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Missouri Valley Basketball Power Rankings: Loyola-Chicago leads at start of conference play

By TJ Miller

SAN ANTONIO, TX - MARCH 31: Clayton Custer
SAN ANTONIO, TX - MARCH 31: Clayton Custer /
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ST. LOUIS, MO – MARCH 4: Lucas Williamson #1 of the Loyola Ramblers leads the celebration with his teammates after beating the Illinois State Redbirds for the Missouri Valley Conference Basketball Tournament Championship at the Scottrade Center on March 4, 2018 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO – MARCH 4: Lucas Williamson #1 of the Loyola Ramblers leads the celebration with his teammates after beating the Illinois State Redbirds for the Missouri Valley Conference Basketball Tournament Championship at the Scottrade Center on March 4, 2018 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /

Conference play is just starting up for Missouri Valley basketball. Here’s how the league stacks up going into 2019.

To say the Missouri Valley was disappointing as a whole in non-conference play would be an understatement. Highly thought of teams such as Loyola-Chi, Illinois State, and Southern Illinois combined for 18 losses, and the entire league compiled an uninspiring 72-57 record.

Drake surprisingly showed itself to be the Valley’s most consistent team so far with an 11-2 record. No other MVC team could amass more than 8 wins leaving there a possibility of no team exceeding 20 wins across the regular season. It was certainly a head-scratching start for a league that looked to have a legitimate chance at sending multiple teams to the NCAA tournament.

Related Story. MVC Preseason rankings. light

Although the chances of that happening now are next to none, MVC play should bring plenty of parody as an argument could be made for most of the 10 teams to win the regular season.

This may be one of the hardest leagues to predict this season but here’s a shot…

*All offensive/defensive rankings are via Ken Pom.
*All player stats are via college basketball reference.