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MSU Wins 13th Title
Missouri State claimed its first Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship since 2012. The Lady Bears clinched their 13th regular season title and the No. 1 seed in next week’s MVC Tournament. With Drake’s loss to UNI on Friday, MSU locked up the outright title. It marks the 11th time the Lady Bears will be the top seed in the MVC tourney.  

Neutral Colors
For the 13th-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 21 seasons. The Valley has earned multiple NCAA Tournament bids in 12 different seasons, including two out of the last three seasons.  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 six runner-up finishes (including Drake last season).

Teams seeded No. 2 have won the tournament six times (including Missouri State in 2019) 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, 2015 and 2019, 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    27    8    08, 11, 13, 15 , 17 & 18 Champion
No. 2    17    12    2014 and 2019 Champion
No. 3    17    13    2016 Champion
No. 4    11    13    2012 Champion
No. 5    8    13    2010 Champion
No. 6    5    14    2007 Final
No. 7    18    13    2006 Champion
No. 8    9    14    2007 Champion
No. 9    11    13    2009 Champion
No. 10    3    14    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. 

Top Five Finishes 
UNI is the only Valley team to have finished in the top-five of the league standings for the past 11 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 three fifth-place finishes (2011-12, 9-9; 2009-10, 10-8, 2019-20, 10-8).

Top-Five MVC Finishes, Last 11 Seasons
UNI - 11 (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
MSU - 9 (2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
Drake - 8 (2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
Illinois State - 6 (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2019, 2020)
Southern Illinois - 4 (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)
Indiana State - 3 (2013, 2014, 2018)
Bradley - 3 (2010, 2019, 2020)
Loyola – 1 (2016)
Evansville - 1 (2014)

Top of the Heap
Missouri State has won the most MVC Tournament titles (11) of any Valley school, claiming last year’s title in 2019. 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.

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, four times by two games (including this season), 12 times by one game and five times by identical winning records. This season, Missouri State (16-2) secured the regular-season league title by two games over second-place Drake (14-4).

Valley Runnin’ Deep
The Valley currently has three teams in the Top 50, five in the Top 75 and eight in the Top 155 of the RPI entering next week’s MVC tourney. Only the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, C-USA, MVC, Pac-12 and SEC have five or more teams in the Top 75 of the RPI.

The MVC also has eight teams with 15 or more wins this season, including seven currently with 16 or more wins. The Valley has never had 8 teams reach 16 wins and can achieve that with a Loyola win over Indiana State Thursday.

The last time The Valley had 8 teams reach at least 15 wins on the season was the 2011-12 season when the MVC sent seven teams to the postseason (1 NCAA, 4 WNIT, 2 WBI). It also happened  in 2010-11 and 2009-10.  

In Good Company
Drake is one of three teams nationally ranking in the Top 10 in assists per game, field-goal percentage and scoring offense this season. The Bulldogs are joined by #2 Baylor and #3 Oregon in the club (AP Rank).     

Team      FG% (Rank)    PPG (Rank)    APG (Rank)
Baylor        50.1% (2)    81.9 (8)    22.1 (1)
Drake        48.1% (6)    82.6 (5)    21.2 (2)
Oregon    50.9 (1)    86.0 (1)    21.1 (3)
 
Academic All-Americans
For the second-straight year, Becca Hittner and Sara Rhine of the Drake University women’s basketball team have been selected to the 2019-20 Academic All-America teams selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), the organization announced Monday, March 9. 

Rhine was selected to the first team for the second-straight season while Hittner was tabbed to the second team after earning third-team honors last season. Rhine garnered third-team accolades in 2018. Rhine joins Jan Jensen (1990, 1991) as the only Bulldogs to be named to the academic all-American first team twice.

For the second-consecutive year, Drake is the only Division I program in the country with two student-athletes on the women’s basketball CoSIDA Academic All-America teams. 

Program Best
Bradley won 22 games for the first time in program history, surpassing teh 2008-09 squad’s 21-10 mark. The Braves also set the program record with their 13th Valley victory of the year.  The 2009-10 team was the last Bradley squad to win 12 league games. 

Home Sweet Home
Missouri State went 15-0 at JQH Arena and is riding an arena-record 15-game win streak (8th nationally). 

Collectively, the league won 58.9 percent of the time at home during league play this year (after winning 81.3 percent of its home games in non-league play). Notably, the top five teams in the league standings combined for a full-season 63-7 record at home. 

