Three Teams at Neutral Sites
(St. Louis, MO) – Opening day matchups have finally arrived. Happy Holidays! Seven Missouri Valley Conference teams launch their seasons today, two more tomorrow and the final two get started on Thursday.
Three Valley squads are part of the Field of 68 opening day festivities in South Carolina and South Dakota. The second game of the entire college basketball season finds Bradley facing the Atlantic Ten’s Saint Bonaventure in Rock Hill, SC. This is a battle of two, twenty-win teams from a season ago.
Bradley (106) is the Valley’s highest kenpom.com rated team and the Bonnies (122) aren’t far behind. This is a stiff test for Brian Wardle’s young team.
The game can be seen at 10:00 a.m. on YouTube.
Sioux Falls Contests
The highly anticipated opening day matchups for the Valley’s two new head coaches take place in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Murray State’s remade roster and brand new head coach face Omaha at 12:30 p.m. and Drake’s new posse and leader face Northern Arizona at 3:00 p.m. While both the Racers and Bulldogs are ranked inside KenPom’s preseason top 140, Northern Arizona (275) and Omaha (188) are ranked much lower.
The Racers and Bulldogs have been battling some injuries heading into these first day challenges.
Those games can be seen on YouTube.
Three ‘Home’ Opening Day Matchups
Belmont, Southern Illinois and Illinois Chicago host opponents tonight. The Bruins host Air Force and UIC entertains Detroit Mercy in Division 1 contests. SIU is hosting D2 opponent McKendree. Belmont is the MVC’s second highest rated KenPom team at 108 and Air Force comes in at 262. UIC is 135 while Detroit Mercy is 298.
Indiana State begins its season on the road at Charlotte. The Sycamores begin the campaign without their head coach Matthew Graves who is on an indefinite leave after a heart procedure conducted two weeks ago. Charlotte won just eleven games last year, but has a KenPom rating of 190.
It is a huge day for the Valley. Three games on the national stage in what could be a tone setting day in the long, long basketball season.
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Opening round of #ArchMadness is today. The only quarterfinal we know is @UIC_MBB v @RacersHoops tomorrow at 2:30. We look at their contrasting styles heading into the @MVCsports tournament. #FatherHarry
Don't look now, but @BustingBrackets tells us some of the hottest teams coming into #ArchMadness aren't the teams at the top of the bracket. @ValpoBasketball, @SIU_Basketball & @UNImbb shouldn't be overlooked. #FatherHarry
ICYMI: @BelmontMBB & @BradleyUMBB are two of the best at being committed to development and succeeding at the same time. #ArchMadness
Congrats to @RogerPowellJr, @CoachJonny_B & @NdotSmitty being named to the Ben Jobe Award finalist list. Well deserved!
