Great Mid Major Matchups

(St. Louis, MO) – Rematches with national implications are in store for next season’s Mountain West/Missouri Valley Conference Challenge Series. Both leagues sent teams to the Sweet Sixteen last season and are at the top of every mid-major power conference list.

Those Sweet Sixteen teams, Loyola and Nevada met in last season’s Sweet Sixteen round with the Ramblers prevailing (69-68) on their way to a Final Four bid. A rematch between those two teams is the high-light of this year’s Challenge Series.

Loyola returns the Valley’s ‘Larry Bird – Player of the Year’ in Clayton Custer and reigning ‘Freshman of the Year’ Cameron Krutwig, along with Marques Townes who scored 18 points (including the game winning jumper) in the thrilling victory over Nevada. The Wolfpack could return virtually their entire team depending on the feedback given three players, Jordan Caroline and the Martin twins (Caleb & Cody) who are investigating their draft status after their junior seasons. The revenge minded Wolfpack will visit Gentile Arena on November 27.

Illinois State, a team that will be picked near the top of the Valley in preseason polls will entertain the Mountain West’s other NCAA Tournament team from last season. San Diego State (22-11) was the MWC’s automatic qualifier to the Big Dance by winning the conference tournament (Nevada won the regular season title).

The Redbirds return their ‘Big Three’ in all-Valley forward Milik Yarbrough, Phil Fayne and Keyshawn Evans. Yarbrough was also the ‘Newcomer of the Year’ in the Valley and Fayne was a second team selection.

The Aztecs also return three double digit scorers in Devin Watson, Matt Mitchell and Jalen McDaniels. San Diego State and ILS have split the four games played between the teams, with the Aztecs winning the last meeting that opened the Redbirds 2015-16 season.

The other eight games in The Challenge include home games for Drake (hosting Boise State), Evansville (entertaining Wyoming) and Bradley (New Mexico).

Five MVC teams go on the road as Southern Illinois visits Colorado State and former Drake coach Niko Medved, Valparaiso visits UNLV, Northern Iowa travels to Utah State, Indiana State packs up for San Jose State and Missouri State journeys to Air Force.

The two leagues have split The Challenge in each of the last two seasons. The MWC owns an overall edge of 38 wins to the Valley’s 27 victories.

The MWC/MVC Challenge Series features leagues that finished last season eighth (MVC) and ninth (MWC) in cumulative conference RPI.

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