Four Teams with MTE Dates
(St. Louis, MO) – Missouri Valley Conference teams will be getting some key MTE action. Valley teams covet opportunities to play quality competition and multi-team events are an important ingredient to building a schedule.
The Thanksgiving holiday finds Northern Iowa heading west while Bradley and Illinois State will be flying south, Evansville heads to the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Walt Disney World for I-74 Rivals
While we anticipate that Bradley and Illinois State will be two of the top MVC teams, the two ‘War on 74’ rivals will be playing in separate ‘pods’ of a Disney World-based MTE. The Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational will be a 16-team, three bracket event set during Thanksgiving.
Bradley participates in the ‘Adventure Bracket’ that includes Liberty, Princeton, Rhode Island, Temple, Towson, UC San Diego and Vermont. Illinois faces an ‘Imagination Bracket’ field featuring Charlotte, Furman and Richmond.
The Braves are part of a three-game event that includes one regular season champion (Liberty), a tournament champion team (UC San Diego) and at least four other teams that won at least 18 games. This is a Monday through Wednesday tournament ending on November 26.
Illinois State’s event is a two-game affair that includes a 19-win Charlotte team and an NIT participant in Furman. The Redbirds will play games on November 27 and 28.
UNI Heads to the Desert & UE to the Islands
Ben Jacobson is taking his Northern Iowa Panthers to the ‘Acrisure Series’ in Palm Desert, California. This too, is a multi-bracketed event. UNI’s ‘pod’ includes Nevada, coached by former Valley coach Steve Alford and two former MVC members Loyola Chicago and Tulsa.
The two-day event (November 25 & 26) is part of a much bigger collection of pods and teams.
Other teams participating in various brackets are NCAA Tournament qualifiers in Grand Canyon, Colorado State, Saint Mary’s and New Mexico. Three other NIT teams include Stanford, SMU and Santa Clara. Power conference teams Washington State, USC and Arizona State will participate along with Saint Louis University.
Evansville heads to the US Virgin Islands and the Paradise Jam. David Ragland’s team will tangle with Oregon State in the November 21st opener. Other teams in the field are Iona, Akron, Green Bay, Yale, UMass and Charleston.
The four-day, three game tournament ends on November 24.
Key MTE action still needs to be lined up by other MVC teams.
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The clock is ticking down on the @MoStateMBB website as they prep for leaving @ValleyHoops for the weaker @ConferenceUSA, & we say 'Farewell to Missouri State'. We'll miss our friends. #FatherHarry
Cade Tyson makes it three programs in three years. If he hadn't left @BelmontMBB he'd be on the verge of being a historically remembered Bruin. #FatherHarry
North Carolina transfer Cade Tyson has committed to Minnesota, per @TiptonEdits.
The 6’7” junior guard appeared in 31 games for the Tar Heels, averaging 2.6 points, and 1.1 rebounds in 7.9 minutes per game.
Tyson previously played at Belmont where he averaged 16.2 points, 5.9…
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