What's Up In The Missouri Valley: What's Up In The Missouri Valley 1/2/2025

Men's Basketball Drops Hard-Fought Game at Northern Iowa--belmontbruins.com

Women's Basketball Visits Missouri State Thursday Night--belmontbruins.com

Bradley outlasts Indiana State in an overtime thriller to advance to 3-0 in MVC play--bradleybraves.com

Quick Takes: Louisville tops UNC; Drake falls at UIC--Bracketville

Drake suffered its first loss of the season, falling at Illinois-Chicago in Missouri Valley action, 74-70. For now, it’s a Quad 2 loss, so nothing damaging. Still, at-large bids are challenging for non-power conference schools, so Drake will need to limit league defeats.
Bracket Effects: Most notably, the loss drops Drake from its AQ position for Friday’s bracket, moving the Bulldogs into the at-large pool. They could hold onto a bracket spot, but there will be one less opening if that happens. Metrics are mixed.

Can a team led by Division II transfers become college hoops’ most dangerous mid-major?--The Athletic
Drake men's basketball falls to UIC for first loss of season--Des Moines Register
Bulldogs Suffer First Loss of the Season on the Road to UIC, 74-70--godrakebulldogs.com

Women's Basketball Preview: UIC & Valparaiso--godrakebulldogs.com

DAVID HUGHES: Plenty of special moments occurred in 2024--Terre Haute Tribune-Star

But the Vigo County Sports Story of the Year, as voted on by me and only me, is the ISU men’s basketball success that turned kinda strange but might still end up successful after all.

If you were living out of town the first few months of the year, here’s a quick summary:

Then-coach Josh Schertz had a talented crew that won the MVC regular-season championship, took the No. 1 seed to “Arch Madness” and unfortunately lost to Drake in the tournament’s final game by an 84-80 score March 10 at St. Louis.

After not receiving an NCAA at-large bid, the Sycamores tore through four solid opponents in the NIT before meeting Seton Hall for the championship in Indianapolis’ Hinkle Fieldhouse.

On April 4, they lost 79-77 and finished as NIT runners-up.

Two days later, Schertz announced he was resigning from ISU. Two days after that, he was being announced as the new head coach at Saint Louis.

ISU promoted Matthew Graves from assistant to head coach as several key players from the 2023-24 squad entered the transfer portal and never came back. Meanwhile, Graves recruited what appears to be a respectable team for 2024-25, despite its tough overtime loss to Bradley on Wednesday.

Sycamores fall short to Bradley in OT thriller 90-89--Terre Haute Tribune-Star
Indiana State falls to Bradley at home on Wednesday night--gosycamores.com