Who wants to see some brackets?

WBB: Here's a preliminary look at next week's matchups for the MVC Tournament

Murray State will likely be the #1 seed in next week’s Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. (Photo: David Eaton/Murray State Athletics)

The Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament starts on Thursday in Evansville at the Ford Center. With the regular season now complete, here’s a look at how the brackets could end up looking when they’re released tomorrow.

“Could” is doing a lot of work in the previous sentence. There are several ties in the standings that need to be broken by the latest NCAA NET rankings that will be released tomorrow morning. Murray State entered today ranked #59 in the NET, while Missouri State was #65. Today, the Racers beat Indiana State 109-70, and Missouri State beat Bradley 64-54. It appears those results should keep Murray State as the #1 seed, but we won’t know for sure until tomorrow.

With all that said, here’s a preliminary look at the anticipated seeds and brackets for next week’s tournament:

1. Murray State (16-4) — thanks to NET advantage over Missouri State

2. Missouri State (16-4)

3. Belmont (15-5) — thanks to NET advantage over Drake

4. Drake (15-5)

5. Illinois State (14-6)

6. Northern Iowa (11-9)

7. UIC (10-10)

8. Valparaiso (9-11)

9. Bradley (7-13)

10. Evansville (3-17)

11. Indiana State (2-18) — thanks to NET advantage over SIU

12. Southern Illinois (2-18)

The three head-to-head NET matchups that need to be decided look like this:

• #59 Murray State vs. #65 Missouri State

• #60 Belmont vs. #76 Drake

• #282 Indiana State vs. #338 Southern Illinois

Murray State and Missouri State, as mentioned above, is the only NET battle that appears to hold any intrigue. Belmont and Drake both won today, so there’s little chance Drake can make up 16 spots overnight. The gap between Indiana State and Southern Illinois is too large for SIU to jump to the #11-seed.

So here are the anticipated Missouri Valley Conference Tournament brackets, but only write these down in pencil. The official brackets will be released on Sunday morning.

Top half of the bracket:

#8 Valparaiso vs. #9 Bradley (12:00pm Thursday)

• The 8/9 winner plays #1 Murray State (12:00pm Friday)

#5 Illinois State vs. #12 Southern Illinois (2:30pm Thursday)

• The 5/12 winner plays #4 Drake (2:30pm Friday)

Bottom half of the bracket:

#7 UIC vs. #10 Evansville (6:00pm Thursday)

• The 7/10 winner vs. #2 Missouri State (6:00pm Friday)

#6 Northern Iowa vs. #11 Indiana State (8:30pm Thursday)

• The 6/11 winner plays #3 Belmont (8:30pm Friday)