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.
Side Dishes:
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The Missouri Valley race will come down to the final day, with both Drake and Loyola Chicago tied for the top spot. The Bulldogs handled Indiana State 80-68, while Loyola held off Northern Iowa 56-55. Missouri State fell out of a tie for the top spot with a 65-57 loss at Illinois State, but the Bears could still forge a three-way tie for the title at 11-7 if they beat Drake on Saturday and if Loyola would lose to Bradley. Which would probably be fitting for a league where the top seven are separated by two games and six of the 10 teams have overall records no more than two games above or below .500.
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The Cancun Challenge released its matchups for its 2019 event. As most tournaments lamely do now, this one also has what is essentially its A-List and B-List, and the A level (known as the Riviera Division) will have South Carolina against Wichita State and West Virginia versus Northern Iowa in the semifinals.
UNDER THE RADAR
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-LOYOLA CHICAGO AT NORTHERN IOWA (Missouri Valley). Loyola Chicago is in a three way tie for first with Drake and Missouri State!! Which means….well…not a whole lot. The conference tournament is at a predetermined site, so all that’s really at stake is the color uniforms those teams will be wearing.
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The Missouri Valley co-leaders are both in action on the road against two of the league’s many chronically up-and-down teams. Drake-which has easily the league’s best overall record at 21-7-goes to slumping Illinois State (2 p.m., CBSSN), which defeated the Bulldogs already in Des Moines. Loyola (Ill.) also plays at Southern Illinois (4 p.m., ESPNU).
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The Missouri Valley continues to rival the MAAC, as they have three teams tied for first, another team just a game back and three more teams two games back, meaning two games separates first from seventh. Two teams had a chance to break away from Missouri State at the top, but Drake lost 67-60 at Illinois State and Loyola-Chicago came up short at Southern Illinois 63-53. Ironically, the two winners are among the teams tied at 8-8, two games back.
Loser: Clear conference races
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The Missouri Valley also has a three-way tie atop its standings featuring Loyola Chicago, Drake and Missouri State. The Ramblers had a chance to create a cushion, but fell to Southern Illinois on Sunday.
Those are just a couple of the races we highlighted last week, and we didn’t get much clarity over the weekend of who’s actually going to claim those conference crowns.
Other conference races
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Missouri Valley: 2018 Final Four darling Loyola-Chicago remains a contender to get back to the 2019 NCAA Tournament. The Ramblers are in a three-way tie for first with Drake and Missouri State, and each has two games left to play. Drake and Missouri State's meeting in the season finale on March 2 could be a dandy.
Elijah Childs’ game has been growing as Bradley’s season has turned around. The Braves (16-13, 8-8) dropped their first five Valley contests but have fought their way back to .500. Last week Childs set a career high of 24 points in one game and recorded a double-double in the other.
The 6’7 sophomore earned his second ‘Player of the Week’ honor by averaging 18.5 points and 11 rebounds in BU’s two contests.
Another second time winner is Northern Iowa’s A.J. Green. The Panthers have won four straight games and stand one game out of first place. During UNI’s two victories the Panther freshman scored a total of 32 points and earned the ‘Newcomer of the Week’ award.
Green’s 15.3 points per game average is the league’s sixth best scoring average.
Also receiving votes: Montana 25, San Diego State 24, Jacksonville State 22, Charleston 14, Georgia State 13, Saint Mary’s 13, Northern Kentucky 9, Texas State 7, Bowling Green 7, Drake 6, Northeastern 5, Georgia Southern 2, Norfolk State 2, Loyola 2, Wright State 1, Austin Peay 1, Radford 1.
Northern Iowa is offering a buy one, get one promotion for Wednesday night’s men’s basketball game against Loyola at the McLeod Center for fans who donate school supplies for the classrooms of Lowell Elementary.
A roof collapse forced Lowell students to relocate and they are in need of supplies ranging from backpacks and gym shoes to crayons, scissors and glue sticks.
For a complete list of items needed, email nick.harvey@uni.edu.
Fans can receive their buy one, get one tickets by dropping off supplies at the McLeod Center ticket office Monday through Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
AJ Green of Northern Iowa was named the Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week Monday.
Green, a Cedar Falls High all-stater, had 32 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists in a pair of Panther victories.
The University of Northern Iowa is offering a free ticket to one of the two remaining Panther women’s home games for anyone who purchased a ticket (including season ticket holders) but was unable to attend Sunday’s game against Evansville because of the weather.
UNI hosts Bradley March 7 and Illinois State March 9. Fans can take Evansville tickets to the UNI ticket office to exchange them for a free ticket.
Wartburg College has been selected to host first- and second-round NCAA Tournament games Friday and Saturday.
The 13th-ranked Knights will play Bethany Lutheran (22-5) Friday at 8 p.m. after Hope (23-4) and Wheaton (22-5) face off at 5:30 p.m. The winners meet Saturday at 7 p.m.
Side Dishes
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A night after Drake took sole possession of first place in the Missouri Valley, they got some company as Loyola-Chicago beat Evansville 70-58. Missouri State could have joined them as well, but Northern Iowa came to Springfield and blew them out 63-43 thanks to outscoring the Bears 46-24 in the second half.
If the Missouri Valley hasn’t been the most confusing conference this season, it’s at least in the conversation. Right now, Drake and Loyola Chicago are currently tied in first at 10-5. The Bulldogs have won four straight to get back in the mix, while the Ramblers have dropped two of their last three to relinquish the cushion that they had built. Missouri State sits a game back of the leaders, but two of its last three games are at home, including a season finale tilt against Drake. Even Northern Iowa, who sits two games back at 8-7, could get in the mix if things break right. With a favorable schedule down the stretch that includes a home matchup with Loyola Chicago, the Panthers are not written off yet.
Further down in the conference, four different teams are tied at 7-8. With just a week and a half until the season ends, we’ll likely see that standings get shuffled repeatedly.
UNDER THE RADAR
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-EVANSVILLE AT LOYOLA CHICAGO (Missouri Valley). Loyola is in a race with Drake for a first place finish and the #1 seed in the conference tournament (which I guess doesn’t matter since it’s at a predetermined site).
