Five days to Arch Madness
No unexpected results from Saturday’s action, and we’ve reached the end of the MVC regular season.
The final standings:
1. Southern Illinois (25-5, 15-3)
2. Creighton (19-10, 13-5)
3. Missouri St. (21-9, 12-6)
4. Bradley (20-11, 10-8)
5. Northern Iowa (18-12, 9-9)
6. Wichita St. (17-13, 8-10)
7. Illinois St. (15-15, 6-12)
8. Evansville (14-16, 6-12)
9. Drake (16-14, 6-12)
10. Indiana St. (12-17, 5-13)
SIU rides an 11-game win streak into St. Louis, and could feasibly earn as high as a two-seed in the NCAA tourney with another three wins in the MVC tourney.
Of course this is merely speculation, but even with a first-round MVC loss, the Salukis are probably guaranteed at least a five-seed.
Creighton is probably an at-large team with one MVC tourney win over either Illinois St. or Indiana State.
Missouri St. sits in a similar boat — one more win and they’re in. Even with a loss, it’s hard to ignore that win over Wisconsin even if it was over three months ago.
Now the interesting part, and while we write about Valley hoops, the site isn’t here to advertise how great the league is. The site is here because there is no other site like this.
That being said, let’s say Wichita St. beats the Bears, and then probably Creighton in the second round.
On the other side of the bracket, Bradley beats UNI, and then SIU.
The Shockers then beat Bradley in the title game.
In this scenario, SIU and Creighton are very solidly in as at-larges.
Missouri State, even with the first-round exit, could still probably get in based on the 10 Valley wins and the win over Wisconsin.
Bradley would then have 22 wins, and would be pretty hard to ignore. And the Shockers with the automatic bid would make five teams.
This scenario is ridiculously unlikely, and a lot of other things around the nation would have to fall into place to allow this amount of at-large bids to take place from the MVC.
But, it’s all possible and if nothing else, is a humorous sidebar to an exceptional Valley season.
As most Valley fans have probably already heard, no other conference in Division I can boast a last-place team (Indiana St.) with five conference wins. Sure, it helps that there are 18 games on the schedule, but it sounds impressive.
This same Sycamores team (remember, last place) also has wins over Butler and Purdue. Sure, they lost 13 out of their last 14 games, but who’s counting?
Wichita State, the MVC darling until the new year rolled around, went from a top ten-ranked squad to a team hoping to get into the NIT. Thanks to an 8-10 record in the Valley and a few other non-conference losses, the Shockers are a shell of a team that went to Syracuse and LSU and won.
The Shockers can possibly attribute the descent into mediocrity to several injuries to key players, but it’s still a puzzling meltdown nonetheless.
Then there’s the Bluejays, who are quite close to exact opposites to what Wichita St. has done.
Creighton’s non-conference record is uninspiring, merely 6-5. But thanks to the Bluejays’ sparkling play in the Valley against teams not residing in Carbondale, they are going to be playing in the NCAA tourney.
Cliche time: Anything can happen in the MVC tourney.
In five days, we’ll find out how it unfolds, and here are the matchups:
Thursday March 1
Game 1 – Evansville vs. Drake
Game 2 – Illinois St. vs. Indiana St.
Friday March 2 FSN Midwest
Game 3 – SIU vs. Game 1 winner
Game 4 – Bradley vs. UNI
Game 5 – Creighton vs. Game 2 winner
Game 6 – Missouri St. vs. Wichita St.
Saturday March 3 FSN Midwest
Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner
Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner
Sunday March 4 CBS
Championship game