Paul Suellentrop’s MVC Report (Feb. 25)

Savor this feeling

All 10 Missouri Valley Conference teams play Wednesday. They all play again on Saturday. This is the week when the MVC gets it right, so put aside your reservations and enjoy the next four days.

While conferences such as the ACC and Big 10 dilute the importance of their regular seasons with unwieldy schedules that separate rivals, the Valley wisely sticks with an 18-game, round-robin formula to crown a real champion.

While No. 10 Northern Iowa and No. 11 Wichita State steam toward Saturday’s showdown, both play upper-division opponents on Wednesday. The probablity of real drama may be slight (Indiana State coach Greg Lansing voiced doubts about his team’s ability to beat the Shockers on Monday), but it’s not impossible. Evansville, perhaps reprising its role of Shocker-killer from 2013, goes to Northern Iowa with a chance to sweep the Panthers.

WSU and UNI are locked into the top two spots. Illinois State, which plays host to Southern Illinois and finishes at Evansville, has the most to gain. The Redbirds (17-11) own a No. 86 RPI and might slip into NIT consideration with four more wins. Finishing third in the MVC is likely a requirement. Illinois State, Evansville and Indiana State can all finish third, fourth or fifth. The Aces face the toughest schedule.

Drake can lock in a sixth-place finish with a win over Loyola on Wednesday. The Bulldogs are a Thursday regular in St. Louis, last escaping that wretched spot in 2008 when Adam Emmenecker and Josh Young fun-and-gunned all over the Valley. Loyola can also finish in the top six, which would be a solid accomplishment in its second season in the MVC.

Missouri State, Bradley and Southern Illinois are locked into the bottom four and all are playing two games to avoid finishing last. Finishing last would be particularly painful for the Bears, picked third in the preseason poll. SIU finished 9-9 last season and upset third-seeded UNI in the tournament. Saluki fans hoped the worst had passed. Bradley could finish last for the third time in the past five seasons.

We’ll spend a lot of time discussing the strength of the MVC over the next two weeks. It’s a great season at the top. The weakness is in the middle, where an NIT lock or two needed to emerge.

As WSU coach Gregg Marshall said on his radio show Monday, the regular season deserves more appreciation. Five months of work are coming down to four days of games. Enjoy.

▪  The MVC is developing a habit of scheduling wisely. Saturday’s UNI-WSU game will be the Valley’s third winner-take-all game in the past five seasons on the final day. It hasn’t gone well for the Shockers, who lost at Missouri State in 2011 and at Creighton in 2013.

In 1985, WSU, Tulsa and Illinois State entered the final day with a chance to win the title. Tulsa defeated WSU and Illinois State lost to Bradley. With UNI No. 10 and Wichita State No. 11 in the Associated Press poll, it is the first time since Jan. 5, 1982 that two Valley schools appeared in the top 11 (No. 9 WSU and No. 10 Tulsa).

▪  WSU’s Tekele Cotton is 115-19 in four seasons, tying him with Gonzaga’s Kevin Pangos (115-18) for most wins by an active senior. Fred VanVleet leads the juniors with a 90-13 record. By winning percentage, Evan Wessel tops the juniors at 96.3 (78-3) with Ron Baker second at 91.5 (75-7). Both players missed games due to injury in 2012-13.

The list goes on.

In the past 15 seasons, Wessel and Baker top all players with at least 80 games and 30 starts by winning percentage. Former Memphis player Chris Douglas-Roberts is third at 99-10 (90.8).

▪  Drake is 44 of 45 from the foul line over its past five games.

▪  Bradley has lost 35 straight games west of the Mississippi River. It plays at Missouri State on Wednesday.

Trending up

Drake – Give the Bulldogs credit for emerging from an 0-5 MVC start. They play host to Loyola on Wednesday and with a win will avoid the play-in round of the MVC Tournament for the first time since 2008. Drake (9-19, 6-10) is 5-5 in its previous 10 games.

The MVC’s proud NIT history — Save the snark, the Valley won a bunch back when the NIT remained a prestigious tournament with powerful fields and the Shockers are proud of their 2011 title. In all, the Valley owns seven titles, five by current members. The 32-team field will likely fill up without an MVC rep this season, the first time that’s happened since 2002.

Q: Name Northern Iowa’s starting lineup in its most recent MVC Tournament victory.

A: Adam Koch, Jordan Eglseder, Johnny Moran, Kwadzo Ahelegbe, Ali Farokhmanesh. UNI’s last win in St. Louis came in the 2010 championship game, 67-52 over Wichita State. Since then, UNI is 0-4, losing three times as the higher seed — twice as the No. 3 seed to the No. 6 seed.

Evansville (19-9, 9-7) at No. 10 Northern Iowa (26-2, 15-1), 8 p.m. Wednesday (FSKC) – Evansville outscored UNI by 13 points at the line in its 52-49 win at Ford Center on Jan. 1. The Aces are unlikely to enjoy that advantage on the road. Panthers guard Paul Jesperson didn’t score in that game, part of a stretch where sickness limited his minutes. Jesperson is healthy and a game-changing threat.

This story was originally published February 24, 2015 at 5:17 PM with the headline "Paul Suellentrop’s MVC Report (Feb. 25)."