What's Up In The Missouri Valley: What's Up In The Missouri Valley 2/17/2026

Title Chasing: A Look at Each NCAAW Conference--Basket Under Review

Missouri Valley (MVC)

Murray State: 13-1
Belmont: 12-2

As long as Murray State doesn't go 0-2 this week while Belmont goes 2-0, this conference race will heavily skew towards Murray State. There is a world where Murray State can essentially lock up the #1 seed and the conference title if they go 2-0 while Belmont goes 0-2. Alas, Murray State is in a great position right now.

Meaningful Games to Watch This Week

2-20: Murray State @ Bradley
2-20: Belmont @ Illinois State
2-22: Murray State @ Illinois State
2-22: Belmont @ Bradley

The only thing that will change the #1 seed race much is a 2-0 week by Belmont and a 0-2 week by Murray State. Heck, even if both Bradley and Illinois State go 2-0 against the pair this week, they will still only have a combined 4.6% chance to grab the top seed.

Big Production = Weekly Honors--Valley Hoops Insider

Big Production – Players of the Week
Bradley’s Jaquan Johnson became the first Braves’ player to record three, thirty-point games in a season since the 1990-91 season when he torched Belmont for 31 points. The sophomore guard becomes the first Valley player to be named ‘Player of the Week’ three times this season.
Newcomers Producing
Illlinois Chicago’s Ejijah Crawford continues to be one of the Valley’s biggest ‘change agents’. The BYU transfer averaged 15 points, 6.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds during the Flames’ two victories. This week’s honor is Crawford’s second ‘Newcomer of the Week’ award in the last four weeks. UIC is 10-3 since he joined the lineup. UIC’s win at Drake was its first since 1978.
Freshman Shining
Valparaiso played three games last week, winning two of them and freshman J.T. Pettigrew earned two, double-doubles along the way. The Valley’s ‘Freshman of the Week’ averaged 18 points and eleven boards over the three games and joins teammate Rakim Chaney as two-time recipient of the award.

What Belmont's Casey Alexander said about being mentioned for Kansas State job--Nashville Tennessean

Teams of The Week: Don't Badger Us--Basket Under Review

HONORABLE MENTION: REMAINING CONFERENCE AWARDS
MISSOURI VALLEY: BRADLEY - Braves solved the Belmont mystery! It took overtime, but Bradley became the only team since January 4th to beat the Bruins. Jaquan Johnson certainly enjoyed the looks he was getting from deep, going six-for-10 en route to a 31-point showing. Alex Huibregtse has been a steady player all year, very underrated, and also connected on six treys. The Braves hit 17 as a squad, a deliberate part of the formula against Belmont's defensive construct. The quality play did not stop there, the Braves went to in-state foe Southern Illinois on Sunday and proceeded to hand the Salukis a 70-60 defeat. A far different game plan in the Saluki win as this game was more defensive-focused, holding SIU to 0-for-15 shooting from deep. Yikes. Johnson added 24 points, but mostly from inside the arc in this one. The Braves are 11-5 and are close to securing a much-needed Arch Madness bye.

MBB Preview: Bradley Travels to Valparaiso to Battle the Beacons--bradleybraves.com

Rapid Recap: Women’s basketball survives road stretch with Evansville and Southern Illinois--The Bradley Scout