Jan. 28, 2011
ST. LOUIS -
The Missouri Valley Conference and the Mountain West Conference announced the pairings for the 2011 Challenge Series between the two leagues Friday, and Illinois State will face Fresno State, Dec. 3, 2011 at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif.
The non-conference matchup between the Redbirds and the Bulldogs will not count in the Challenge Series, since Fresno State will still be a member of the Western Athletic Conference next season. The Bulldogs will officially join the MWC prior to the 2012-13 season.
The agreement between the Mountain West and Missouri Valley conferences is in its third year of a four-year term. In each of the previous two years, the Challenge featured head-to-head competition between nine Mountain West and nine Missouri Valley teams. Due to membership changes in the Mountain West Conference, the 2011 Challenge will consist of eight games, with each conference hosting four games. All eight contests will take place the week of Nov. 30-Dec. 4, 2011. Southern Illinois, along with Illinois State, are the two Valley schools not in the 2011 Challenge Series.
Pairings are made in two-year cycles with no team having two-straight road or two-straight home games during that two-year period. In the 2011 and 2012 challenges, every team that participates will receive one road and one home game.
The Mountain West won the 2010 series, 8-1, and holds a 12-6 lead in the first two years of the Challenge. Last season, the leagues combined for four NCAA Tournament victories, which included first-round wins by BYU and New Mexico, and a Sweet 16 appearance by Northern Iowa. Overall, the two conferences earned a collective 11 postseason berths and 10 postseason wins.
The Mountain West and Missouri Valley have combined to place nine teams in the Top 100 of this season's RPI, including five in the Top 50. Two institutions (San Diego State-4; BYU-9) are currently ranked in both the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Top-25 Coaches polls, while two others (UNLV, Missouri State) are receiving votes.
The Mountain West has ranked among the Top 10 in the NCAA's final RPI report in 10 of the last 11 years, while the Valley has been among the Top 9 in each of the last six. Teams from the two leagues have squared off 58 times since the inception of the Mountain West in 1999, with MWC teams holding a 33-25 edge in those contests.
This game will mark the second time the two schools have met. Illinois State claimed the victory in the first contest, a 60-44 win on Dec. 26, 1986, in the opening round of the Hoosier Classic in Indianapolis, Ind.
This season, Fresno State owns an 8-11 overall record, including a 3-5 mark in the WAC. The Bulldogs are led by sophomore center Greg Smith, who earned 2010 preseason first-team all-league honors by both the WAC's head coaches and media in the preseason polls, and his 10.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.
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