Hoops In the Heartland on ESPNU

Editor: The following is part of a press release from mvc-sports.com.

(St. Louis, MO) – Now in its 116th season, the Missouri Valley Conference has selected a 20-game women’s basketball package for distribution on ESPN’s networks during the 2022-23 academic year, MVC Commissioner Jeff Jackson announced today.

For the second-consecutive year, the 2023 MVC Women’s Basketball Tournament title game will be aired on ESPNU.  The first 10 tournament contests will be shown exclusively on ESPN+.

The 2023 MVC championship contest is one of 19 Division I women’s basketball conference title games to air live on an ESPN linear network (ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU).

With its 2023 neutral site championship — known as Hoops in the Heartland — the Missouri Valley Conference becomes the only Division I stand-alone women’s basketball event to be held in the same city eight or more consecutive years.

The Valley — in its ninth year of a 10-year agreement with ESPN — will also clear an 11-game regular-season slate via ESPN3 as well as ESPN+ — the industry-leading sports streaming service.

Additional regular-season women’s basketball games produced by MVC institutions will be delivered exclusively by The Valley on ESPN — also available via the ESPN App on smartphones, tablets, connected streaming devices or espn.com/watch.

The league-selected package has four pre-determined appearances by Belmont — which advanced to the second round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament — followed by three each for Drake — 2022 WNIT Sweet Sixteen — and Northern Iowa — 2022 WNIT Second Round.

The MVC has seen an average of four league teams participate in postseason play in the last 23 seasons. The Valley has earned multiple NCAA Tournament bids in 14 different seasons, including four out of the last five seasons.

The Conference finished the 2021-22 campaign rated 10th in the NCAA’s NET rankings — marking the third-straight season the league finished in the top 10 nationally.

The league-selected schedule tips off on New Year’s Day on Sunday, January 1, with a rematch of the 2022 MVC Tournament title game between UNI and Illinois State.  Illinois State — 19-14 overall and 12-6 in MVC action — won that crown and advanced to the NCAA Tournament against Iowa.

Coverage of the 2023 women’s basketball tournament from Vibrant Arena at The MARK — formerly known as TaxSlayer Center — in Moline, Illinois, begins on Thursday, March 9, with four opening-round contests.

Hoops in the Heartland 2023 will match the Atlantic Coast, Southeastern, Big Ten and Big 12 Conference tournaments, as the only Division I stand-alone women’s basketball championships to be held at a neutral site for 15 or more consecutive years.