Tournament Central (Click Here)

Close Race
For the first time in league history, two teams sitting at 14-1 in league play met on March 3 with Drake claiming a 70-61 win over Missouri State.  Only on one other occasion had  two teams been 13-1 or better at this point in the MVC league season.  In 1984-85 both Illinois State and Drake were 13-1 when they met on Feb. 27 in Des Moines. The Redbirds pulled out a 79-74 win on the way to the regular season title.   

Drake Wins Third-Straight
Drake won their third consecutive MVC regular season title with victories over Bradley and Illinois State this past weekend. The three-peat is the first since Wichita State won three-straight (2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15). Drake became the first team since Missouri State to win three-straight outright titles when the Lady Bears won six-straight outright crowns from 1990-91 through 1995-96. 

Neutral Colors
For the 12th-straight season, the Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament will be played at a neutral site after using institutional home arenas as hosts for the first 22 league tournaments. Just seven conferences (out of 32 nationally) hold their women’s basketball tournament at a neutral site, separate from the men’s championship (AAC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, MVC, Pac-12 and SEC are the others).

Valley Postseason History
One of the premier women’s basketball leagues in the country, the MVC has seen an average of four league teams participate in postseason play in the last 20 seasons. The Valley has earned multiple NCAA Tournament bids in 11 different seasons, including a pair of bids to the 2017 NCAA Tournament (Drake and UNI).  The league has also had two Final Four teams (Missouri State, in both 1992 and 2001), a WNIT champion (Missouri State, 2005) and three WNIT semifinal appearances (Illinois State, in 2011, 2010 and 2009).

Best Spot
The top seed has won the conference tournament in 19 of 33 seasons and a team that has won or shared the regular-season title has gone on to win the tournament title 22 times.  Top seeds have five runner-up finishes.

Teams seeded No. 2 have won the tournament five times and finished as the runner-up 12 times.

Missouri State was the first No. 3 seed to win the tournament title in 2016. The No. 3 seed has been a runner-up nine times. 

Teams seeded No. 4 have won three times, while the No. 8 seed has won twice. Seeds No. 5 (UNI, 2010), No. 7 (Missouri State, 2006) and No. 9 (Evansville, 2009) have won the tournament just once.

Worst Spot 
Seeds No. 6 and No. 10 have yet to win an MVC Tournament. Teams seeded sixth have just one runner-up finish. The No. 10 seed has won just three MVC Tournament games in league history (No. 10 Wichita State defeated No. 7 Missouri State in 2009, 52-51; No. 10 Southern Illinois defeated No. 7 Evansville in 2013, 83-74 in overtime; No. 10 Evansville defeated No. 7 Illinois State in 2016, 61-59 ot).  

Chalk It Up
Since the league moved to a neutral-site tournament in St. Charles in 2007-08, just four times have the top-four seeds in the bracket advanced to semifinal Saturday of the championship – in 2013, the bracket produced chalk with top-four seeds Wichita State, Creighton, Illinois State and UNI – in 2008 (Illinois State, Evansville, Drake and Creighton) - 2016 (UNI, Drake, Missouri State and Southern Illinois) and 2018 (Drake, Missouri State, UNI and Southern Illinois).

Three of the top-four seeds advanced to Saturday in 2009 and 2015, while only two of the top-four seeds advanced in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2017.

When They’re All Here
Here’s a look at how teams have fared, by seed, since the tournament expanded to include all 10 teams in 2006:

Seed    W    L    Best Result
No. 1    25    7    08, 11, 13, 15 , 17 & 18 Champion
No. 2    14    12    2014 Champion
No. 3    16    12    2016 Champion
No. 4    11    12    2012 Champion
No. 5    7    12    2010 Champion
No. 6    5    13    2007 Final
No. 7    17    12    2006 Champion
No. 8    9    13    2007 Champion
No. 9    10    12    2009 Champion
No. 10    3    13    2009 & 2013 Quarterfinal

Unlikely Repeat
Just seven times in conference history has there been a repeat winner of the MVC Tournament.  Missouri State won four-straight titles from 1991 through 1994, while Wichita State won three consecutive  titles from 2013-15. Drake won back-to-back championships in 1997 and 1998 and 2017 and 2018, Missouri State repeated in 2003 and 2004 and UNI accomplished the feat in 2010 and 2011. 

