State Farm MVC Tournament – March 7-10 – St. Louis, MO – Enterprise Center
Thursday, March 7
Game 1 – #8 Indiana State vs. #9 Valparaiso – 6 pm CT
Game 2 – #7 Illinois State vs. #10 Evansville – 8:30 pm CT
Friday, March 8
Game 3 – #1 Loyola Chicago vs. Winner Game 1 – 12 pm Ct
Game 4 – #4 Missouri State vs. #5 Bradley – 2:30 pm CT
Game 5 – #2 Drake vs. Winner Game 2 – 6 pm CT
Game 6 – #3 Southern Illinois vs. #6 UNI – 8:30 pm CT
Saturday, March 9
Game 7 – Semifinal #1 – 2:30 pm CT
Game 8 – Semifinal #2 – 5:00 pm CT
Sunday, March 10
Game 9 – Championship – 1:00 pm CT
ST. LOUIS — Loyola Chicago (19-12, 12-6) is the State Farm MVC Tournament top seed after sharing the league’s regular-season men’s basketball title with Drake (23-8, 12-6). The Ramblers earned the top seed due to a sweep over the Bulldogs during the regular season. Loyola, notably, has won back-to-back conference regular-season titles for the first time in program history. Drake, picked ninth in this year’s pre-season poll, earned its first league championship since the 2008 season — one in which it swept the MVC regular-season and tournament titles.
In addition to the tie for first place, there were three other ties in the standings. Missouri State and Southern Illinois tied for third place with identical 10-8 records. The Salukis won the tiebreaker and the No. 3 seed by virtue of a better NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) rating. Bradley, Illinois State and UNI all tied for fifth place with 9-9 league records. Bradley was awarded the No. 5 seed via a head-to-head tiebreaker. The Braves had a 3-1 record in the pool of tied teams (Bradley-Illinois State-UNI). UNI was 2-2 in that pool of tied teams, and Illinois State was 1-3 — giving the Panthers the No. 6 seed and the Redbirds the No. 7 spot. The other tie in the league standings involved Indiana State and Valparaiso — both at 7-11. Indiana State swept Valpo this year to earn the No. 8 seed.
This year’s tournament is the 43rd MVC post-season tourney and 29th-straight in St. Louis. Notably, this marks the third tournament in 29 seasons in St. Louis in which a team with a 9-9 record played in the opening round. Bradley (1998) and Drake (2012) join Illinois State this year as the only teams to finish .500 and play on the tourney’s first day. Bradley and Drake both won their first-round game in those respective seasons.
Since the league expanded to its current 10-team format in 1997, only one team that has played in the opening round has reached the semifinals (won twice). Bradley, seeded No. 7 in 1998 (with a 9-9 league record), beat No. 10 Drake and then upset No. 2 Creighton, before falling in the semifinals to Missouri State. No team to play in the MVC Tournament Opening Round (Thursday) has advanced to the title game.
The top seed has won the title nine times in St. Louis and six times in the past 11 tries (Drake-2008, UNI-2009, UNI-2010, Creighton-2013, Wichita State-2014, and Loyola-2018). Notably, only three times has a seed worse than No. 3 won the tournament (No. 4 Creighton in 2000, No. 5 Indiana State in 2001, and No. 4 UNI in 2016). The tourney’s top two seeds are a combined 55-1 in their first games in the 28 years in St. Louis. Of current members, Southern Illinois and UNI own the most tournament titles, with five each. Other current members who have won an MVC Tournament title include Bradley (2), Drake (1), Illinois State (4), Indiana State (3), Loyola Chicago (1) and Missouri State (1).
The tournament features nine games in four days and ends Sunday, March 10. For the 14th-straight year, CBS Sports will carry the title game, while the first six games will air on the MVC Television Network. CBS Sports Network will the two semifinal games on Saturday for the second-straight year. All nine games will air in the St. Louis metro area. KTRS Radio 550 AM will carry all games but the semifinals (Saturday), which will air on either WSDZ Radio 1260 AM (if Missouri State plays) or KXFN Radio 1380 AM (if Missouri State is eliminated). MSU games will air on KXFN Radio 1380 AM and will co-exist on KTRS Radio 550 AM for any Bears’ games on Friday or Sunday.
All four pre-determined matchups in this year’s tournament feature pairings in which one team swept the other (Indiana State swept Valparaiso; Illinois State swept Evansville; Missouri State swept Bradley; and Southern Illinois swept UNI). Since 1976-77, there have been 137 instances in which a team won all three games against another Valley team (two regular-season games and a tournament game). It happened four times last year. Notably, in that span, there have been 52 occasions in which a team swept the regular-season two-game series, and then lost a tournament matchup. Last year, Drake beat Bradley twice, but the Braves nipped the Bulldogs in St. Louis.
Thirty-nine of 42 previous tournament champions were seeded 1, 2, or 3. The top two seeds have had the most success, winning a combined 32 times, and the top two seeds have won 19 titles in St. Louis (in 28 total tries). The last 13 MVC tournament champions have consisted of six top seeds, five No. 2 seeds, a No. 3 seed, and a No. 4 seed.
The MVC Tournament champion has won a first-round NCAA Tournament game every year since 2012, while the league has won its past 10 first-round games overall (since 2012). In that span (2012-18), the MVC has combined for 18 NCAA Tournament victories and two Final Four trips.
