Missouri Valley – MTE = Defining Moments

Non-conference Opportunities Abound

(St. Louis, MO) – Multi-Team Events, (MTEs for short) can be defining moments for teams in the Missouri Valley Conference. This week nine of the Valley’s teams are taking part in MTEs that are ripe with special non-conference opportunities.

MVC squads are a respectable 24-16 in non-conference games including Evansville’s landmark win over # 1 Kentucky. Other notable victories have included Illinois State’s defeat of Belmont, Valparaiso’s win over Toledo, Loyola’s triumph of St. Joe’s and Northern Iowa’s season-opening win over Old Dominion.

There have been frustrating, narrow losses in potential resume building games too. Bradley’s loss to St. Joe’s, Evansville’s home loss to SMU, Illinois State’s loss to Central Florida, Indiana State’s defeat at Dayton and Missouri State’s heart-breaker at Xavier all come to mind.

Defining Moments During the MTE Season

Nine Valley squads launch into MTE season this week. Two teams head to Florida. UNI is traveling to Mexico and Missouri State heads to South Carolina. Five other teams are heading to the islands.

Drake, Bradley, Loyola and Northern Iowa are all playing home games as part of their MTEs before traveling to their eventual destinations. This MTE season provides huge opportunities for the student-athletes to see other parts of the world and play a wide range of teams. These can also be defining moments for teams and programs.

Bradley and Drake parlayed 2019 MTE championships into lessons learned and the ability to succeed later in the season. Bradley went on to win Arch Madness and Drake tied for the Valley’s regular season title.

After a disappointing 2018-19 non-conference record, Valley teams are looking for ‘signature wins’ during the MTE portion of their schedule. While good opportunities abound, the most significant landscape changing chances are in the hands of Bradley, Missouri State and Northern Iowa.

‘Super Seven’ Challenges

(Editor: At Valley Hoops Insider we use the term ‘Super Seven’ to reference what others call the ‘power 5’, plus the Big East and the American Athletic Conference.)

Undefeated Northern Iowa (5-0) has already defeated UT Martin to open the Cancun Challenge. They face Cornell before heading to Cancun. Then next week the Panthers battle the Big 12’s West Virginia and then play either the SEC’s South Carolina or an old foe in Wichita State (AAC). Defeating any of those three teams would represent defining moments for Ben (Jake the Giant Killer) Jacobson’s team.

Preseason favorite Missouri State (2-2) has stout competition at the Charleston Classic. The Bears face the ACC’s Miami on Thursday and then face either the SEC’s Florida or the A-Ten’s St. Joseph’s. Other teams in the Classic are Buffalo, Towson, UConn and eighteenth ranked Xavier. So, with at least one ‘super seven’ game and possibly two more, the Bears have the opportunity to catapult themselves onto the national stage.

Bradley (3-1) has defeated Norfolk State as part of the Ft. Myers Tip-Off and plays Radford this weekend in Peoria. The Highlanders knocked off Northwestern in their opening game of the Tip-Off. Meanwhile, the Braves get a shot at Northwestern next week and finish the Tip-Off with a game against either Pittsburgh or Kansas State.

Brian Wardle’s team has at least two ‘super seven’ games on tap. These are potentially Bradley’s nonconference defining moments.

Peer Matchups

Six other Valley squads play more peer level opponents. Southern Illinois played in an MTE earlier this season.

Ironically, Illinois State and Valparaiso are both participating in the Paradise Jam (US Virgin Islands). After the Redbirds open against Cincinnati, they will face either Bowling Green or Western Kentucky. Both are favorites to win their respective leagues. Valpo opens against Grand Canyon and then faces either Nevada or Fordham. Nevada is the defending Mountain West champion.

Drake, Evansville, Indiana State and Loyola have interesting matchups, but will need to make their own headlines in their respective MTEs.

December Defining Moments

December is littered with challenging and door opening kinds of games. Bradley plays both # 16 Memphis and Toledo. Drake tangles with Dayton and Air Force. Evansville will battle Ohio Valley powers Jacksonville State and Murray State while Illinois State takes on TCU. Loyola, Missouri State and Valparaiso each have SEC showdowns. Loyola plays Vanderbilt in Arizona, the Bears travel to LSU and the Crusaders visit Little Rock, Arkansas for a game with the Razorbacks.

MSU has a death march December. Dana Ford’s team also plays Murray State and # 21 VCU. Northern Iowa travels to Boulder to take on # 23 Colorado. SIU travels to Saint Louis U and to Missouri, while hosting Southeast Missouri. Bryan Mullins’ team is battling as many Missouri based teams as possible.

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