After one of the most competitive Missouri Valley basketball seasons in recent history, the gauntlet continues for the Valley’s top teams. The league’s top five teams have defeated one another so often that winning streaks have been short-lived, home-court dominance devastated, and national rankings obliterated.
MVC Regular-season champion Northern Iowa (18-10, 14-4) won five of eight games against the league’s other top four teams. League favorite Loyola Chicago (22-7, 13-5) lost five of those same eight games and while tied for second place will be the fourth seed at ‘Arch Madness’.
Missouri State and Drake were both 22-9 and 13-5 in league play. MSU earned the second seed at this week’s tournament by earning a better NET ranking. UNI, MSU and Drake are playing their best basketball at the right time of the year. Northern Iowa has won four straight games and nine of its last ten games. The Bears have won five of six and the Bulldogs five straight.
Loyola is the defending tournament champion and the Ramblers have won two of the last four Arch Madness titles. The other two were won by current fifth-seeded Bradley. While UNI is looking for its first title since 2016, Drake hasn’t won since 2008 and Missouri State has been shut out since 1992.