The Madness Starts in St. Louis and Nashville

(St. Louis, MO) – March Madness only takes place AFTER Arch Madness and Music City Madness. There are no better places to be this week than St. Louis and Nashville. As the Missouri Valley Conference teams descend upon St. Louis and eight Ohio Valley Conference teams journey to Tennessee, we’re reminded why we love this game and these events.

These two tournaments are the essence of what makes college basketball special. Eighteen teams fighting for postseason survival and moments of basketball glory are why we love this game. It isn’t the same in ‘money conferences’ where half the teams are headed to the NCAA Tournament and scandals and big donors are as prevalent as a Donald Trump insult. THIS is college basketball!

The basketball is outstanding, the rivalries are long term, the drama is off the charts and the players attend class, graduate and compete at the highest level. Coaches, players and PR directors are accessible and genuinely want to help tell the stories of these players and programs.

In a year when neither of these leagues is likely to send more than one team to the Big Dance, the stakes are high. For teams at the bottom of the tournament brackets, there is one more shot at redemption, respect and celebration. For the teams on the top, there is the pressure to hold on to what they’ve already accomplished.

Missouri Valley

Wichita State’s dominance of the Valley is clear, and yet there are times when they’ve appeared vulnerable. They’ve only lost two conference games and most of their wins have been by more than 20 points, so vulnerable might be overstating the situation, but after losing only one league game over the previous two seasons, those defeats felt like a stock market collapse.

There are two other teams with reasonable Arch Madness 2016 title aspirations. Third seeded Illinois State and fourth seed Northern Iowa are those teams. What about second seeded Evansville? The Aces (23-8, 12-6) had a wonderful season, but of their six conference losses, five of them came at the hands of Wichita State (twice), Northern Iowa (twice) and Illinois State.

The Panthers and Redbirds both split with Wichita and with each other. These are clearly the top three teams in the MVC. However, Southern Illinois and Evansville have genuine postseason opportunities in the three-letter tournaments.

Postseason aside, the rivalries are sweet to behold. Thursday night when Missouri State tips with Drake, it will be their 54^th encounter. The late game Friday night finds Illinois State facing Indiana State for the 116^th time.

There are too many special seniors to mention in this writing, but the final trip to the Gateway City for some of these elite players will be special.

Ohio Valley

Clearly Belmont is the team to beat in Nashville, but until Saturday’s loss to Murray State, UT Martin was, and still may be the hottest team in ‘The O”. Their eight game win streak was snapped, but Heath Schroyer knows how to prepare his team for tournament basketball. Remember, they went to the semifinals of last year’s College Insider.com Tournament.

The Bruins and Skyhawks have a free ride into the OVC semifinals by virtue of their first place divisional championships.

I believe this is the most wide-open Music City Madness event in years. Any of the top six teams can take the NCAA’s automatic bid. Since Belmont is basically playing ‘at home’ it is difficult to envision anyone but Rick Byrd’s team winning, but a case can be made for the others.

Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech have had amazing ‘turn around’ seasons and could rise to the occasion. Morehead State has battled high level teams all season, and don’t go to sleep on Murray State. The Racers have revenge on their minds after rolling into Nashville on a high note last year only to have their dreamed snatched away by a last second Taylor Barnette jumper.

The Racers have won four of their last five games and might have finally found the right rotation and rhythm. Damarcus Croaker is playing his best basketball of the season and Jeffery Moss is playing like a senior that doesn’t want his collegiate career to end.

Nashville will have an intensity second to none.

Do Good