Illinois State was the only Missouri Valley team in action on Thanksgiving Day, and they took advantage of their holiday opportunity, beating Charlotte, 79-69 in Kissimmee, Florida. With the win, Illinois State jumped up eight spots in the KenPom computer rankings to #112 nationally.
The Redbirds will be one of three Valley teams in action on Friday. Illinois State will challenge #157 Furman in the game of the Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational, while Indiana State will host #333 Alcorn State. The main event of the day will be in Destin, Florida where Drake will try to grab the conference’s best non-conference win this year as they take on #37 LSU and former Murray State Head Coach Matt McMahon. That game will be on at 8:30pm tonight on the CBS Sports Network.
After last night’s games, here are this morning’s updated KenPom rankings for the Missouri Valley Conference:
#90 Belmont — No change (Next: At #163 Charleston Sunday)
#92 Northern Iowa — Up 2 spots (Next: Hosts non-D1 Coe Monday)
#112 Illinois State — Up 8 spots after 79-69 neutral-site win vs #192 Charlotte (Next: Neutral-site game vs. #157 Furman today)
#118 Murray State — Up 2 spot (Next: Home game vs. #302 Morehead State Tuesday)
#122 Bradley — No change (Next: Hosts #161 Washington State Tuesday)
#135 Southern Illinois — Down 2 spots (Next: Hosts #259 Little Rock Saturday)
#141 Drake — No change (Next: Neutral-site game vs. #37 LSU tonight)
#166 UIC — Down 1 spot (Next: Hosts #363 Arkansas Pine Bluff Wednesday)
#168 Indiana State — Down 2 spots (Next: Hosts #333 Alcorn State today)
#251 Valparaiso — Down 1 spot (Next: Hosts #236 Western Michigan Saturday)
#304 Evansville — Up 1 spot (Next: Hosts #289 Ball State Wednesday)
In the conference rankings, KenPom has the Missouri Valley Conference still listed as the 10th-best league in the country. Last season, only seven conferences received multiple bids to the NCAA Tournament. Here are the updated KenPom conference rankings:
SEC +19.08
Big Ten +18.22
Big 12 +17.27
ACC +15.01
Big East +14.21
Mountain West +6.46
Atlantic 10 +5.60
West Coast Conference +3.69
The American +3.08
Missouri Valley +1.71 (Up 0.03)
Conference USA -1.81
Mid-American Conference -2.80
Hey with the really cold weather coming Monday an Tuesday is the game Tuesday night going to be played?