After picking up a pair of last-second victories in Dallas, Texas to open the NCAA Tournament, 11
th-seeded Loyola will make its first appearance in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen since 1985 on Thursday, March 22 when it takes on Nevada, the South Region's No. 7 seed, at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Ga.
MVC Notebook (PDF)
South Region (March 22-24) • Philips Arena • Atlanta, Ga.
M22 -- #11 Loyola vs. #7 Nevada • 6:07 p.m. CT - CBS Sports
M22 -- #9 Kansas State vs. #5 Kentucky • 8:37 p.m. CT - CBS Sports
MVC All-Time Record in NCAA: 51-48 • Loyola in NCAA: 11-4 (2-0 as MVC member)
MVC Rated No. 8
The Conference ranks No. 8 in the RPI -- its best ranking in five seasons. Notably, the MVC joins the Big East, the Big 12 and the SEC as the only leagues this year with all teams 185 or better. The league has 7 Top 150 teams (the MVC had only three Top 150 teams last year.)
“Power” Aid
Since 1994, an MVC member has beaten the following teams from “power” conferences in the NCAA Tournament: Alabama, Arizona, Cincinnati, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas (three times), Louisville, Miami (Fla.), Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh (twice), Seton Hall, Tennessee (four times), Texas, Texas Tech, UCLA, Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt, and Wisconsin. MVC teams are a combined 37-44 in the NCAA Tournament since 1994 (with 11 Sweet 16 trips and one Final Four). Notably, 28 of the 37 wins in that span have been vs. power conference schools.
When it Matters Most
Since the 2011 postseason, the MVC has the second-best cumulative record of any conference (behind the SEC) in the NCAA, NIT, CIT and CBI, combined. That 54-31 overall mark includes a 16-11 record in the NCAA Tournament.
Winning in the NCAA
Including this year, the MVC has had a minimum of one NCAA Tournament victory in each of the past seven years for a cumulative 16-10 (.615) record; the winning percentage is behind only the SEC (.659), ACC (.652) and Big Ten (.622).
First-Round NCAA Streak
Loyola’s first-round win against Miami (Fla.) gave the Missouri Valley a perfect 9-0 record in first-round games since Wichita State, then an MVC school, lost a first-round game against VCU in 2012.
How Seed It is
The NCAA used a seeding process for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 1979. Since then, the league has had teams seeded No. 9 or worse 44 times, including this season. Those 44 teams have combined for 26 tournament victories, seven Sweet 16 appearances and one Final Four. Since 1994, the MVC has posted 14 NCAA Tournament first-round wins as a lower-seeded team.
Only Five Have Done It
Just five MVC coaches have won or shared the league’s regular-season title after having won an MVC title as a player, including Loyola's Porter Moser.
Sweeping the Honors
Loyola won the league’s top honors for Coach of the Year (Porter Moser), Larry Bird Player of the Year (Clayton Custer), Defensive Player of the Year (Ben Richardson) and Freshman of the Year (Cameron Krutwig). Since the league began recognizing a Defensive Player of the Year in 1989, only one other league team has earned a combo of Coach-Player-Defensive-Freshman top honors (Tulsa in 1994). Loyola’s Clayton Custer also shared the league’s top scholar-athlete honor (with Drake’s Reed Timmer). Notably, Illinois State’s Milik Yarbrough earned MVC Newcomer of the Year.
No. 9 in KenPom Ratings
The MVC’s No. 9 conference rating in KenPom is its best since the 2012-13 season (also No. 9). The last time the league was better than ninth in KenPom’s rankings was in 2008, when the league hit its high-water mark of No. 7 (also achieved in 2005, 2006, and in 2007).
The Gap Band
Loyola (15-3) won the MVC regular-season race by four games this season over second-place Southern Illinois (11-7). In 2014, Wichita State (18-0) tied a league record with a six-game margin between it and the league’s second-place team (Indiana State, 12-6). Recently, Southern Illinois won the league by five games in 2003-04, and only two other schools since 1986 have won the league by a gap of four games (Illinois State in 1997-98 and Wichita State in 2015-16). Bradley shares the league record with a six-game cushion (achieving that in 1985-86). Every eligible MVC team since World War II to win the league by a four-game (or more gap) has played in the NCAA Tournament. Including Loyola this year, it’s happened 11 times since 1945. The 10 eligible teams have combined for a 17-8 NCAA tourney mark (Wichita State was on probation in 1983.)
Champions
It was a record-breaking regular season for Loyola, which established a new school standard with 15 conference wins, claimed its first outright conference title since 1984-85, and won its most overall games since that year (the Ramblers went 27-6 in 1985.)
Title Town
The MVC has had eight different regular-season champs in the past 12 seasons (Creighton-2009, 2013; Drake-2008, Illinois St.-2017; Loyola-2018; Missouri St.-2011; UNI-2009, 2010; Southern Illinois-2007; Wichita State-2012, 2014, 2015, 2017).
A Bakers’ Cousin
Only three times in the league’s 111-year history have all teams reached 13+ wins, including this year.
