NET Looks Good

Three Valley Teams in Top 100

(St. Louis, MO) – The NET looks good for the Missouri Valley Conference! Three teams are ranked in the top 100 and Belmont is ranked in the top forty!

MVC Associate Commissioner Mike Kern notes the league is ranked ninth among the 31 Division 1 conferences. Belmont comes in with an outstanding 35 ranking. The Bruins are 8-0 and are third in defensive field goal percentage (.349) and fifteenth nationally in effective field goal percentage.

Coach Casey Alexander’s squad leads the MVC in scoring margin, rebound margin, field goal percentage and three point percentage. Belmont’s 19.1 assists per game lead the Valley.

Northern Iowa is second in the Valley and seventy-third in the NET. The Panthers (7-1) are playing great defense. They are second nationally in defensive points allowed (58.4 ppg). Coach Ben Jacobson’s team leads the Valley in assist/turnover ratio (1.79) and is second to Bradley in turnover margin and second to Belmont in assists.

Murray State is a top-100 team. The Racers come in at 93. Coach Ryan Miller’s team leads the MVC in scoring (89.4 ppg) and second in three-point percentage.

Illinois State (105), Bradley (135), Drake (153), Southern Illinois (181) are in the top half of the 362 team NCAA NET rankings. UIC (196), Indiana State (205), Valparaiso (228) and Evansville (317) combine with those top three teams to say the NET looks good so far.

Important Upcoming Games

Southern Illinois faces # 62 High Point on Wednesday, Drake faces # 98 UAB on Friday and UIC faces # 25 Yale on Saturday.

While Valparaiso and UNI have games with teams in the 100’s this week, Belmont has two. If the Bruins handle Richmond and Middle Tennessee they should continue to prosper in this most important of rankings.

Ninth as a conference and three teams in the top 100. So Valley fans can take heart, because right now, the NET looks good.

Do Good