11/7 KenPom rankings update
MBB: Murray State is now ranked 6th among Missouri Valley teams
After Thursday’s night’s action, we had two Missouri Valley teams make big moves in the KenPom rankings — albeit in opposite directions.
Northern Iowa jumped 13 spots to #103 after beating CSU Northridge, 86-57, in Cedar Falls, proving once again that margin of victory is an important component to the computer metrics.
On the flip side, Drake showed how punitive losing at home can be. The Bulldogs fell in overtime, 81-79, to Robert Morris and tumbled 13 spots down to #137.
Indiana State’s 104-73 win over non-D1 Illinois Tech has no bearing on their ranking, while Illinois State’s 72-68 loss on the road at Ohio, which was essentially a coin-flip game going in, did little damage to the Redbirds’ resume.
As a reminder, even if a team doesn’t play, they may move up or down in the rankings. That is most often to do with how opponents on their schedule may have fared the night before.
After last night’s games, here are this morning’s updated KenPom rankings for the Missouri Valley Conference:
#103 Northern Iowa — Up 13 spots after beating CSU Northridge at home, 86-57 (Next: Hosts #165 South Dakota State Sunday)
#106 Belmont — Down 1 spot (Next: Hosts #242 Tennessee State Saturday)
#115 Bradley — No change (Next: Hosts #268 Central Michigan Saturday)
#123 Illinois State — Down 1 spot after losing at Ohio, 72-68 (Next: Hosts #180 Cornell Sunday)
#124 UIC — Up 2 spots (Next: At #143 Oregon State tonight)
#126 Murray State — Up 2 spots (Next: Hosts #365 Mississippi Valley State tonight)
#130 Southern Illinois — Up 1 spot (Next: Hosts #313 Kansas City tonight)
#137 Drake — Drops 13 spots after losing at home to Robert Morris, 81-79 in overtime (Next: Hosts Non-D1 Simpson Monday)
#216 Indiana State — Up 4 spots after beating Non-D1 Illinois Tech, 104-73 (Next: At #232 SIUE Monday)
#253 Evansville — Drops 6 spots (Next: Hosts Non-D1 Calumet today)
#290 Valparaiso — Up 3 spots (Next: At #3 Kentucky tonight)
In the conference rankings, KenPom has the Missouri Valley Conference listed as the 10th-best league in the country. Last season, only seven conferences received multiple bids to the NCAA Tournament:
SEC +20.22
Big Ten +18.62
Big 12 +17.25
Big East +14.55
ACC +14.44
Mountain West +7.24
Atlantic 10 +5.75
The American +3.77
WCC +2.34
Missouri Valley +0.83 (Down -0.02)
Conference USA -1.21
Ivy League -3.24