What's Up In The Missouri Valley: What's Up In The Missouri Valley 11/10/2025

Week 2 Watchlist: Flying Somewhere in the Stratosphere--Basket Under Review

Monday, November 10
C Games
#149 Little Rock (-1) at #238 Milwaukee, 8 PM ET, ESPN+. Little Rock's first D1 game of the year will be Milwaukee's third, thanks to some...creative scheduling. Fun fact: said creative scheduling gave UALR a home game against Arkansas Baptist, their only home game between now and December 6.
Tuesday, November 11
C Games
#125 Murray State at #49 SMU (-13), 8 PM ET, ESPN+. I was fairly impressed by Murray State's neutral site win over Omaha on opening night despite a pretty ugly shooting day. SMU has played with its food against two Q4s (+5 against Tarleton State with 8 minutes left, won by 20; tied with TAMU-CC with 4 minutes left, won by 11), and if they do that here, they're gonna lose.
Thursday, November 13
B Games
NCAAW: #61 Belmont at #9 Tennessee (-17), 7 PM ET, ESPN+. Belmont acquitted themselves well against Oklahoma, keeping it closer longer than anticipated. Against basically a carbon copy in Tennessee, I wonder if the same thing might happen.
Friday, November 14
C Games
#165 Furman at #103 Northern Iowa (-10), 7 PM ET, ESPN+. Furman theory: get in while you can buy low. They had to completely redo their backcourt and it looks a mess right now, which means they're probably losing this game, but by mid-December things should look much better. I still feel good about them in the SoCon.
#123 Illinois State at #22 USC (-15), 7:30 PM ET, Peacock. We won't have any useful data on USC until this game happens, but we do know Illinois State played Ohio and the Bobcats went right at their nonexistent rim protection wire-to-wire.

First Week in the Valley--Valley Hoops Insider
11/10 KenPom rankings update--RacerBasketball.com

Jaquan Johnson’s career night leads to blowout win vs. Central Michigan--The Bradley Scout

Bradley Women's Basketball to take on DePaul at Carver Arena--bradleybraves.com

Boise State’s Shocker Tops the List of Week One’s Biggest College Basketball Bad Beats--Busting Brckets

No. 2 - Drake Bulldogs lost to Robert Morris, snapping their 49-game non-conference home winning streak

It was hard to expect Drake to be as good as they were last season under Ben McCollum, but even if they were not a Sweet 16 team, the Bulldogs were still going to be a favorite in the Missouri Valley. On November 6th, Drake showed how different they might be this year without their coach, Darien DeVries, and Ben McCollum. The Bulldogs lost to Robert Morris in overtime, ending their 49-game home winning streak against non-conference opponents.

Drake started their season off with a win in the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon, but they struggled to beat Northern Arizona. The Bulldogs followed that up with the loss to Robert Morris, who were fresh off getting pounded by Iowa two nights earlier. It was a bad loss and one that was easily avoidable by Drake had they been able to rebound, hit a three, or play defense.

Creighton Spoils Women's Basketball Home Opener--godrakebulldogs.com

Men’s basketball defeats Oakland City in Sunday matinee--gopurpleaces.com

Freshman guard makes huge impact in Illinois State basketball home debut--The Pantagraph
Coleman’s Home Debut Pushes Redbirds to Win over Big Red--goredbirds.com
Ty’Reek Coleman Named MVC Freshman of the Week--goredbirds.com

Illinois State, Illinois play tight women's basketball matchup--The Pantagraph
Illinois State falls short after late comeback rally against Illinois--The Vidette

ISU's Ian Scott MVC Newcomer of the Week--Terre Haute Tribune-Star
Sycamores travel to SIUE on Monday--gosycamores.com
Ian Scott earns Newcomer of the Week--gosycamores.com

Sycamore women look for first win with new roster at home vs. EIU--Terre Haute Tribune-Star
Sycamores, Panthers renew longstanding rivalry Tuesday night--gosycamores.com

Teams of the Week Awards: Hoody Hooo--Basket Under Review

HONORABLE MENTION: REMAINING CONFERENCE AWARDS
MISSOURI VALLEY: MURRAY STATE - The Racers are the most dangerous roster in one-bid land. They showed a taste of that in the runaway victory over Omaha on opening day. There are no shortage of weapons here. The league saw some disappointing losses from Drake and others, so Murray State is climbing the league forecast chart in a hurry. Now up to #7 in my non-power Top 60.

Current Top 60 non-power rankings following our first complete week in College Basketball.

We have a few squads making the cut who haven't sniffed the rankings in previous years. As always, a tiered approach was applied. #CollegeBasketball pic.twitter.com/LFHsvZmlUS
— Rocco Miller (@RoccoMiller8) November 10, 2025