MVC Opening Week

Biggest Games of Opening Week

(St. Louis, MO) – The basketball season is finally upon us! The Missouri Valley Conference opening week provides league members opportunities to spark successful seasons. Winning non-conference games against quality opponents is critical for Valley teams hoping to reach postseason play.

Ten Valley teams begin opening week on Monday and five of those games include significant competition. Missouri State tips off the season in Morgan Town, West Virginia for a game with the Big Ten’s West Virginia. The Mountaineers won 19-games and lost in the first round of last year’s NCAA Tournament. This will be a solid test for Dana Ford’s Bears and a winnable game for Missouri State.

Georgia State had a down year last season, but the Panthers have a history of success and Belmont opens the season at home against the Sun Belt Conference team.

Bradley’s opener is a stiff test. The Braves travel to UAB for a game with a Blazers team that won 29 games last season and reached the National Invitation Tournament final. Andy Kennedy’s team lost all five starters from last year’s team, but Kennedy has won 78 games during his three seasons in Birmingham. They will be difficult to beat on opening night before their home fans.

Head coach Luke Yaklich takes his Illinois Chicago squad to Cincinnati, on the first day of the season’s opening week. The Bearcats were 23-game winners and lost in last year’s NIT quarterfinals.

David Ragland’s second season at Evansville begins with a home game against Miami of Ohio.

Opening Week for Iowa-based Teams

Drake and Northern Iowa are the Valley’s two favorites to win the conference title and neither opens its season on Monday. Each opens with a quality opponent.

Tuesday UNI travels to Denton, Texas to play a North Texas team that won 31 games and the NIT championship over UAB last year. The American Athletic Conference team has won 115 games over the past five seasons.

Drake waits until Wednesday of opening week to entertain 20-win Lipscomb to Des Moines. The curtain raiser for the defending Arch Madness champions will be a festive affair.

One of the biggest games of opening week will be Friday night when Indiana State visits Alabama. During the opening week of games, Valley teams will face three ‘money conference’ teams in West Virginia, Cincinnati and the Crimson Tide and two from the American Athletic Conference.

Rounding out the week, Bradley hosts the Mountain West’s Utah State and Illinois State visits the Atlantic Ten’s Saint Louis University. Both of those leagues finished with stronger postseason rankings than the Valley.

After a season where the Valley finished an unheard of sixteenth in the final Kenpom rankings, this opening week is critically important. Winning early games, particularly against ‘money conference’ teams, is like money in the bank.

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