What's Up In The Missouri Valley: What's Up In The Missouri Valley 4/5/2018

8 mid-major basketball teams who could be next season’s Loyola-Chicago--The Comeback

In the end, though, the 2018 tourney will probably best be remembered for the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers, who rambled all the way from an 11-seed to the Final Four thanks to a series of last-second heroics and huge performances. They transcended what was expected of them and become one of the few true mid-majors to make it to the Final Four in the last few decades.

Thank you for an historic season @RamblersMBB. You make us all proud to be #Ramblers! 🙌 #OnwardLU 🐺🏀 pic.twitter.com/Opylrii6Hq
— Loyola Chicago (@LoyolaChicago) April 1, 2018

With their magical run, Loyola provided a blueprint for other schools to follow and drew a line in the sand to all the other mid-majors out there with a double-digit seed and a dream: We did it, now it’s your turn.

So the question is, which mid-major school has the chance to be the Loyola-Chicago of the 2019 NCAA Tournament? Let’s look at the contenders.
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Illinois State Redbirds

If there’s any school out there who’d love to replace Loyola-Chicago next season, it’d be the Redbirds of Illinois State. Their 18-15 campaign ended when they lost to the Ramblers in the MVC championship game.

What must give ISU hope is the news that Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Year Milik Yarbrough announced he won’t put his name in the NBA Draft and will return for his senior season. After putting up 16.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.8 assists per game, he’ll return with a chance to add to an already impressive resume. Along with Yarbrough, the Redbirds also return Phil Fayne (15.6 ppg) and Keyshawn Evans (15.2 ppg), and William Tinsley (35 blocks) for what could be a very dangerous mid-major come tournament time, assuming they get past the Ramblers.

For what it’s worth, they’re actually getting the same championship odds as Loyola for next season as of right now.
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Loyola-Chicago Ramblers

How could we make a list of who the next Loyola-Chicago could be without mentioning Loyola-Chicago? Rising seniors Clayton Custer and Marques Townes will be back and assuming players like Cameron Krutwig can make the leap to the next level, we could be in for a repeat performance in the regular season.

Who knows, the Ramblers might even get enough national attention this time around for an at-large bid even if they don’t win the MVC tournament. Perhaps most importantly, they know how to win in the NCAA Tournament now and no one is going to want to face them (or Sister Jean) if they make it back.

Drake Alum Matt Woodley Joins Men's Basketball Coaching Staff--godrakebulldogs.com

Walter McCarty talks about learning under Brad Stevens, meeting Denzel Washington, and becoming friends with Tommy Heinsohn--SB Nation
Sophomore standout Dru Smith to transfer from Evansville basketball program--Evansville Courier & Press

Five ISU women's basketball players to transfer--Vidette Online

2018 NCAA Tournament Final Review: Villanova, UMBC, Big 12 among big winners--Hoopville

It was an enjoyable tourney-if one that slumped to the finish a little-that will be remembered for, among other things:
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Loyola Chicago making a storybook run to the Final Four with incredible team play that would’ve made John Wooden proud. For the many who love teams like them, the Ramblers made up for an event that otherwise was a little light on real Cinderellas after the second round;
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More tournament notes:

Here is our pick for a top 10 list of most memorable games from the 2018 NCAA Tournament:
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3) Loyola 69 Nevada 68 South Regional Semifinal. The Ramblers’ offensive display to start the second half-hitting 13 consecutive shots, many of them crafty drives for layups-was beautiful, and Marques Townes hitting a cold-blooded three at the end of the shot clock with just over six seconds left was as good as a buzzer-beater.
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6) Loyola 64 Miami (Fla.) 62 South Regional 1st Round. Donte Ingram’s three-pointer at the buzzer started the Ramblers’ run. In truth, almost any of Loyola’s wins could be on this list.
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The big winners of this year’s tourney were the Big East, Big 12 and Missouri Valley Conference. The no-football Big East furnished the national champion, of course, for the second time in three years. The Big 12 tied the ACC for most collective wins (12), had the most teams remaining in the Elite Eight (3) and tied with the ACC for the most left in the Sweet 16 (4). It also tied for the most wins despite having “only” seven bids instead of the ACC’s nine or SEC’s eight.

More importantly for us, the Big 12 tied with the MVC (powered by Loyola Chicago’s run) for the most wins above what its teams’ seeds suggested they should achieve, finishing with four more wins than seeded for. While most will measure success based on a league’s collective record in the tournament, we prefer to look at how leagues performed in comparison to how their seedings said they should have. The following presents numbers documenting which leagues outperformed their seeds and which did not. For example: Mountain West teams were seeded 7 and 11 this year, therefore by seeding the MWC should’ve been expected to go 1-2 in its tourney games. Even play-in games are taken into account, based on the NCAA’s seed list before the event. (Example: the NCAA had UCLA seeded higher than St. Bonaventure, therefore the Bruins were predicted by seeding to beat the Bonnies.)
Conference      Expected record by seed before tourney  Actual tourney record   Wins +/- expected
Big 12          8-7                                     12-7                    +4
Missouri Valley 0-1                                     4-1                     +4