No Teams with 20 Losses
This season will mark the first time since 2006-07 that no MVC team lost 20 or more games. That’s only happened three times in the past 20 seasons (1999, 2006, 2007) -- all years in which the MVC had multiple bids in the NCAA Tournament. The 2006-07 season was also the last time no Valley team lost as many as 19 games, which will also be the case this season, too.
Power Play
The MVC is 28-35 against the Top 6 leagues since 1994 in the NCAA Tourney.
vs. ACC .. 2-8
vs. B1G .. 4-6
vs. Big 12 .. 7-6
vs. Big East .. 4-7
vs. Pac-12 .. 2-2
vs. SEC .. 8-6
Home Cooking
The MVC has a 116-35 record in home games (inclusive of non-league and league games), third best in the NCAA.
M*A*S*Hed
The league recorded non-conference success despite a rash of injuries and illnesses that hit the starting lineups. During the regular-season non-league slate, a total of 63 games were missed by starters (or projected starters). League-champion Loyola, notably, lost only one game this year (at Bradley, by two points) when both starting guards -- Ben Richardson and Clayton Custer -- were in the lineup. Richardson missed 10 games (broken hand), while Custer missed 5 games (sprained ankle). They were both out for losses at Milwaukee and at Missouri State. In addition to the 63 non-conference games missed by starters, a total of 33 league games were missed by established starters.
30-Win Seasons
Loyola has become just the 11th team in MVC history (111 years) to reach 30 wins. The league has had seven 30-win teams since 2010.
35 -- Wichita State (2014)
33 -- Indiana State (1979)
32 -- Bradley (1986) (1951) (1950)
31 -- UNI (2015), Wichita State (2017)
30 -- UNI (2010), Wichita State (2013), Wichita State (2015), Loyola (2018)
MVC vs. the Top 25
Loyola beat No. 5 Florida on Dec. 6, marking the ninth-straight season the MVC has had at least one non-conference top-25 victory. In four of the last six years, the league has had regular-season top-25 wins by multiple MVC schools. Loyola’s top-5 win marked the 31st top-5 non-league win in MVC history, but marked the first top-5 non-league win on the road since Dec. 6, 1967 (exactly 50 years), when then-MVC member Louisville beat No. 5 Kansas, 57-51. The MVC is 3-6 against top-25 schools, with all three wins by Loyola (at Florida, vs. Miami (Fla.) and vs. Tennessee).
Land of Lincoln
The MVC’s four Illinois schools all are in the Top 104 of the RPI (and are also the top four in Division I in the state.) Loyola leads the way with its No. 20 rating and 30-5 mark (as of March 19). The Ramblers are joined by Illinois State (86), Southern Illinois (97) and Bradley (104).
Loyola Since Jan. 3
The Ramblers, winners of 12-straight games, have lost just once since Jan. 3 (2-point loss at Bradley on Jan. 31).
Loyola National Ranks Since Jan. 3
Defense (PPG Allowed) [60.1] -- 3rd
FG Percentage [50.3] -- 4th
2-Point FG Percentage [57.6] -- 7th
Win Percentage [19-1 (.950)] -- 2nd
Steals:Turnover Ratio [0.69] -- 9th
Assist:Turnover Ratio [1.50] -- 13th
Assist:FG Made [61.4] -- 15th
Loyola Ranks No. 3
At .536, Loyola is No. 3 in the NCAA in FG percentage at home. At .506 overall, the Ramblers are No. 3 for all games. Loyola’s .506 mark is the best in the MVC since the advent of the 3-point line. The Ramblers have shot 52.1 percent in their 30 wins, but only 41.2 in the 5 losses.
Top 50 RPI = Post-Season
Since the 1991-92 season (the first year in which RPI was publicly shared), the MVC has had 51 teams with RPIs of 50 or better on Selection Sunday. All 51 teams earned a post-season berth, including 37 teams who were rewarded with an NCAA Tournament bid. The other 14 teams played in the NIT (12 of those 14 have occurred since 2005). The eight 'snubs' since 2000 lead the NCAA (Mountain West, at 4, is next).
MVC Top-40 RPI Teams, Not in NCAA Tourney
21* -- Missouri State (2006)
33 -- Illinois State (2008)
33 -- Illinois State (2017)
34 -- Missouri State (2000)
36 -- Missouri State (2007)
37 -- Bradley (2007)
39 -- Creighton (2006)
40 -- Creighton (2009)
*denotes NCAA record
TICKET INFO
Tickets for the NCAA South Regional will go on sale beginning at 9 a.m. on Monday, March 19. They can be purchased through LoyolaRamblers.com or by contacting the Loyola Ticket Office at 773-508-WOLF. Fans can purchase a maximum of four tickets. Tickets for the regional round are All-Session packages, which guarantee admission to both of Thursday's regional semifinals and Saturday's regional final. All-session lower level tickets are priced at $300 each with a $10 fee per order. Once lower level tickets have sold out, upper level tickets will be made available for $250 each. All sales are final and no refunds will be provided.