Missouri Valley basketball: 2018 Conference Tournament preview

With no Wichita State, the Missouri Valley Championship is up for grabs. Which team gets the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament?

Coming into the season, the Missouri Valley was one of the more intriguing conferences in Division I basketball. That’s because of what happened in the off-season, with the departure of Wichita State, and the addition of Valparaiso from the Horizon. The Crusaders were a heavyweight in their previous league, and hoped to repeat those results this season.

The start for the league was tremendous, with several teams getting huge non-conference wins. Some examples included Loyola beating Florida and Indiana State taking care of in-state “rival” Indiana. The most impressive experience was Northern Iowa’s performance in the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament. The Panthers beat both SMU and NC State, before falling in a tough loss to Villanova.

But the good news went away once conference play started, with key players falling like flies through injuries and suspensions. A number of teams were affected, including newcomer Valpo, who lost Joe Burton permanently. The Oklahoma State transfer was the team’s third leading scorer before getting suspended, and ultimately leaving the Crusaders due to academic issues. The team never rebounded from the loss, finishing last in the Missouri Valley.

On the opposite end, Loyola-Chicago finished a full four games ahead of second place to win the regular season title. It wasn’t necessarily the same dominance that both the Shockers and Illinois State had a year ago, but the Ramblers from start to finish were the best team.

But from 2-10, every team has shown a capability to make a run in “Arch Madness”. So will the Ramblers continuing their winning ways into March? Or will another team grab that scared automatic bid?