(St. Louis, MO) – Is it a surprise when Loyola goes on the road and defeats the fifth ranked team in the nation? Is it surprising when the Missouri Valley Conference owns five wins over a ‘power 5’ conference teams and ten victories over teams from the top ten RPI rated (preseason) conferences?
Not according to Loyola’s Porter Moser.
In this final edition of our three-part interview with the Ramblers’ head coach, he let us know last weekend that despite the offseason loss of Wichita State, the Missouri Valley Conference is strong, maybe stronger than ever.
There were some tough Valley losses Wednesday night, both Southern Illinois and Indiana State lost road games they should have won, but those defeats were far over shadowed by the enormous Rambler victory in Gainesville.
Moser is bullish on the Valley’s addition of Valparaiso and he thinks most of the teams, particularly those that were on the bottom end in recent seasons, are really improved. Of course the former Illinois State head coach believes his Ramblers can be really good.
I asked the former Creighton Bluejay if he’s paying attention to the success of the other Valley teams.
The Valley’s 60-26 record heading into Thursday’s games is the third best non-conference record in the past 50 years (according to Mike Kern of the Valley). Those top two seasons were the historic 2005-06 & 2006-07 seasons. During the 2006 NCAA Tournament, two MVC teams reached the Sweet Sixteen. Valley teams went 6-6 in the Big Dance over those two seasons.
During the preseason media day, Southern Illinois head coach Barry Hinson told me this season could be a lot like those historic days.
The league is good and the league is legit. Conference season is coming up soon and that’s when the real fun begins!
Do Good
Twitter Feed
Three more road wins so far in @ValleyHoops as @BradleyUMBB @BelmontMBB & @UIC_MBB capture road wins. Looks like @DrakeBulldogsMB will do so too. #FatherHarry
Well @RacersWBB followed the men's example and swept Iowa in the @ValleyHoops race! Racers are 6-1 & if @BelmontWBB holds on to their Iowa sweep, the Bruins and Racers will be tied for first. What a trip for those two teams! #FatherHarry
After today's action, @EIUWBB is 8-0 in @OVCSports play. 4 teams @usiwbb @TTUWBB @LRTrojans @LindenwoodWBB are tied at 6-2. Six other teams are under .500. Great race to the finish lies ahead. #FatherHarry
Really entertaining game between @BelmontMBB & @UEAthletics_MBB. Under four minutes left in a one point game. Gabriel Pozzato back in the Aces' lineup. Rogers is playing like I've expected. Triples are dropping. It's fun and @kylejpeach bringing it on #ThePlus #FatherHarry
