Primarily a collection of news links about all 11 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.
We are back with another Championship Week Video Notebook, recapping wild
days across all the conference tournaments — highlighted by some wild upsets
at Arch Madness and overtimes for everyone!
Missouri Valley semifinal game #1 (#185 Drake vs. #108 UIC (-6)), 3:30 PM
ET, CBSSN.
A truly unexpected first semifinal of Arch Madness, as Drake demolished
Belmont and UIC did much the same to Murray State. I wasn’t floored by the
latter but Drake’s surprise rise to competence after a month straight of
horrific basketball is genuinely hard to figure out. There were no injuries
or off-court problems that were fixed or would suggest an Arch Madness
rekindling. They just went out there and smoked Belmont for 40 minutes out
of nowhere.
The most recent version of this was forgotten 2019-20 MVC ruler Northern
Iowa getting smashed like a fly by, you guessed it, Drake in the
quarterfinals. The next day, Drake’s legs caught up to them a bit as they
shot 28% from 3/68% from the line. That was two coaches ago now, but only
one team (2020 Valpo, coincidentally) has ever gone from Thursday to Sunday.
Simply put: it’s pretty hard to pull off four in a row when your opponent
has one extra day of legs. The two UIC/Drake battles this year both went the
Flames’ way and both followed pretty similar paths: Drake hangs for a while
and hits some shots before UIC’s frontcourt proceeds to own the boards, win
the foul battle fairly heavily, and Drake ends up bombing away without being
able to get back many of their misses. -
Will Warren
Missouri Valley semifinal game #2 (#76 Northern Iowa (-4) vs. #122
Bradley), 6 PM ET, CBSSN.
Northern Iowa’s pack line has been the perfect defense in the usually
shooting averse confines of the [will always be named in my heart] Kiel
Center, as neither Evansville nor Illinois State last night have been able
to penetrate the paint with any regularity. The Aces actually shot
reasonably efficiently from 3 in the opening round, but still didn’t sniff 1
PPP, and the Redbirds were even worse. UNI has allowed a grand total of 24
points at the rim through 2 games in St. Louis, 12 each to the Aces and
Redbirds. Bradley and UNI split the regular season series, with the Panthers
losing in Peoria during their injury plagued January swoon. Bradley,
generally not a strong threat at the rim offensively, has averaged 36 points
at the rim through 2 games in St. Louis, which has counteracted a pretty
substantial 2 game 3PT variance tidal wave against them, as the Braves have
shot 9-35 from 3 vs 19-49 for their opponents. The win in Peoria saw Bradley
score 30 points at the rim, the third highest total the Panthers allowed in
MVC play. Apparently UNI took that personally, as Bradley scored just 6
points at the rim in the rematch in Cedar Falls. UNI’s wing athleticism has
been the star of their show in St. Louis, with Leon Bond dominating on both
ends of the floor, slashing to the rim against ISUred’s drop coverage and
shutting down the Redbird backcourt with his length.
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This latter point is key against the smaller but quicker Jaquan Johnson’s
dribble and ball screen creation. UNI’s length denied him the ball in the
win in Cedar Falls, holding him to his 4th lowest usage rate in MVC play.
UNI is attempting to reach Sunday from Thursday, an ultra rare feat in Arch
Madness (I believe done just once before, with no winner ever emerging from
Thursday- wildly we could have two Thursday teams in the finals if both Iowa
teams win), but Bradley’s “rest advantage” was somewhat negated by playing
10 extra minutes Friday night in an ultra physical game with Valpo.
Ultimately I think UNI’s rim denial and length/athleticism combo on the
perimeter against Bradley’s smaller backcourt could be the
difference. - Jordan Majewski
We had more automatic bids given out today as High Point won the Big South,
Queens won the ASun, North Dakota State won the Summit League, and
Northern Iowa won Arch Madness. We take a look at all those games as well as all of the other conference
tournament action, which includes a handfull of upsets.
The Northern Iowa Panthers had an up-and-down season, but they started and
finished the year off strong. They started off 6-0 with wins over Furman, UC
Irvine, and CSUN. They went on to pick up wins against Oakland and lost by
five points of Saint Mary’s. In conference play, they started off 4-0,
dropped five straight, then finished the year 6-4 in their last ten games to
finished 19-12 and 11-9 in the MVC.
The Panthers’ defense was carrying them as they had a daunting task to win
four games in a row as they finished with the six seed which meant they had
to play in Thursday of Arch Madness. They went on a run, taking down
Evansville 68-59, Illinois State 74-52, Bradley 73-69, and UIC in the
Championship game 84-69. When their defense has held teams to less than 70
points, they are phenomenal with a record of 18-7 on the season. They sit at
25th in KenPom for defensive adjusted efficiency.
