(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!
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Flooding, lightning strikes, etc. have cost @RacersHoops two home games. Had to play 'neutral site' tonight instead of at home and Wednesday's goes from home to away. Tough break for the Racers, and the whole area has been hit with difficulties. #FatherHarry
Murray State's scheduled home game Wednesday vs. Southern Illinois being moved to Banterra Center in Carbondale. #ValleyHoops
Gigantic game for @BradleyUMBB today in Des Moines. If they have a chance to catch @DrakeBulldogsMB, they have to win today. The Bulldogs can basically win the title today. @BustingBrackets breaks it all down. #FatherHarry https://bit.ly/3EGiVgi
Not rooting for any particular @ValleyHoops, but chaos is always fun. If things break certain ways, after today there could be a six-way tie for fifth place.
Fun to listen to @MLBLarry on the @SIU_Basketball/@BelmontMBB game tonight. Good job brother. #FatherHarry
