What's Up In The Missouri Valley: What's Up In The Missouri Valley 11/20/2023

News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Monday, Nov 20th--Hoops HD

There was a fair amount of chalk yesterday…

-Drake had to sweat out Oakland, but held on for an 85-77 win in the Cayman Islands Classic,
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-MURRAY STATE VS UNC WILMINGTON (Fort Myers Tip-Off). UNCW is off to a 3-0 start, and while none of the wins have been great wins, they’ve certainly looked good in the games that they’ve played and this event gives them the chance to rack up a few more wins away from home

-DRAKE VS STEPHEN F AUSTIN (Cayman Islands Classic). Drake really had to sweat out Oakland yesterday, but held on to win and is unbeaten on the year. They shouldn’t have too much trouble with SFA today, but they certainly sweated more then expected yesterday.

-LONG BEACH STATE VS ILLINOIS STATE (Gulf Coast Showcase). Long Beach State really got our attention with their win over Michigan last week, and suddenly they seem in position to really build up their resume if they can win this event.
-BRADLEY VS TULANE (SoCal Challenge). I’m REALLY looking forward to this one! Both teams are unbeaten, both have looked good up to this point and Bradley in particular already has some notable wins. Both are teams we felt could be dark horses this year and take huge steps forward as a program. I like both these teams, I think it’s possible that one (or even both) are able to make a run at the bubble this year, and I think this may end up being one of the better games of the day.

Feast Week NIT Bracketology--NIT Bracketology

NIT Bracket (protected seeds in Bold, bubble teams in italics):

1. Iowa
8. Boston College
4. Colorado St.
5. Washington St.
3. Virginia Tech
6. VCU
2. Ohio St.
7. Duquesne

1. Pittsburgh
8. Stephen F. Austin
4. South Carolina
5. Maryland
3. Stanford
6. New Mexico
2. Kansas St.
7. North Texas

1. Seton Hall
8. Florida St.
4. LSU
5. UCF
3. St. John's
6. Rutgers
2. N.C. State
7. UAB

1. Wisconsin
8. Bradley
4. Washington
5. Saint Mary's
3. Cincinnati
6. Boise St.
2. Northwestern
7. Yale

Last 6 NCAA At-Large Teams: Florida Atlantic, Nevada, Nebraska, Providence, Texas Tech, Michigan
Seriously Considered: Wichita St., St. Bonaventure, Indiana St., Missouri St., Long Beach St., Kent St., UMass Lowell

Sunday MTE Success--Valley Hoops Insider
11/20 KenPom ratings update--Racer Basketball

All Nashville-area teams heading to tournaments this week--nashvillehoops.blog

Belmont: The Bruins are in Philadelphia Friday-Sunday to play in the Cathedral Classic at the Palestra, the homecourt of Penn. The Palestra, which opened in 1927, is called the Cathedral of College Basketball and it should be in the top five of anyone’s list of best venues. That was part of the attraction of playing in the event for coach Casey Alexander. Plus, he’s hoping to take his team to the Eagles-Bills game late Sunday afternoon. This isn’t tournament play, it’s three games on consecutive days against Monmouth (1-3), Penn (3-2) and Lafayette (1-3). All are winnable but Penn will be on its homecourt where it just beat Villanova.

Women's Basketball Loses Heartbreaker to Mississippi State--Belmont Vision
Receiving-Votes Mississippi State Slips Past Bruins, 63-62--belmontbruins.com
Jailyn Banks Repeats as MVC Freshman of the Week--belmontbruins.com

Game Preview: Bradley vs Tulane--bradleybraves.com

Bradley Women’s Basketball travels to Atlanta for Georgia State Classic--bradleybraves.com

11/20/23 MONDAY MATCHUP NEWS AND NOTES--Staring at the Floorboards

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SFA did what SFA does, as their style eventually wore LMU down and the Jacks scored 53 2H points. Really interesting game with Drake, who hasn’t seen the type of ball pressure SFA will bring to the table, an especially tough test for the younger members of Drake’s backcourt like Overton and Garland...

Top 10 Scoring Transfers in College Basketball--The Portal Report

7.) Atin Wright – Drake

The Bulldogs are off to a 3-0 start behind the CSU Northridge transfer averaging 20.7 PPG and leading last week’s win over Oakland with 22 points and three assists.

Many Bulldogs Contribute to 85-77 Win in Cayman Islands Classic Opener--godrakebulldogs.com

Clark, No. 2 Iowa bounce back from first loss with 113-90 win over Drake--Associated Press
Drake Women Handed First Loss by High-Octane Hawkeyes--godrakebulldogs.com