The Missouri Valley Conference men’s basketball regular season ended on Saturday, Feb. 29, and UNI (25-5, 14-4 MVC) claimed the league’s outright title and No. 1 seed for the State Farm MVC Tournament, which begins Thursday, March 5, in St. Louis at Enterprise Center.
League tiebreaking procedures (attached) stipulate that the NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) ratings from the Sunday morning following the regular-season be utilized to break ties not broken by head-to-head matchups. Two ties occurred in the final standings, and in each instance the teams split with one another and the NET rankings for each were within 7 points this morning.
- Bradley and Indiana State tied for third with 11-7 league records. Bradley had a NET rating of 108 on Saturday morning. Indiana State’s NET rating this morning was 101. Bradley lost to Loyola at home today. Indiana State beat Valparaiso at home today.
- Missouri State and Valparaiso tied for sixth with 9-9 league records. Missouri State had a NET rating of 129 this morning, while Valpo’s NET rating was at 133. Missouri State beat Southern Illinois at home on Saturday, while Valpo lost its regular-season finale at Indiana State.
And although those results favor both Indiana State (over Bradley) and Missouri State (over Valparaiso), we will wait until NET ratings are published tomorrow morning. The MVC will announce its bracket for the State Farm MVC Tournament – the 30th straight in St. Louis – on Sunday morning when the latest NET rankings are revealed.
SEEDS
- UNI (25-5, 14-4 MVC)
- Loyola (21-10, 13-5 MVC)
- Bradley (20-11, 11-7 MVC) or Indiana State (18-11, 11-7 MVC)
- Bradley (20-11, 11-7 MVC) or Indiana State (18-11, 11-7 MVC)
- Southern Illinois (16-15, 10-8 MVC)
- Missouri State (15-16, 9-9 MVC) or Valparaiso (16-15, 9-9 MVC)
- Missouri State (15-16, 9-9 MVC) or Valparaiso (16-15, 9-9 MVC)
- Drake (18-13, 8-10)
- Illinois State (10-20, 5-13 MVC)
- Evansville (9-22, 0-18 MVC)
