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MISSOURI VALLEY
It is tough to imagine that any conference could have a much better March than the Missouri Valley Conference did last season. It started with an extremely exciting conference tournament where Illinois State upset top seed Wichita State in the semifinals and held an 18 point lead over Northern Iowa in the championship game before UNI came back and captured the automatic bid. Northern Iowa went on to the NCAA Tournament as a 5 seed and defeated Wyoming in the Round of 64 before falling to Louisville in the Round of 32. Wichita State received a 7 seed, knocked off a tough Indiana team in the Round of 64, and got their dream matchup against in-state rival Kansas in the Round of 32. The Shockers were certainly up to the task, upsetting the 2 seed Jayhawks before finally falling in the Sweet 16 to Notre Dame. Illinois State received an invite to the NIT, advancing to the second round of that tournament before falling by one point to Old Dominion.
That was not the end of the story for the Valley in March though. Not even close. Two other teams received postseason bids. Evansville played in the CIT and Loyola-Chicago played in the CBI. And those two teams combined to go 10-0 in those two events. Evansville defeated Northern Arizona in the CIT title game while Loyola swept Louisiana-Monroe in the Best of 3 finals series of the CBI. In all, the Missouri Valley Conference posted an amazing 14-3 record in postseason tournaments last year with two championships, one of the best postseasons by any conference ever.
Although it may be difficult to match last season’s performance, the Missouri Valley will certainly be a conference to reckon with this year. Wichita State enters the season looking like one of the top teams in the entire country, led by seniors Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet. Evansville, Loyola-Chicago and Illinois State all look like they will be battling for spots near the top of the conference standings, with Northern Iowa not far behind them (though likely taking a step back from last year). The two teams to really pay attention to in this conference are Loyola and Evansville. Both teams have the tools necessary to be in the at-large bid discussion. Loyola returns four of their starters from last year’s CBI championship team. Evansville looks even stronger, returning all five. The Purple Aces are led by D.J. Balentine who would be the best guard in the conference if not for Baker and VanVleet.
Predicted Order of Finish
1. Wichita State – Even with Tekele Cotton gone, the Shockers remain stacked in the backcourt with Fred VanVleet, Ron Baker and more. They should be even stronger than last year down low now that Zach Brown and Shaquille Morris have a year of experience under their belts. They have added Cleveland State transfer Anton Grady who should be a force down low as well.
2. Evansville – Everyone returns all five starters from the CIT champions led by D.J. Balentine’s scoring and Egidijus Mockevicius’ rebounding. The Purple Aces have more than enough depth too and should be a serious contender for an NCAA tournament bid, and not just the automatic kind.
3. Loyola-Chicago – The Ramblers return four starters from last year’s CBI champions including Milton Doyle and Earl Peterson at guard. JC transfer Maurice Kirby should provide a ton of help to Montel James down low. If things click, especially in conference play where the Ramblers struggled at only 8-10 last season, do not be shocked if they are in the bubble discussion as well.
4. Illinois State – The Redbirds need to make up for the losses of Daishon Knight and Reggie Lynch, but Newcomer of the Year DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell and New Mexico transfer Nick Banyard should help keep them near the top of the standings.
5. Northern Iowa – The Panthers had an amazing season last year that culminated in a 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Three starters from that team are gone including their top player, Seth Tuttle. Ben Jacobson’s squad has some serious question marks down low heading into this season and a return to the Big Dance seems to be a longshot at best.
6. Drake – The Bulldogs could be the surprise team in the Valley this year with Reed Timmer and Penn State transfer Graham Woodward in the backcourt and tons of size down low, led by Jacob Enevold-Hensen. The best news is that the roster is made up of mostly sophomores and juniors, so the conference better watch out next year!
7. Indiana State – The Sycamores feature a solid backcourt with the combination of Devonte Brown, Brenton Scott and wing Khristian Smith. If Matt Van Scyoc, who transferred from The Citadel, can be solid down low at this higher level of play, this team could contend for the upper division.
8. Missouri State – The good news is that the Bears return all five starters from the end of last season. The bad news is that they do not appear to have any true standout players and also suffer from a lack of size down low. This could be another tough season in Springfield.
9. Southern Illinois – Anthony Beane should score a ton of points, but he does not appear to have enough other pieces around him after the Salukis lost five players via transfer in the offseason.
10. Bradley – Brian Wardle had a ton of success in Green Bay and will be called upon to return Bradley to respectability. It won’t happen in his first year though as only five players from last season’s roster return, and only one of them (senior guard Ka’Darryl Bell) was a starter.