With a Month Left, Missouri State and the MVC are Worth Your Attention

There is a month left in the regular season, and the Missouri State Bears are in the hunt for the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title. That may not sound like much, but this is the first year of the tenure of head coach Dana Ford.

The Bears currently sit at 5-4 in conference play after having rattled off three-straight wins. Their defense has been on-point during this stretch of success, holding MVC front-runner-of-the-moment Loyola Chicago to their lowest point total (35) for the year, and then allowing a total of 91 points to Bradley and Valparaiso. MSU is just a pair of games behind Loyola for that top spot.

Now Coach Ford and the Bears see a path to the top. Three of their next four matchups are against teams below them in the standings, with that one against Illinois State. The Redbirds are a game ahead of the Bears for second place.

Meanwhile, those above the Missouri State will be battling each other. Loyola takes on Illinois State, this Saturday, followed by Drake (ahead of Missouri State only by overall record). The key will be the Redbirds. While they face the Ramblers this Saturday and the Bears next Sunday, the rest of their schedule is filled with the bottom half of the MVC. Missouri State will need to beat Illinois State in their matchup, and hope for a few surprises from the likes of Evansville or Indiana State.

Moving forward, the Missouri Valley Conference will be fun to watch. The difference between last place and first place is four games. Should the Redbirds beat the Ramblers in Normal, this Saturday on ESPN2, seven teams will be within two games of first place. While all 10 teams play in the conference tournament, the bottom four seeds have to play on Thursday of the tournament, with all other teams getting a single-bye.

Missouri State has a simplistic formula, moving forward. In all their conference games, if they hold their opponent to less than 70, they’re undefeated. They lose every game their opponent scores 70 or more, though. So, if the Bears just hold their opponent to less than 70, they’ll win the MVC and go to the NCAA Tournament. Sounds easy, right? We’ll see.