Around The Valley-2020/2021 Edition

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It appears that if Bradley loses today we won't play on Thursday unless I did my math wrong. Right now they are down by 11 to MSU in the second half.
 
Drake got it’s Quadrant 1 win that is so important to the selection committee. If they both win out and meet again on Sunday in St. Louis, I think they both make it in. If Drake stubs its toe at all between now and then I think it could be like a MSU situation back in the day (top-20 RPI but left out).

I think grading any team on its non-conference this year is ridiculous, but it’s going to happen no matter what.
 

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Here's what the Bubble Watch article released today on ESPN says. You have to have ESPN+ to read the article so I will just copy and paste what they said about Loyola and Drake.

LOYOLA CHICAGO: SHOULD BE IN

The Ramblers had risen all the way to a No. 9 or No. 8 seed in many mock brackets by the time Porter Moser's team fell to Drake 51-50 in Des Moines, Iowa. The defeat came one day after Loyola had won by 27 against the same opponent on the same floor. The split decision is likely good news for the Missouri Valley Conference and, in any event, the Ramblers' profile still looks great. At 18-4 and with a NET ranking that was actually in the nation's top 10 at tipoff on Sunday, Loyola has a body of work that should earn it an at-large bid. Moser's team will close the regular season with three home games against two opponents, Valparaiso and Southern Illinois, with a combined 8-16 record in Valley play.

DRAKE: WORK TO DO

Despite trailing by 10 in the second half, Drake rallied and defeated Loyola Chicago by one point in Des Moines. The victory represented a complete turnaround after the Bulldogs had lost by 27 to the Ramblers on the same court just 24 hours earlier. The win also came without DU's leading scorer, ShanQuan Hemphill, who missed both games against Loyola with a broken foot. Whether Hemphill will be able to return in time for a potential NCAA tournament appearance is unclear, but it appears his team might indeed make it that far. Drake is 20-2 and the Bulldogs already showed a good number for strength of record before the Quad 1 win over the Ramblers.
 
Drake beats UNI. More bad news though for Drake as their starting PG Roman Penn got hurt. I'm not sure how serious it is, but if he misses any games that would be a huge loss for them.
 

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It appears that if Drake wins their next two games against Bradley they win the tiebreaker over Loyola for the 1 seed in the MVC Tournament. Good news for us since we have a 97% chance of being the 4 seed. Drake's top two scorers are both injured and it doesn't look like either will be making a return. I'd rather play a limping along Drake team than Loyola in the semifinals if we win our first game. The 5 seed we will be playing will likely be either Evansville or Valpo.
 

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Sycamorefan96 said:
It appears that if Drake wins their next two games against Bradley they win the tiebreaker over Loyola for the 1 seed in the MVC Tournament. Good news for us since we have a 97% chance of being the 4 seed. Drake's top two scorers are both injured and it doesn't look like either will be making a return. I'd rather play a limping along Drake team than Loyola in the semifinals if we win our first game. The 5 seed we will be playing will likely be either Evansville or Valpo.
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How does Drake overtake Loyola for the 1 seed? I didn’t think this was possible unless Loyola were to lose another game?
 
skdent1414 said:
How does Drake overtake Loyola for the 1 seed? I didn’t think this was possible unless Loyola were to lose another game?
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They went back to really old tie breaker formulas due to Covid. If Loyola and Drake both sweep this weekend, they’ll each end with 2 losses with a head-to-head split.

For the next tiebreakers they go down the list and see who won against the next best team, which is MSU. Both Loyola and Drake swept MSU, so then they go to the next team in the rankings...Indiana State. Drake swept us, but Loyola split with us. Thus, Drake wins the tiebreaker. It doesn’t necessarily matter who you lost to (i.e. Drake losing to Valpo which is much worse than Loyola losing to us), it matters who you beat.

NET ranking is usually the tie breaker after head to head, but not this year.
 
BrokerZ said:
They went back to really old tie breaker formulas due to Covid. If Loyola and Drake both sweep this weekend, they’ll each end with 2 losses with a head-to-head split.

For the next tiebreakers they go down the list and see who won against the next best team, which is MSU. Both Loyola and Drake swept MSU, so then they go to the next team in the rankings...Indiana State. Drake swept us, but Loyola split with us. Thus, Drake wins the tiebreaker. It doesn’t necessarily matter who you lost to (i.e. Drake losing to Valpo which is much worse than Loyola losing to us), it matters who you beat.

NET ranking is usually the tie breaker after head to head, but not this year.
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Thanks! That’s potentially good news for us
 
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