Primarily a collection of news links about all 12 Missouri Valley League teams on a daily basis, culled from online newspapers, school athletic websites, the conference website, and school newspapers, plus some other content from time to time.
Missouri State’s Isiaih Mosley had two amazing performances. Mosley’s
buzzer-beating, three-pointer catapulted the Bears to a 61-59 road win
at Bradley. Those heroics were dwarfed by his 43-point performance in a
one point loss to Northern Iowa. Like Taylor, Mosley played his best
basketball during the second half of both games. His NCAA Division
1-tieing performance included 27 second half points and earned him the
Valley’s ‘Player of the Week‘ award.
Loyola jumped back into action this week. The Ramblers had been off
for roughly a month with covid cancellations and LUC managed to look in
mid-season form. Drew Valentine’s team knocked off top 40 (in the NET)
San Francisco and then produced a come-from-behind win over Bradley.
Super-sub, and leading scorer Ryan Schwieger scored 24 points against
San Francisco and added 13 during the Bradley win. Schwieger is the
Valley’s ‘Newcomer of they Week‘.
Additionally, losing in close games to good opponents helps teams maintain a
solid quality ranking. Drake is a good example. The Bulldogs lost games to
Belmont, Alabama, North Texas, and Missouri State – all KenPom Top 100 teams –
by an average of 5.5 points. Their largest margin of defeat (10 points) came
against Clemson in overtime.
-SAN FRANCISCO VS LOYOLA CHICAGO (Game in Salt Lake City, UT). I’m
looking forward to this one! Both teams are inside the bubble, and both
were able to work this out after having games cancelled. It’s a resume
building opportunity for both teams, and it wouldn’t shock me if we saw both
of them in the top half of the bracket.
Yet again, Loyola Chicago is an analytics darling. After finishing last season
10th in KenPom, first-year head coach
Drew Valentine‘s Ramblers are up to a season-best 22nd in KenPom through 11 games. Although
the team’s best win to this point is over an unlikely NCAA Tournament
candidate in Vanderbilt, Loyola should be favored in every remaining game. A
gaudy win-loss record and strong metrics should lead to a tournament ticket
come March.
Loyola Chicago has not played since Dec. 10 when it beat Vanderbilt
on the road. The Ramblers are expected to return to the court Thursday
when they will challenge a fellow top 5 mid-major team in San Francisco.
Head coach Drew Valentine has led a remarkably efficient offensive unit to date in his first season on the sidelines. -LH
Loyola Chicago, Iona, Colorado State headline mid-majors to watch
We have a great crop of men’s mid-majors this year capable of making noise
come March, with some familiar names from past tournaments and some new ones
bursting onto the scene. Among the familiar, Loyola Chicago’s March runs of
the past certainly aren’t easily forgotten, and the Ramblers have a team
that can make noise yet again. The transition from Porter Moser to new head
coach Drew Valentine has been seamless, and the Ramblers have three wins
over high-major teams plus a neutral-court victory over San Francisco. This
is a team that can get to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament.
We have day-time basketball on a Thursday people. This is an opportunity to
get a quadrant one win for both teams. But, I feel in this scenario, the
Ramblers may need it more.
USF will have a lot more chances to get Quad 1 wins in the WCC but for the
Ramblers, USF is the best remaining team on their schedule. This is also a
matchup between two of the sports brightest young coaches with the analytic
Todd Golden at USF going against the up and coming Drew Valentine at Loyola
Chicago. While I like both teams, I think the Ramblers have the edge here.
Lucas Williamson on the perimeter will give Dons star Jamaree Bouyea some
problems. The Dons rank 316th in offensive turnover percentage while Loyola
Chicago forces turnovers at a top-80 rate. The extra possessions will decide
the game here. Also to mention, the Ramblers are crazy efficient on the
offensive side of the ball at 18th in offensive efficiency and No. 1 in
effective field goal percentage. The game will be close, but I will take the
Ramblers to win Thursday afternoon.
-Loyola Chicago picked up a really nice win against San Francisco out in
Salt Lake City in a game that was scheduled because both teams had games
that had been cancelled and both wanted a quality opponent. That game
should (and will) help Loyola’s resume.
-BRADLEY AT LOYOLA CHICAGO (Missouri Valley). Loyola Chicago is safely
inside the bubble right now and is working their way toward the top
25. They’re coming off a nice win against San Francisco and should be
able to hold serve in this one.
-VALPARAISO AT LOYOLA CHICAGO (Missouri Valley). If Loyola Chicago
wins out, which they are definitely good enough to do, they could be seeded
as high as a protected seed. They should be able to hold serve at home
tonight against Valpo.
There are two awesome things happening in the mid-major ranks this
week, and I want to touch briefly on both because the news needs to be
more widespread.
For starters, how much fun was the San Francisco-Loyola Chicago game?
Both programs already put together stellar nonconference resumes but in
the face of having games canceled due to COVID cases among their
expected opponents, these two decided to fit in another high-caliber
game to their schedule. The uniqueness of the ambiance — a Thursday
afternoon contest at a community college that was only broadcast via
streams on WCCSports.com and Stadium — added to the effect.
But this was great because there were no real losers. Yes, San
Francisco did lose the game, but it’s a Quad-1 loss that won’t hurt come
NCAA Tournament time. The reward for that risk was a rare Quad-1
victory. Loyola Chicago answered the call.
Both teams also kept their rhythm and were tested against NCAA
Tournament-caliber competition on a neutral court. The programs received
added publicity and fans saw a really well-played basketball game.
No downside, all fun. I hope we see more teams look for these opportunities as we deal with the COVID-19 Omicron variant.
Loyola Chicago
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