Valley Teams Playing Near and Far
(St. Louis, MO) – MTE season opens up oceans of opportunities for Missouri Valley Conference teams. Missouri State, Bradley and Southern Illinois have played and won the first games of their respective multi-team events. Valparaiso lost its opener to Illinois.
Every Valley team is involved in MTE action during Thanksgiving and the opportunities are as diverse as are the locations for these in-season challenges. MTEs have become huge assets for mid-major teams to schedule teams that they may not otherwise be able to arrange.
While Northern Iowa battles some of the biggest names in college basketball, each Valley member has truly worthwhile opponents and success in these upcoming events has the potential of lifting the entire league on the national stage.
MTE Season – Games in the Bank
Bradley and Southern Illinois won the opening games on their home floors and Missouri State has already traveled to the Virgin Islands and won a neutral site game. Valpo led Illinois at the half but a dominating second half by the Illini (in Champaign) sent the Beacons home with a loss.
The best of the three victories was Missouri State’s over Florida Gulf Coast. The Bears (2-1) narrowly lost to West Virginia and have handled Oral Roberts and the Eagles (187 Kenpom) since then and earned a second round game at at the US Virgin Islands MTE with Kent State. The Golden Flashes are a top 100 KenPom (91) team. That matchup is Sunday.
Bradley’s win over Tarleton State produced a second-round Monday challenge with Tulane. The undefeated (3-0) Braves are 80th in the latest Kenpom rankings, so Monday’s contest is a battle of two top 100 teams.
After SIU’s win over Chicago State, the Salukis are undefeated (3-0) and Tuesday will face highly rated James Madison (24 in AP Poll). These Sunday and Monday games are huge for these Valley teams and for the conference overall.
MTE Season – Early Games
Drake and Missouri State keep it rolling on Sunday. While the Bears battle Kent and the Bulldogs take on a worthy opponent in Oakland. After these games both the Bears and Bulldogs have interesting opponents in their MTEs.
After the Oakland game, Drake’s second round game will be against a team (Loyola Marymount or Stephen A. Austin) right at the 100 Kenpom level. The other side of the bracket of the Cayman Islands Classic is not as strong as Drake’s side. Akron is the highest rated team that could loom for the Bulldogs. Looking at the AP Poll reveals the Bulldogs have received one vote.
Bradley continues its play in the So Cal Challenge on Monday with Tulane. California and UTEP are in that field. The other half of the ‘War on 74 Rivalry’, Illinois State opens the Gulf Coast Classic against a top 100 team in Long Beach State. The Dan Monson-coached ‘Beach’ are the highest rated team in the Fort Myers, Florida event.
Murray State is in Fort Myers too, playing in the ‘Fort Myers Tip-Off’. The Racers open Monday with UNC Wilmington and play Wednesday against Appalachian State. Each of those opponents are in Kenpom’s top-200.
Indiana State plays three games in Las Vegas against top-200 teams. They open the Ball Dawgs Classic Tuesday against Rice. The Sycamores battle Pepperdine on Wednesday and Toledo the day after Thanksgiving.
Valpo hosts regional rival Western Illinois on Wednesday.
MTE Season – Later Starting Events
Games get juicier as the week moves on. Teams that we’ve mentioned play deeper into their respective events, but Northern Iowa, undefeated Evansville, surprising UIC, Belmont and Valpo jump into the fray.
Northern Iowa’s participation in the Battle 4 Atlantis is the most significant MVC participation this week. Wednesday the Panthers face AP No. 20 North Carolina and the other six teams in ‘The Battle’ are ‘money conference’ schools. Win or lose, the Panthers have the chance to play any of Arkansas (AP No. 14), Michigan (RV), Memphis (RV), Stanford, Texas Tech and Villanova (21).
Belmont waits until Friday to begin play in the Cathedral of College Basketball Classic. Teams in this MTE are lower level teams, but the chance to play in Philadelphia’s Palestra against East Coast teams will be valuable for Casey Alexander’s Bruins.
Evansville travels to Chattanooga where they will play against the host Mocs on Friday and then have a rematch with Southeast Missouri on Saturday.
UIC has very interesting opponents at the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship. The Flames get Middle Tennessee on Friday and either Ohio or George Washington on Saturday. All will be good tests for the improving Flames. Very good teams are on the other side of the bracket.
We will be running daily diaries of all the events. Stay Tuned!
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The final pre-Christmas weekly all-stars of the @ValleyHoops & @OVCSports. With very rare exceptions, it's all about league play now for these leagues.
Now @DrakeBulldogsMB has moved into the top spot in @collegeinsider #midmajortop25 poll. @BradleyUMBB is 4th. @BelmontMBB is 17th.
.@SEMOMBB wins at home and is 2-0, tied with @MSUEaglesMBB atop the @OVCSports. Our prayers are with the @LRTrojans after the death of one of their managers Josh Claxton. Their game with EIU was postponed today.
Good officiating in the @SEMOMBB/@SIUEMBB in a little late game dust up.