Most Wins, Non-Champ?
Eight teams have finished the conference season with a 15-3 mark but did not win the regular-season title. Missouri State became the third team to win 16 games but not win the regular season title, the previous coming in 1985-86. Four of the previous 10 teams earned an at-large selection to the NCAA Tournament (Drake in 1986, SIU in 1992, Drake in 2002 and UNI in 2017).

Most MVC Wins by Non-MVC Champ
16-2 Drake (2nd), Illinois State (1st, 17-1) 84-85
16-2 Drake (2nd)*, Southern Illinois (1st, 18-0) 85-86
16-2 Missouri State (2nd), Drake (1st, 17-1) 18-19
15-3 Southern Illinois (2nd), ILS (1st, 16-2) 88-89
15-3 Southern Illinois (2nd)*, MSU (1st, 17-1) 91-92
15-3 Southern Illinois (2nd), MSU (1st, 16-2) 95-96
15-3 Drake (2nd)*, Creighton (1st, 16-2) 01-02
15-3 Creighton (2nd), MSU (1st, 16-2) 03-04
15-3 Drake (2nd), WSU (1st, 17-1) 14-15
15-3 UNI (2nd)*, Drake (1st, 18-0) 16-17
15-3 Missouri State (2nd), Drake (1st, 18-0) 17-18
*NCAA Tournament At-Large Selection

Top Five Finishes 
UNI is the only Valley team to have finished in the top-five of the league standings for the past 10 seasons. The Panthers won the MVC in 2010-11 (17-1) and 2015-16 (15-3), finished in second place once (2016-17, 15-3), finished in third place three times (2013-14, 13-5; 2017-18, 13-5; 2018-19, 12-6), had two fourth-place finishes (2014-15, 12-6; 2012-13, 10-8) and two fifth-place finishes (2011-12, 9-9; 2009-10, 10-8).

Top-Five MVC Finishes, Last 10 Seasons
UNI - 10 (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
MSU - 8 (2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
Drake - 7 (2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
Illinois State - 5 (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2019)
Southern Illinois - 4 (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)
Indiana State - 3 (2013, 2014, 2018)
Bradley - 2 (2010, 2019)
Loyola – 1 (2016)
Evansville - 1 (2014)

Top of the Heap
Missouri State has won the most MVC Tournament titles (10) of any Valley school, claiming their last title in 2016. Drake has claimed seven tournament titles and Illinois State has four tournament championships, including the league’s first tournament in 1983. 

Evansville, UNI and Southern Illinois each have two MVC Tournament titles in program history. 

Bradley, Indiana State, Loyola and Valparaiso are the only four Valley schools not to have earned a tournament championship.

The last time a Valley school won three-straight tournament titles was Wichita State in 2013, 2014, 2015.

There’s Always a Chance
The lowest-seeded team to ever win the MVC Tournament was the No. 9 Evansville Purple Aces squad in 2009. Previously, there were a pair of No. 8 seeds – Illinois State in 2005 and Drake in 2007 – to claim MVC Tournament titles. Just one No. 7 seed (Missouri State in 2006) has ever won the MVC Tournament title.

Separation Factor
Since the start of the 1992-93 season when the Gateway Conference merged with the Missouri Valley Conference, the regular-season title has been decided by just one game on 12 occasions. In 2011, when UNI won the league with a 17-1 record, the Panthers became the first MVC team to win the regular-season title by five games, as their closest opponents (Illinois State, Missouri State and Creighton) all featured league records of 12-6.  

Six times the league title has been won by a three-game margin, three times by two games, 12 times by one game and five times by identical winning records. This season, Drake (17-1) secured the regular-season league title by one game over second-place Missouri State (16-2).

This year is just the third time in league history that the top two teams finished with two or fewer losses (18 game schedule).  The previous occurrences were during the 1984-85 season when Illinois State won the league with a 17-1 record (Drake finished second 16-2) and the 1985-86 season when Southern Illinois went 18-0 and Drake finished 16-2.

