2021 State Farm MVC Tournament Bracket (Downloadable PDF)
ST. LOUIS -- Nationally ranked Loyola (21-4, 16-2 MVC) is the State Farm MVC Tournament top seed after earning the league’s regular-season men’s basketball title for the third time in the past four seasons. Tonight’s overtime victory over visiting Southern Illinois was the 21st-ranked Ramblers’ 16th league win, setting a school record for Conference victories in a season, surpassing the previous mark of 15 set by the 2017-18 squad that would ultimately reach the NCAA Final Four.
The 16-win league season represents the most victories for an MVC champion since 2016-17 when Illinois State and Wichita State shared the Conference title with 17-1 marks. In addition to this year, Loyola earned MVC regular-season titles in 2018 and 2019, sharing the latter with Drake. The Bulldogs (24-3, 15-3 MVC) also achieved a top-25 ranking this season and earned the No. 2 seed. A Bradley win against Drake tonight prevented a co-championship for the Bulldogs, who have won 20 or more games for the third-straight season.
This marks the third time Loyola has been the top seed at Arch Madness. In 2018, Loyola earned the tournament crown with wins against UNI, Bradley and Illinois State. In 2019, Loyola beat Valparaiso in its first game before falling to eventual champ Bradley in the semis.
There was a three-way tie in the standings. Evansville, UNI and Valparaiso tied for fifth place with 7-11 league records. Evansville swept both UNI and Valparaiso to earn the No. 5 seed and a matchup with Indiana State on Friday. UNI and Valparaiso split their series, and Valparaiso earned the No. 6 seed by virtue of its win against second-place Drake (UNI was swept by Drake). [TIEBREAKER LANGUAGE: If the teams are still tied after head to head, a comparison of records between the tying institutions versus the top team in the standings shall be used to break the tie, with the team having the better record against that team receiving the higher seed. This process will continue from the top to the bottom of the standings, if necessary.]
The tournament will feature one first-round matchup of teams that played in the regular-season finale as No. 7 seed UNI will battle No. 10 seed Illinois State on Thursday. It marks the 17th time in tournament history in St. Louis that two teams played the last game of the season against one another and met in their first games at Arch Madness. UNI swept Illinois State this past weekend.
This year’s tournament is the 45th MVC post-season tourney and 31st-straight in St. Louis. Only the Big East Conference, which is celebrating 42-straight years in New York, has had a longer continuous run at the same neutral site for its conference men’s basketball championship.
The 30th anniversary season in 2020 marked one of the maddest Marches in league history as for the first time the top three seeds lost in the quarterfinals. Valparaiso, seeded 7th, became the first opening-round team to advance to the title game. Drake, meanwhile, became the first 8th-seeded team to knock off a top seed. Since the league expanded to its current 10-team format in 1997, the only other team to play in the Opening Round to get as far as the semifinals (won twice), was Bradley in 1998. The Braves were the No. 7 seed that year (with a 9-9 league record), and they beat No. 10 Drake and upset No. 2 Creighton, before falling in the semifinals to Missouri State.
The top seed has won the title nine times in St. Louis in 30 years, just six times in the past 13 tries and only once since 2014 (Drake-2008, UNI-2009, UNI-2010, Creighton-2013, Wichita State-2014, and Loyola-2018). Notably, only five times has a seed worse than No. 3 won the tournament (No. 4 Creighton in 2000, No. 4 UNI in 2016, No. 5 Indiana State in 2001, No. 5 Bradley in 2019; and No. 4 Bradley last year).
The tourney’s top two seeds are a combined 57-3 in their first games in the 30 years in St. Louis. Of current members, Southern Illinois and UNI own the most tournament titles, with five each. Other current members who have won an MVC Tournament title include Bradley (4), Drake (1), Illinois State (4), Indiana State (3), Loyola Chicago (1) and Missouri State (1).
Thirty-nine of 44 previous tournament champions were seeded 1, 2, or 3. The top two seeds have had the most success, winning a combined 32 times, and the top two seeds have won 19 titles in St. Louis (in 30 total tries). The last 15 MVC tournament champions have consisted of six top seeds, five No. 2 seeds, a No. 3 seed, two No. 4 seeds (including Bradley last year) and a No. 5 (Bradley in 2019).
The tournament features nine games in four days, beginning Thursday, March 4, and ending Sunday, March 7. All games of the tournament will be televised in HD nationally. The first six games will air on the MVC TV Network, the semifinals will air on CBS Sports Network, and the championship game will air on CBS Sports. The CBS telecast of the 2021 MVC Championship game will mark the 16th-straight year the tournament finals have aired on national over-the-air television on CBS.
All tournament games will air in the St. Louis metro area on KTRS Radio 550 AM. In the event a scheduling conflict occurs, the affected game would stream on KTRS.com and the KTRS App.