Top of the MVC continues to excel despite poor support from the bottom

The post-season roster looks good, perhaps even great, for the Missouri Valley Conference. It isn’t clear how accurately those brackets reflect the top-to-bottom strength of the Valley.

Two teams are in the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four seasons, both with at-large worthy resumes and both with single-digit seeds. The NCAA began seeding teams in 1979 and the Valley landed two single-digits seeds four times previously. A late rally landed Illinois State in the NIT as a No. 4 seed and it hosts Green Bay on Wednesday. Evansville (CollegeInsider.com Tournament) and Loyola (College Basketball Invitational) also extended their seasons into mid-March.

“Our league was better this year and I think that’s been really good for our team,” Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson said. “Our league was older, a more experienced league and much more like it’s been most of the time. Last year, we were a little bit younger and had a little bit of change in our league with Creighton going out and Loyola coming in.”

While putting half the conference roster into postseason play is an accomplishment, Wichita State and Northern Iowa can be excused if they feel a lack of support from their conference mates hurt their NCAA seeding. The Panthers (30-3) are seeded fifth despite an RPI ranking No. 14. Wichita State (28-4) split with Northern Iowa, won the regular-season title and dropped to a No. 7 seed, despite its RPI ranking No. 17.

The Panthers play 12th-seeded Wyoming on Friday in Seattle in the East Regional. WSU plays Indiana on Friday in Omaha in the Midwest.

The consensus tabulation of projections at bracketmatrix.com put UNI at a No. 4 seed and WSU at No. 5. The NCAA selection committee disagreed because of a lack of quality opponents in January and February. Only Illinois State finished the regular season with a top-100 RPI and four MVC schools rank 245 or worse.

WSU and UNI couldn’t compare with schools from conferences such as the Big East, SEC and Big 12 who grabbed better seeds despite lower spots in the power rankings. In Ken Pomeroy’s statistical rankings, No. 5 Utah, No. 12 Northern Iowa and No. 14 WSU are the only schools in the top 15 not to land a No. 4 or better seed.

“I didn’t like the fact we were a No. 7 seed,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. “I thought we were going to be a No. 6 seed, at the worst, maybe a No. 5 seed. But we’re a No. 7. When the ball is tipped on Friday afternoon, the seeding is irrelevant.”

Illinois State and Loyola will return most of their starters next season and both coaches hope this season’s tournament is step toward the NCAAs. Teams can benefit from more practices and games against top opponents. Tournaments that offer home games can ignite some fan excitement that can carry to next season.

Illinois State (21-12) will play in the NIT for the fifth time in the past eight seasons, four times after losing in the MVC Tournament title game.

“It’s all about that pressure you feel, for the seniors and everybody else, knowing that if you lose, you’re done,” Redbirds coach Dan Muller said. “It’s unique. That‘s the added value for me.”

Loyola defeated Rider 62-59 on Tuesday at home, the first postseason appearance for the Ramblers since an NCAA trip in 1985. On Sunday, Loyola coach Porter Moser gathered his team to watch the NCAA selection show to put that goal in their minds. Moser was an assistant at Saint Louis when it played VCU in the 2010 CBI best-of-3 finals. Both programs used that experience to build to bigger things.

“We’re very proud of where we’re at, but we’re not satisfied,” Moser said. “It’s just a mind-set of postseason that you’ve got to experience and hopefully this will be a first step toward.”

Evansville (19-12) plays host to IPFW on Wednesday in the CIT. It is Evansville’s fourth postseason trip in the past five seasons, two in the CIT and two in the CBI.

Bradley, one of the Valley’s struggling programs, took a step toward improving its outlook when it hired Chris Reynolds as athletic director on Monday. Reynolds, a native of Peoria, understands his most important job will be to determine the direction of the basketball program. Coach Geno Ford, according to the Peoria Journal-Star, is likely to be fired after finishing last in the MVC for the second time in four seasons.

This story was originally published March 17, 2015 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Top of the MVC continues to excel despite poor support from the bottom."