Best MVC Home Records (Since 2007-08)
    1.    2007-08    61-29 (.678)
    2.    2009-10    58-32 (.644)
    3.    2010-11    57-33 (.633)
    4.    2011-12    56-34 (.622)        
    5.    2012-13    53-37 (.589)
           2019-20    53-37 (.589)
  
Historic Conference RPI
The Valley ranks eighth nationally in the NCAA’s conference RPI report (Mar. 9).  The Valley sits behind the Pac-12, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, ACC, Big East and Ivy entering this week. 

The Valley record for RPI in a season is 8th (2011).

Conference RPI
1.    Pac-12
2.    Big Ten
3.    Big 12
4.    SEC
5.    ACC
6.    Big East
7.    Ivy League
8.     Missouri Valley

Impressive Resume
Missouri State enters the week as one of only 16 teams with 12 or more Top 100 RPI wins this season.   The Lady Bears are 12-3 (80%) vs. the RPI Top 100 and join UConn as the only non Power Five teams on the list (Baylor, Iowa, Louisville, Maryland, Mississippi State, Missouri State, NC State, Northwester, Ohio State, Oregon, South Carolina, Stanford, TCU, Texas A&M, UCLA, UConn).

Only Baylor, Louisville, Maryland, Missouri State, NC State, Oregon, South Carolina and UConn have a win percentage of .800+ vs. Top 100.

First Year Success
Missouri State first-year head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton now sits first place on The Valley coaching list for most wins in a first year.
Coach Mox’s 26 wins passes Creighton’s Jim Flanery and Illinois State’s Stephanie Glance for first place on The Valley list.  

Creighton’s Jim Flanery (2002-03) and Drake’s Lisa Stone (2000-01) each won a share of the regular season MVC title during their first year at the helm. 
 
Lisa Stone won the league’s Coach of the Year award in her first season (2001).

Chasing History
Currently, Drake is averaging 82.6 points per game, ranking 5th nationally.  The all-time Valley record for scoring was set in 1995 as Drake averaged 83.5 ppg.   The Bulldogs have led The Valley in scoring each of the past five seasons, becoming the first men’s or women’s team to lead the league five-straight seasons.   

Top 5 in Valley History (Scoring)
    1.    Drake (1995)    83.5
    2.    Missouri State (2001)    82.8
    3.    Bradley (1983)    82.7
    4.    Drake (2018)    82.4
    5.    Drake (2017)    82.2

Rise of The Valley
The 2019-20 season has marked one of the highest RPI rankings the Missouri Valley Conference has recorded in its history showcasing how The Valley is becoming one of the best mid-major leagues in the country. The league posted a top-15 RPI  for the first time since 2012-13 during the 2018-19 season and has increased to 8th this year.

Year        MVC RPI        Top 100 RPI Teams
2019-20               8                         5
2018-19              14                         3
2017-18              24                         2
2016-17              17                         2
2015-16              21                         2
2014-15             21                          1                
2013-14             19                         1

ESPN Bracketology
The latest ESPN.com women’s basketball bracketology from Charlie Creme (Mar. 8) has two MVC teams in the field of 64. Missouri State remains a No. 5 seed playing Rice in Corvallis, Ore., while Drake is a No. 8 seed playing Rutgers in Waco. Bradley sits as one of the “First Four Out”. The MVC is one of nine leagues receiving multiple bids.

WBB Player/Newcomer of the Week
This week's Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball Player/Newcomer of the Week are UNI's Kam Finley and Valparaiso's Grace White, respectively.

MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Kam Finley, So., G, UNI
Kam Finley scored a career-high 28 points to lead UNI to a 91-78 win over Drake Friday night at the McLeod Center. She scored the first seven points of the game and first ten UNI points to spark the Panthers to the win. The victory is the first over Drake since 2017 and it is the first time in UNI history that the Panther have beat Iowa, Iowa State and Drake all in the same season.      

Other Notable Performances: Lasha Petree (BRAD); Becca Hittner (DU), Lexi Wallen (ILS), Tiara Wallace (LUC); Jasmine Franklin (MSU); Abby Brockmeyer (SIU); Grace White (VALPO)

MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK:
Grace White, Jr., G, Valparaiso
White averaged a team-best 17 points/game on 56.3% shooting from the field, 66.7% from the 3-point line and 85.7% from the foul line, adding 4.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game as the Crusaders split their final weekend of regular season play. The junior led all players at nationally-ranked Missouri State with 18 points, going 3-of-5 from deep and grabbing five rebounds as well. White then led the way in Valpo’s win at SIU, totaling a team-high 16 points, four rebounds and a game-best four steals. Prior to the weekend, White had paced Valpo in scoring just once all season.   

Other Notable Performances: Abby Feit (UE); Juliunn Redmond (ILS); Marie Hunter (INS); Anna Brown (LUC)