MVC Men's Basketball

The Missouri Valley Conference is one of the nation’s oldest collegiate athletic conferences. While it is presently comprised of 10 smaller, Midwestern colleges and universities, it has been playing men’s basketball at the highest level for the past several years. At their best, the MVC, In 2005, was rated as the 6th toughest. Given that, it is not surprising that half of the conference schools have RPI’s among the Top 100 (Northern Iowa, Wichita St., Missouri St., Illinois St. and Indiana St.). (as of Feb. 21)

The schools making up the conference are (from largest to smallest): Missouri State Bears, Southern Illinois Salukis, Illinois State Redbirds, Wichita State Shockers, Northern Iowa Panthers, Indiana State Sycamores, Creighton Bluejays, Bradley Braves, Drake Bulldogs, Evansville Purple Aces.

The MVC began (along with what is now the Big Eight Conference) in 1907, as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association; basketball was its first sport. It was the 2nd such conference in the United States. It split in two in 1927, with the smaller schools becoming the MVC. The Valley added schools until it reached its present configuration. In 1985, the MVC dropped football as one of its sports, although there is a separate MVC for some of the schools with football (plus four others).

MVC 2009-10 Season

The 2009-2010 regular season was an exciting one for MVC teams. Northern Iowa was ranked as high as #18 nationally as it rolled over non-conference and conference foes alike. Besides defeating the two larger institutions in its basketball-crazy state, the Panthers won their 2nd consecutive regular season crown. They shared last year's with Creighton, and the conference has had five different regular season champions in the last five years. Wichita State finished in 2nd place, Illinois State one game behind in 3rd - both have more than 20 wins for the season. Creighton finished 4th. The only two teams that finished below .500 (overall) are Evansville and Drake, emphasizing the strength of The Valley in non-conference games again this year. http://www.mvc-sports.com/standings/Standings.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=7600&SPID=2901&DEF_FY=2009&DB_OEM_ID=7600&KEY= http://www.mvc.org/mbb/notes/mvc.pdf The MVC (also known as “The Valley”) is ranked as the nation’s 9th strongest conference.http://rpiratings.com/mensrpi.html

MVC History

The MVC is the second oldest NCAA Division I athletic conference. It was formed from the split of the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1928. The conference is known for for having dedicated fans or spectators in all college basketball.

Doug Elgin is the ninth MVC commissioner, he was named on May 17, 1988. In 2006-07 the conference celebrated its centennial year.

MVC Basketball Members

Northern Iowa In SWEET SIXTEEN

MVC Champions Northern Iowa surprised almost everyone around the country with their pair of thrilling opening weekend wins against UNLV and top-seeded Kansas University. The Panthers take on Michigan State in the Sweet Sixteen on Friday, March 26, at 9:37pm (Eastern); the Spartans will be playing without their starting star guard, Kalin Lucas (injured in 2nd round game).

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5021398

Northern Iowa vs Missouri State

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Northern Iowa at Misouri State mens...

source: www.youtube.com

Here are some highlights of the January 30 game between two of the top teams in The Valley - Northern Iowa and Missouri State. It was a very hard-fought game - including a somewhat controversial intentional foul. Northern Iowa escaped with a one-point win on the road.