In Good Company
Drake is one of five teams nationally ranking in the Top 10 in assists per game, field-goal percentage and scoring offense this season. The Bulldogs are joined by Baylor, UConn, Notre Dame and Oregon in the club.   

Team               FG% (Rank)    PPG (Rank)    APG (Rank)
Baylor               50.1% (4)      80.9 (10)          22.8 (1)
Drake               48.1% (9)       81.1 (9)            21.5 (3)
UConn               49.6 (5)        83.1 (5)            19.9 (5)
Notre Dame      51.8% (2)     89.0 (1)             20.6 (4)
Oregon              50.7% (3)     86.1 (3)            19.2 (6)

Updated RPI Ratings
The latest installment of the NCAA RPI Report (Mar. 11) has six Valley teams that rank in the top-155, led by Drake at No. 16, followed by Missouri State (68), UNI (89), Illinois State (142), Southern Illinois (150) and Bradley (151). The MVC ranks 13th among 32 conferences. The league ranking is the highest for the league since the 2013 season (finished 10th).

The last time the MVC had a team ranked this high in the RPI this late in the season was during the 2001-02 season when Drake earned an at-large berth with an RPI of 21.

In 2000-01, Missouri State had an RPI of 15 on its way to a Final Four berth. 

Poll Position
Drake remained in the Associated Press’ women’s Top 25 poll this week, moving up to No. 21 in the poll. This is the sixth time this season Drake has been ranked in the AP weekly poll. The Bulldogs have been ranked in the AP poll 22 times in program history, which ranks second in MVC history behind Missouri State’s 52 appearances in the poll.

The last time a Valley team was ranked in the AP Poll at least six times in a season was Missouri State during the 2000-01 Final Four season (18 times).

Year            Team               Times Ranked       
2018-19    Drake                    6
2000-01    Missouri State    18 (Final Four)
1997-98    Missouri State    10
1993-94    Missouri State    6
1991-92    Missouri State    13 (Final Four)
1986-87    Southern Illinois    12                 

WBB Player/Newcomer of the Week
This week's Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball Player/Newcomer of the Week are Drake's Becca Hittner and Missouri State's Jasmine Franklin, respectively.

MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Becca Hittner, Jr., G, Drake
Becca Hittner helped Drake secure its third-straight outright MVC regular season title with a pair of home victories. In wins over Bradley and Illinois State, Hittner averaged 22.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.0 steal while shooting 58.3 percent (14-of-24) from the floor and 93.8 percent (15-of-16) from the free throw line in just 22.0 average minutes. In the first victory over the Redbirds, she poured in a game-high 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field and 5-of-5 from the free throw line to go with a game-high five assists and three rebounds and one steal in 22 minutes. In the next win over the Braves, Hittner scored 21 points on 5-of-10 shooting and an impressive 10-of-11 from the line to go with four rebounds, one assist and one steal in 22 minutes. Hittner, who leads the MVC in scoring at 19.9 points per game, is tied with teammate and the No. 2 scorer in the MVC, Sara Rhine (18.7 ppg), for most 20-plus games with 14 this season.      

Other Notable Performances: Gabi Haack (BRAD); Kerri Gasper (UE); Simone Goods (ILS); Tamara Lee (INS); Abby O’Connor (LUC); Jasmine Franklin (MSU); Taylor Hagen (UNI); Nicole Martin (SIU); Addison Stoller (VALPO)

MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK:
Jasmine Franklin, Fr., F, Missouri State
Jasmine Franklin averaged a double-double in two road wins, shooting 67 percent from the floor with 10 points, 10 boards and two blocks per game to her credit, all in just 19 minutes per contest. Franklin shot 7-for-11 with 14 points, nine rebounds and three blocks at Evansville, and tallied six points on 3-of-4 shooting at Indiana State, adding 11 boards to reach double figures for the eighth time this season. Franklin’s .582 field goal percentage and 40 blocks both rank second in the MVC, she is the only freshman nationally with at least 38 blocks and 38 steals and is one steal away from the first 40-block, 40-steal season in MSU history.   

Other Notable Performances: Tatum Koenig (BRAD); Monica Burich (DU); TeTe Maggett (ILS); Tamara Lee (INS); Caitlin Link (SIU); Shay Frederick (VALPO)