11/15 KenPom rankings update
MBB: Missouri Valley teams lost of three of four games Friday night
After Missouri Valley teams dropped three of four games on Wednesday, conference teams followed that up by <checks notes> dropping three of four games on Friday.
With Valley teams now holding a 15-14 record against Division I teams so far this season, the multiple bids to the NCAA Tournament conversation, unless something drastically changes in the coming weeks, can be pushed to the back burner, if not off the stove entirely for the time being. Of The Valley’s 15 non-conference wins, only four are against teams ranked in the Top-200 in the KenPom rankings. UNI beating #162 South Dakota State is currently the league’s best win.
The lone victory last night came from Northern Iowa, who beat Furman at home, 70-54. UNI is off to their first 3-0 start in six seasons. Northern Iowa and Belmont are the lone unbeatens remaining in the Missouri Valley.
Last week, Drake had their 49-game non-conference home winning streak snapped with a loss to Robert Morris. Last night, SIUE came into the Knapp Center, and, after leading for more than 29 minutes, beat the Bulldogs with a bucket in the final two seconds, 61-59.
Illinois State had a chance for The Valley’s best win when they traveled to Los Angeles to play #23 USC, but were never in the game, as they lost 87-67. USC took the lead with 15:55 remaining in the first half and never trailed again.
Indiana State went to Duke, and got roughed up by the Blue Devils, 100-62.
Multiple Valley teams have missed out on a chance to grab a Top-100 win this week. Bradley will get another opportunity tomorrow when they travel to northern California to face San Francisco, who is #84 in the latest KenPom rankings.
After last night’s games, here are this morning’s updated KenPom rankings for the Missouri Valley Conference:
#102 Northern Iowa — Down 1 spot after 70-54 home win over #162 Furman (Next: Hosts #304 Northern Illinois Tuesday)
#108 Belmont — No change (Next: At #292 Oral Roberts tonight)
#120 Southern Illinois — No change (Next: At #189 North Dakota State Monday)
#123 Murray State — Up 2 spots (Next: Hosts #264 Nicholls tonight)
#125 Bradley — Up 2 spots (Next: At #84 San Francisco tonight)
#126 Illinois State — No change after 87-67 neutral-site loss to #23 USC (Next: At #257 Long Beach State Sunday)
#130 UIC — No chance (Next: At #362 Chicago State tonight)
#148 Drake — Down 9 spots after 61-59 home loss to #200 SIUE (Next: At #155 Charleston Monday)
#197 Indiana State — Down 9 spots after 100-62 road loss at #2 Duke (Next: Hosts #187 Louisiana Tech Wednesday)
#273 Evansville — Up 4 spots (Next: Hosts #194 UT Arlington Tuesday)
#287 Valparaiso — Down 1 spot (Next: Hosts #305 Bryant on Sunday)
In the conference rankings, KenPom has the Missouri Valley Conference still listed as the 10th-best league in the country. The Bart Torvik computer metrics are also used by the NCAA Tournament committee, and Torvik has The Valley ranked 11th this morning. Last season, only seven conferences received multiple bids to the NCAA Tournament. Here are the updated KenPom conference rankings:
SEC +19.80
Big Ten +18.60
Big 12 +17.48
ACC +15.42
Big East +13.61
Mountain West +6.92
Atlantic 10 +5.40
West Coast Conference +3.62
The American +3.23
Missouri Valley +0.81 (Down -0.11)
Conference USA -1.07
Mid-American Conference -3.21