Busting Brackets
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Missouri Valley Basketball has turned into the “Hunger Games”

By Harry Schroeder

ST. LOUIS, MO - MARCH 4: Head coach Dan Muller of the Illinois State Redbirds directs his team against the Loyola Ramblers during 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: Head coach Dan Muller of the Illinois State Redbirds directs his team against the Loyola Ramblers during 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) /
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Missouri Valley Basketball Lucas Williamson Loyola Chicago Ramblers (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
Missouri Valley Basketball Lucas Williamson Loyola Chicago Ramblers (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /

Missouri Valley Basketball Conference play has turned into “The Hunger Games”. The Valley’s top teams are destroying one another’s seasons while the bottom half of the league is on life support and one of the coaches has been fired.

“Missouri Valley Monday” takes a look at how the top five teams keep trading places in the standings and how the bottom five are battling to stay out of the league tournament’s opening round.

Just 22 days ago, Loyola Chicago was undefeated in league play and at home, The Ramblers’ NET was in the teens and were a shoe-in as an ‘at-large’ team in the NCAA Tournament. Drake (17-9, 8-5) was just behind them with just two league losses and a respectable sub-50 NET. The Bulldogs have split their last six games.

Then The Hunger Games began. Missouri State and Bradley started flexing their muscles and mayhem have ensued. The Braves are the conference’s hottest team and Missouri State is the most dangerous.

Loyola’s recovery win on Sunday helps right the ship and bring some sanity to the standings but the only thing guaranteed to the Valley’s top five teams is that they won’t be playing on Thursday night at Arch Madness. The Missouri Valley Conference Hunger Games are devastating the contenders’ winning percentages and postseason chances.

For the bottom five squads, only one will escape Thursday. During the 31-year-history of Arch Madness in St. Louis, just one team has reached the championship game starting in the tournament’s opening round and only two have even reached the semifinals.