a huge setback for IUPUI, because they've already lost the tiebreaker.

This appears to be a 3 team race for the #1 seed, though ORU still has games left against IUPUI and Valpo and split with WIU, so they have an outside chance.