Drake Outright Champs -- Drake secured the outright regular- season Missouri Valley Conference championship, its 10th regular-season title in its MVC history. The Bulldogs enter the tournament on an 11-game winning streak.
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Postseason League -- The Valley sent a total of six teams to the postseason in 2023 as Drake made the NCAA field and Belmont, Illinois State, Missouri State and UNI participated in the WNIT. UIC also participated in the postseason, playing in the WBI. The MVC has seen an average of four league teams participate in postseason play in the last 24 seasons. The six postseason teams equaled the second-highest by the league. The Valley also sent six teams in the postseason in 1999, 2010 and 2021. The league sent seven teams to the postseason in 2012.
Hoops in the Heartland -- The 2024 Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament returns to Vibrant Arena in Moline, Ill., for the ninth-straight year.
Current Consecutive Appearances at Same City
25 -- Mid-American (Cleveland, Ohio)
18 -- Mountain West (Las Vegas)
16 -- Summit (Sioux Falls, S.D.)
16 -- WCC (Las Vegas)
14 -- WAC (Las Vegas)
13 -- Southern (Asheville, N.C.)
12 -- MEAC (Norfolk, Va.)
9 -- MVC* (Moline, Ill.)
7 -- ACC* (Greensboro, N.C.)
7 -- Ohio Valley (Evansville, Ind.)
*stand-alone women’s tournament
Neutral Colors -- For the 17th-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.
Chalk It Up -- Since the league moved to a neutral-site format in St. Charles in 2007-08, six times the top-four seeds in the bracket advanced to semifinal Saturday of the championship, including each of the past two seasons.
All Top Four Seeds Reached Semifinals
2008 -- Creighton, Drake, Evansville, Illinois State
2013 -- Creighton, Illinois State, UNI, Wichita St.
2016 -- Drake, Missouri State, UNI, S. Illinois
2018 -- Drake, Missouri State, UNI, S. Illinois
2022 -- Illinois St., Missouri State, UNI, S. Illinois
2023 -- Belmont, Drake, Illinois State, UNI
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, 2017 and 2021).
Best Spot -- The top seed has won the conference tournament in 19 of 37 seasons in which the league conducted a tournament, and a team that has won or shared the regular-season title has gone on to win the tournament title 22 times. Top seeds are 19-6 in title game appearances. Teams seeded No. 2 have won the tournament six times and finished as the runner-up 14 times, including Belmont (last year’s runner-up). Missouri State was the only No. 3 seed to win the tournament title in 2016. The No. 3 seed has been a runner-up 10 times (including UNI in 2022). Last year, Drake became the fifth league team to win the tournament as a No. 4 seed.
MVC WBB Tournament Titles By Seed
1 - 19 (Last: Drake, 2018)
2 - 6 (Last: Missouri State, 2019)
3 - 1 (Last: Missouri State, 2016)
4 - 5 (Last - Drake, 2023)
5 - 2 (Last - Bradley, 2021)
6 - 0
7 - 1 (Last - Missouri State, 2006)
8 - 2 (Last - Drake, 2007)
9 - 1 (Last - Evansville, 2009)
10 - 0
11 - 0
12 - 0
Hardest Seed -- Seeds No. 6 and No. 10 have yet to win an MVC Tournament. Teams seeded sixth have reached the title game only one time. 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). Although only in its second iteration in 2024, no 11 or 12 seed has won a tournament game.
Difficult to Repeat -- Only six times has a team won back-to-back MVC Women’s Tournament titles. The last league team to do it was Drake, winning in both 2017 and 2018 before falling in the 2019 championship game in its bid for a three-peat.
MVC Programs with Repeat WBB Tourney Titles
4 -- Missouri State (1991-94); lost in 1995 title game
3 -- Wichita State (2013-15); lost in 2016 opening round
2 -- Drake (1997-98); lost in 1999 quarters
2 -- Missouri State (2003-04); lost in 2005 quarters
2 -- UNI (2010-11); lost in 2012 quarters
2 -- Drake (2017-18); lost in 2019 title game
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:
MVC WBB Tournament Titles By Seed
-- Neutral-Site Games Only --
Seed (W-L) -- Best Result
No. 1 (30-10) -- 08, 11, 13, 15 , 17 & 18 Champion
No. 2 (21-15) -- 2014 and 2019 Champion
No. 3 (20-16) -- 2016 Champion
No. 4 (17-14) -- 2012, 2022, 2023 Champion
No. 5 (12-15) -- 2010 and 2021 Champion
No. 6 (7-17) -- 2007 Final
No. 7 (21-16) -- 2006 Champion
No. 8 (12-17) -- 2007 Champion
No. 9 (11-16) -- 2009 Champion
No. 10 (3-17) -- 2009 & 2013 Quarterfinal
No. 11 (0-1) -- 2023 Opening Round
No. 12 (0-1) -- 2023 Opening Round
Title Town -- The league has had 10 different regular-season champions in the past 17 seasons (SIU-2007, DU/UE/ILS-2008, ILS-2009, ILS-2010, UNI-2011; MSU-2012; WSU/CU-2013; INS/WSU-2014; WSU-2015; UNI-2016; DU-2017; DU-2018; DU-2019; MSU-2020; MSU-2021; SIU-2022; ILS/BEL-2023; DU-2024).
Top of the Heap -- Missouri State has won the most MVC Tournament titles (11) of any Valley school, claiming their last title in 2019. Drake has claimed eight tournament titles, including most recently in 2023, and Illinois State has five tournament championships, including the league’s first tournament in 1983.
Lowest Seeds to Win -- 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 tourney titles.