Their defensive team metrics overall lie at:
23rd in opponent effective field goal percentage
97th in opponent turnover percentage
25th in opponent offensive rebounding percentage
3rd in opponent three-point shooting percentage
96th in opponent two-point shooting percentage
46th in opponent non-steal turnover percentage
Typically, a stout defensive team wins Arch Madness and we saw that once
again with Northern Iowa who as now won five games in a row. They’ll most
likely earn a 12-seed in the NCAA Tournament, but they’ll be a dangerous
12-seed at that depending on who they draw come Selection Sunday.
Trey Campbell
was incredible in Arch Madness. The 6’4 senior finished with 23 points
against Evansville, 12 with six rebounds against Illinois State, 13 with
six assists, three rebounds, and four steals against Bradley, and 23
points with four rebounds, four assists, two blocks, and one steal against
UIC.
Chaos
Arch Madness
Arch Madness is traditional one of the most fun conference tournaments to
follow in all of college basketball. Just three number one seeds have won
the Missouri Valley Conference Finals since 2016 and this year was no
different as we had two teams from the Thursday games fighting each other
between UIC and Northern Iowa as the five and six seeds.
These two teams weren’t the only story though. Opening night saw nothing but
pure chaos. The Drake Bulldogs came into Arch Madness losing nine games in a
row, finishing the regular season just 12-19 and 6-14 in the MVC. However,
they took down a Southern Illinois team that had won seven of their last ten
in the opening round 67-63, then upset the number one seeded Belmont Bruins
100-79 in the quarterfinals. Belmont was 26-5 and 16-4 in the MVC as some
were arguing for their potential to get an at-large bid, though those
chances were very slim. They’ll now head to the NIT as the Missouri Valley
Conference earns an auto-bid to the NIT.
Jalen Quinn
was the star of the show for Drake as he finished with 22 points and four
rebounds against Southern Illinois, followed up with 31 points, three
rebounds, four assists, and two steals against Belmont.
UIC was a team that we had talked about a few times this season during our
Heat Check Reports. They finished the regular season 17-14 and 12-8 in the
MVC and they had even popped off an eight game winning streak in conference
after starting off just 0-4. After a run to the MVC Championship as a
five-seed, they fell to Northern Iowa who was a six-seed in another season
without the top-seed winning the auto-bid to the NCAA Tournament from the
Missouri Valley Conference.
Back then: Drained one of the biggest “no, no, yes!” shots in NCAA
Tournament history, sinking a 3-pointer early in the shot clock rather than
bleeding out the clock with a one-point lead and 35 seconds remaining in
Northern Iowa’s 69-67 second-round win against No. 1 overall seed Kansas in
2010.
Now: After spending 11 seasons as an assistant at Nebraska, Drake and
Colorado State, the 37-year-old Farokhmanesh is in his first season as Colorado State’s
head coach. The
Rams
are 20-10 heading into their regular-season finale on Saturday, March 7.
The first game of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament tips off what fans know as Arch Madness in St. Louis. The MVC Tournament
rarely disappoints, and this matchup should be another competitive battle.
Drake has enjoyed plenty of success in this tournament over the years,
though this season has been a bit of a down one for the Bulldogs. They face
a Southern Illinois team that finished the regular season at 16-15.
Expect Drake to lean on its tournament experience and perimeter shooting to
stay right in this game. If the Bulldogs knock down shots early, they have a
great chance to pull the upset.
Indiana State Sycamores vs. Valparaiso Beacons
The second Missouri Valley Conference game features Indiana State taking on
Valparaiso.
Indiana State enters with an 11-20 record, while the Beacons come in at
17-14. When these two teams met earlier this season, Valparaiso won by just
a single point, so another tight contest would not be surprising.
Both teams should battle throughout, but Valparaiso appears to have the
slight edge. Look for the Beacons to make just enough plays down the stretch
to move on and face Bradley in the next round.
Drake has plenty of pedigree in this tournament, having won Arch Madness
three straight years, but this feels like the spot where that run finally
comes to an end. Belmont has been playing strong basketball and should have
the edge on both ends of the floor.
When push comes to shove, expect the Bruins to take control and pull away
late with a double-digit victory.
UIC Flames at Murray State Racers
Another Missouri Valley Conference quarterfinal features the UIC Flames and
Murray State Racers.
UIC has been one of the surprise teams in the conference this season and
earned its way into the 4/5 matchup. Murray State spent a good portion of
the year near the top of the standings before slipping a bit late in the
season.
