Busting Brackets
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Missouri Valley Basketball: 4 emerging trends early in league play

By Harry Schroeder

Nov 12, 2021; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Indiana State Sycamores head coach Josh Schertz gives a thumbs down during the first half against the Purdue Boilermakers at Mackey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 12, 2021; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Indiana State Sycamores head coach Josh Schertz gives a thumbs down during the first half against the Purdue Boilermakers at Mackey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports /
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A general view of an empty Enterprise Canter Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
A general view of an empty Enterprise Canter Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /

More expansion coming soon for Missouri Valley?

During a recent interview with Southern Illinois radio, MVC Commissioner Jeff Jackson was asked about the possibility of expansion. His response was that the Valley would be ‘stronger and deeper’ at the beginning of next season than it is right now.

That can only mean one thing. Expansion is still on the way and should be announced sometime soon. Gaining Belmont, while a positive for the league, does not constitute ‘stronger and deeper’ when the Valley is also losing Loyola.

Other media outlets have rumored that several universities made presentations to the league in mid-December. Murray State, UT Arlington, Kansas City, and Illinois Chicago (UIC) are the most rumored to be in the running to join the conference.

While some have suggested UTA is too far from the ‘Valley footprint’, one MVC university executive told me that flying to Dallas was not much different than flying to any other Valley destination.

All rumors and reports indicate that Murray State is the front runner and likely to join the Valley. Most observers believe the Valley would prefer an even number of programs for basketball, so a second team would be likely to be a part of the conference in 2022.

From a purely basketball angle, current NET rankings for those possible teams are not good. Murray State is an outstanding 46 and Kansas City is a mediocre 196. UTA and UIC are deep into the 200s.