(St. Louis, MO) – This is a week of historic proportions in the Missouri Valley Conference. There are several games with Arch Madness implications, but there has never been a bigger regular season game, than Saturday’s epic contest between Northern Iowa and Wichita State.
Missouri Valley Conference Commissioner Doug Elgin and the schedule makers did a great job this year. Who knew the Loyola/Drake showdown would be so important? Hands up. Who predicted the Evansville/Illinois State game would be so significant?
To top it all off, ‘Game Day’ will originate from Wichita when the Panthers visit Koch Arena on Saturday. This will be a week to remember in MVC history. ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith will join College GameDay host Rece Davis and analysts Jay Bilas, Seth Greenberg and Jay Williams for the morning editions.
Presumably, when the Shockers (25-3, 15-1) host the Panthers (26-2, 15-1), a national television audience will be watching as MVC supremacy will be on the line between these two top 13 teams. There has never been a game, nor a scenario like this in the 108 seasons of Valley history.
“This is a win, not only for our basketball program and our university, but for the entire community,” WSU Director of Athletics, Eric Sexton said. “We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to showcase our team, facility, campus and city before a national audience.”
This is a first time occurrence! Two top 13 teams battle for the regular season title and a top-level seed in the NCAA tournament. Presumably the contenders will square off with both strong resumes and long winning streaks. Northern Iowa hasn’t lost since January first (15 straight games) and the Shockers have won six straight. One of those teams will come to St. Louis with the regular season title, a great winning streak and perhaps a top 10 ranking.
Saturday’s game could feature three all-conference players, the top two contenders for ‘player of the year’ and gigantic post-season ramifications. Northern Iowa’s Seth Tuttle is the favorite for the Larry Bird Trophy and he joins Wichita’s Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker as likely members of the league’s all-star team.
What about the rest of the league?
When Loyola visits Drake on Wednesday, they will play to avoid the Thursday night games at Scottrade Center. With identical 6-10 conference records, the loser will be pushed into the opening round of Arch Madness and the winner gets a pass into the quarterfinal round.
Saturday’s OTHER game between Illinois State and Evansville, could determine spots three through five at the conference tournament. Indiana State (14-14, 10-6), Evansville (19-9, 9-7) and Illinois State (17-11, 9-7) are separated by one game in the race for third place.
Between now and Saturday, the Sycamores have to play Wichita State and Evansville gets a crack at Northern Iowa. Assuming no upsets take place (Illinois State hosts SIU). The Redbirds and Sycamores will be tied and Evansville would be one game back.
St. Louis implications abound. One of those three teams will play the sixth place team (Loyola or Drake) in St. Louis, and the two losers face off for a third time.
The final week of the MVC regular season always has significance, but none has been this important.
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As we near the closing of the portal window, we've reached 1900. Some of them never to play college basketball again, earn a college degree and some to play at a much lower level than they did last season.
I guess we'll be seeing this in a @RacersHoops uniform this year. Glad AJ is staying in the @ValleyHoops.