The Racers still have the more athletic roster, and if their shots are
falling, they should have enough firepower to move on and potentially set up
a matchup with Belmont.
Valparaiso Beacons at Bradley Braves
The third Arch Madness game features Valparaiso and Bradley.
Roger Powell has the Beacons playing better basketball lately, and
Valparaiso enters this matchup at 18-14 after playing Thursday night in St.
Louis. Meanwhile, Bradley is coming off a big win last week over Murray
State and has been steady under head coach Brian Wardle.
Expect a competitive game here, but Bradley’s consistency should help the
Braves find a way to pull this one out late.
MVC tourney predicted champ: Belmont (#1 seed) Dates: March 5-8 Location: St. Louis, MO 2025 tourney champ: Drake (#1 seed) Fun fact: each of past 3 championship schools won multiple titles in a row Seeding: 4 of past 5 champs were top-2 seed I
do not know what more you can ask out of Coach Casey Alexander: he
finished his stint at Lipscomb with 3 straight 20-win seasons from
2017-2019, and has now had 7 straight winning seasons in Nashville. The
Bruins have lost just 5 games this season: 2 in OT, 1 by a single point,
and 2 others by single-digits. This tourney has been kind to top-2
seeds, and after switching over from the OVC 4 years ago, I think it is
time for Belmont to finally claim its 1st MVC title.. There are some
teams that require a deep-dive to discover the secret to their success
but that is not the case for the Bruins: their 51.7 FG% is #4 in the
nation, and their 40.5 3P% is #3 in the nation. The most amazing part is
that since losing SR PG Nic McClain to a knee injury on New Year’s Day,
they have gone 13-3 during his absence, but are still hoping to welcome
him back onto the court any day now.
Casey Alexander (Belmont).
The 53-year-old Bruins head coach has run the program for the past
seven seasons and claims more than 300 career wins from his time at Stetson, Lipscomb
and Belmont. The Bruins are 26-5 entering the MVC Tournament and a
legitimate Cinderella candidate because Alexander learned at the feet of
the great Rick Byrd and runs great stuff. Alexander is guaranteed to
receive interest from high-major programs. In fact, he already has: Kansas State has him on its dwindling list of candidates, sources told CBS Sports. Feels like this year can be his time to move up.
Casey Alexander has won 20-plus games in all seven seasons running Belmont.
Getty Images
Prackett recorded a pair of career highs as she averaged a double-double
of 21.5 points and 13 rebounds per game for the Sycamores. She notched 21
points and a career-high 18 rebounds at Murray State. Those 18 boards are
tied for the fourth-most in program history. The junior from Arkansas then
poured in a career-high 22 points with eight rebounds at Belmont. She shot
57.1% from the field and 84.6% from the line for the week.
MVC G: JaQuan Johnson (Bradley) G: Jalen Quinn (Drake) F: Chase Walker (Illinois State) F: Ian Scott (Indiana State) C: Fred King (Murray State) POY: Jalen Quinn (Drake) ROY: Andy Johnson (Illinois Chicago) DPOY: Fred King (Murray State) 6TH: Roman Domon (Murray State) COY: Casey Alexander (Belmont)
Notable: Last season’s MVC Tournament champion Drake (12-19, 6-14) is the No. 9 seed this year
The No. 1 seed in the MVC Tournament is Belmont (26-5, 16-4), which
had won 14 of 15 regular-season games up until the finale. The Bruins
are one of the most efficient teams in the country, ranking fourth
nationally at 52 percent from the field. They’re led by 6-foot-6 senior
guard Tyler Lundblade (15.8 points), who shoots 41 percent from deep on
nearly nine attempts a game.
There are several teams capable of beating the Bruins in this event,
including the one that defeated them in the regular-season finale,
Illinois State (20-11, 12-8). The preseason favorites have had ups and
downs but are still capable of making a run this March, along with
Bradley (20-11, 13-7), Murray State (20-11, 12-8) and perennial MVC
Tournament threat Northern Iowa (19-12, 11-9).
The Bruins have been one of the most consistent mid-major programs
for the past 20 years, with this season being no different. They’re one
of the most efficient offensive units in the country, ranking in the
top-five nationally in both field-goal accuracy (52 percent) and
three-point shooting (41 percent), making nearly 11 a game. One of
several quality shooters on the team is 6-foot-6 senior guard Tyler
Lunblade (15.8 points), who shoots better than 40 percent from deep on
8.8 attempts a game. Belmont will be a highly dangerous offense to deal
with in the first round of the Big Dance.
Belmont coach Casey Alexander’s team is a dangerous opponent thanks mostly to its 3-point shooting prowess
