Fan Stop Central

It’s a sad day for the Missouri Valley Conference. Last night (Selection Sunday) we find the MVC shut-out of the at-large bids, receiving only the automatic bid for the conference tournament championship.

With Drake exploding the way they did this year, only Illinois State remained the only other real conference contender to make it to the big dance … but, a combination of committee members and other conference tournament upsets left Illinois State on the outside.

Watch for Drake to make a big splash in this tournament. They rolled through the regular season and the conference tournament … of course, the rest of the Valley was WAY, WAY, WAY down this year. Didn’t seem to have that dominant force as in recent past.

Let’s look to next year as teams re-tool. Some (as in Missouri State‘s case) are moving on with a different head man. Some are building on their first season with a new coach. Some will see an overhaul of players as a large graduating class moves on to begin the next phase of their life/career.

… from MVC-Sports.com …
For the third time in the past four years, The Valley has half of its membership in post-season. Bradley (CBI), Creighton (NIT), Drake (NCAA), Illinois State (NIT), and Southern Illinois (NIT) represent the MVC. The five bids are the second-most in league history (trailing six post-season bids in 2006). The league also had five bids in 2005.

For the fifth-straight year, eighth time in the past 10 years, and the 14th time in the league’s history, The Valley has at least four postseason bids. In 2006, the league set records with four NCAA tourney teams, and six post-season bids.

Bradley was invited to the 1st NIT (1938), 1st NCAA Tournament (1939), 1st National Campus Tournament (1951), 1st Commissioner’s Cup Classic (1974), and now the 1st College Basketball Invitational (2008). Bradley turned down the 1939 NCAA bid in favor of the NIT. Drake won the Commissioner’s Cup in 1975, in what was the final year of that tourney.

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