What's Up In The Missouri Valley: What's Up In The Missouri Valley 2/11/2022

Missouri Valley runs deep, competition is steep--Mid-Major Madness
NCAA mid-major Top 25 rankings: Healthy Santa Clara rising, Murray State stays steady--Heat Check CBB

24. Northern Iowa Panthers (14-9)

Northern Iowa was expected to experience a bounce-back season this year with a healthier roster. Alas, that did not look to be the case early in the year when the Panthers started 3-7 against Division-I competition. Since then, though, they have won 10 of their last 12 games to emerge as a potential threat near the top of the MVC. Recent victories over Bradley and Drake pushed them into our mid-major Top 25. Both matchups with Loyola Chicago are ahead. -LH
19. Drake Bulldogs (17-8)

The Bulldogs have found themselves on the wrong end of the fight twice in a row now, dropping close games to Northern Iowa and Missouri State in a four-day span. As a result, Drake slips to fourth place in the briar patch atop the MVC. Darian DeVries’ squad needs to turn that around immediately to avoid a further drop in the standings — fifth-place Bradley is only a half-game back and Drake must make the trip to Peoria on Saturday. The Braves beat the Bulldogs by 12 in Des Moines just three weeks ago, so keep an eye on this one. -AD
17. Missouri State Bears (18-8)

Dana Ford and the Bears couldn’t complete the series sweep over Loyola, but Missouri State recovered to beat Drake on the road Wednesday night. Behind 21 points from Gaige Prim and Isiaih Mosley’s double-double, MSU edged into third place in the Missouri Valley. They should be able to at least tread water — if not make a jump — as the next two games come against squads under .500 in league play, but the Bears can’t start looking ahead to their Feb. 20 date with first-place Northern Iowa just yet. -AD
3. Loyola Chicago Ramblers (18-5)

Loyola Chicago dropped a Quad-2 road contest to Bradley in its most recent game. The Ramblers are now just 4-3 over their last seven contests and are trending more towards the bracketology cutline. Nonetheless, they are still an analytics darling and predictive metrics indicate that they will find regain their rhythm over the next couple of weeks. Loyola Chicago still ranks 10th nationally in effective field goal percentage. The Ramblers are one of the few true at-large contenders in these rankings. -LH

NCAA mid-major Top 25 rankings: Healthy Santa Clara rising, Murray State stays steady--Heat Check CBB

Others

Some perspiration: Loyola Chicago, Murray State
Loyola Chicago Ramblers
NET: 29, Resume: 47.5, Quality: 32.7
Q1: 2-2 | Q2: 2-2 | Q3: 5-0 | Q4: 8-0

Loyola Chicago does not feature an elite resume but is ahead of bubble teams essentially across the board. The Ramblers are 2-2 in both Quad-1 and Quad-2, rank in the top 40 in all but one metric and do not have a single bad loss. A recent road win over Missouri State (NET 98) was an underrated victory; Quad-2 victories for a team without many opportunities for them are extremely valuable. Head coach Drew Valentine has his team sitting on the No. 9 seed line on the Bracket Matrix and in my projected field.

Loyola Chicago is projected to win each of its final seven games, but four are against KenPom top-100 teams. The Ramblers need to stay strong and can probably only afford one more regular-season loss and stay as a likely at-large team (meaning they would have to have lost in the MVC Tournament as well).

Belmont From a Fan's Perspective--Missouri Valley Beat

Braves Host Drake Saturday Night--bradleybraves.com

Rapid Recap: Rice, Koenig set career highs, drop shootout to Beacons--Bradley Scout
’Iowa pipeline’ helps women’s basketball recruit in the Hawkeye State--Bradley Scout
Valparaiso Holds Off Bradley, 86-84--bradleybraves.com
Final Valley Visit to Loyola Chicago Saturday--bradleybraves.com

Record day for Roman Penn in Drake men's basketball's 66-62 loss to Missouri State--Des Moines Register

The Purple Aces' young players shone in a double-overtime loss to Indiana State--Evansville Courier & Press
Beauchamp and Sisley post career efforts for Aces--gopurpleaces.com
Men’s basketball completes busy week at SIU--gopurpleaces.com

Home Sweet Home for Aces in return to Meeks to host Indiana State--gopurpleaces.com

Watch now: Abdou Ndiaye, Illinois State look for rare win at Indiana State's Hulman Center--The Pantagraph
Watch now: Simpkins twins from North Carolina prep school commit to ISU basketball--The Pantagraph
Redbirds Make Short Trip for MVC Battle with Sycamores--goredbirds.com

Watch now: Illinois State women finish strong to edge Loyola--The Pantagraph
ISU extends win streak to four games with 57-53 win over Loyola--Vidette Online
Five things to know before ISU travels to Valparaiso looking to extend its win streak to five games--Vidette Online
Redbirds Grind Out 57-53 Win Over Ramblers For Season Sweep--goredbirds.com

Neese scores career-high 35 as ISU beats Purple Aces--Terre Haute Tribune Star
DOWN IN THE VALLEY: Five takeaways from ISU-Evansville & the MVC Cup Draw is made--Terre Haute Tribune Star
Grueling schedule grinds on as ISU hosts Illinois State--Terre Haute Tribune Star
Neese Leads Sycamores Past Evansville in Double Overtime Road Win--gosycamores.com
Indiana State Plays Host to MVC Rival Illinois State Saturday at Hulman Center--gosycamores.com

Sycamores begin two-game road swing Saturday--gosycamores.com

Bracketology 2022: Time to Lock in Some Bids--Blogging The Bracket

Last Four IN (1)

Loyola Chicago (17-5/9-3 MVC/4-5/2-2/31/33)

The good news for the Ramblers is that Bradley, who defeated them on Wednesday, and Drake, who took them down to end January, are now both in the NET Top 100. Still, Loyola cannot afford many more losses in Valley play, since that could drop their NET from the low 30s, well within at-large range, to a ranking that will be less than palatable to the Committee.

Bubble Watch: We don’t talk about LSU. No, no, no. (OK, we need to talk about the Tigers)--The Athletic

Others
Should be in: Saint Mary’s, Murray State, Loyola Chicago, Wyoming, Boise State, San Francisco, Colorado State
Loyola Chicago (17-4, 9-2; NET: 29, SOS: 113): Massive win Sunday. Missouri State doesn’t have an at-large consideration type of resume — losses to Southeast Missouri Staate, ETSU, UNI, and Indiana State (among others) have seen to that — but the Bears have played some pretty good basketball for most of the season (when they’ve lost, they’ve lost really close games), hence their status as a top-70 team in the NET. Winning there was big, giving a Loyola team that fell at home to the same team on Jan. 22 its second Quadrant 1 win of the season.

Fourth-Quarter Surge Sees Illinois State Past Loyola, 57-53--loyolaramblers.com