The bracket with two games to play ...
WBB: Let's take a peak at where the Racers currently sit in in the Valley tournament
We’re down to the final week of Missouri Valley Conference play for the women, but there is still a lot to decide in terms of where the teams will be seeded for the Valley tournament in Evansville coming up in two weeks. If the season ended today, here’s how the 12 teams would be seeded:
Missouri State (14-4) — by way of 3-1 record vs. Murray State and Drake
Murray State (14-4) — by way of 2-2 record vs. Missouri State and Drake
Drake (14-4) — by way of 1-3 record vs. Missouri State and Murray State
Illinois State (13-5) — by way of head-to-head win over Belmont
Belmont (13-5)
Northern Iowa (10-8)
UIC (9-9)
Valparaiso (8-10)
Bradley (6-12)
Evansville (3-15)
Indiana State (2-16) — by way of NET advantage over Southern Illinois
Southern Illinois (2-16)
The standings are pretty clean outside of the three-way tie at the top. The most important thing for Murray State to do is win their final two games against Evansville and Indiana State to clinch their first-ever Missouri Valley Conference championship. Without getting too deep into the weeds of all the different scenarios, here is what will happen with the Racers, from a seeding standpoint, if they can win their final two regular season games:
If there is still a three-way tie with Missouri State and Drake, Murray State will remain the #2 seed
If Murray State is tied for 1st place with only Missouri State, since they split the regular season series, the #1 seed goes to the higher NET ranking —which today would be Murray State
If Murray State is tied for 1st place with only Drake, since they split the regular season series, the #1 seed goes to the higher NET ranking — which today would be Murray State
Things are definitely lining up for the Racers to grab one of the vitally important Top 2 seeds in the conference tournament.
With how the standings look through 18 games, here’s what the brackets would like if the Missouri Valley Conference started tomorrow:
Top half of the bracket:
#8 Valparaiso vs. #9 Bradley
The 8/9 winner plays #1 Missouri State
#5 Belmont vs. #12 Southern Illinois
The 5/12 winner plays #4 Illinois State
Bottom half of the bracket:
#6 Northern Iowa #11 Indiana State
The 6/11 winner plays #3 Drake
#7 UIC vs. #10 Evansville
The 7/10 winner vs. #2 Murray State
If Murray State ends up as the #1 seed, they’ll play in the tournament quarterfinals at 12:00pm on Friday, March 14th at the Ford Center in Evansville.
If Murray State ends up as the #2 seed, they’ll play in the quarterfinals at 6:00pm on Friday, March 14th at the Ford Center.