This week's Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball weekly awards include AJ Casey of Evansville, Boden Skunberg of Illinois State, and JT Pettigrew of Valparaiso.

Arch Madness Notes (PDF)

NEWS & NOTES FROM THE WEEK
Belmont's Casey Alexander Finalist for Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award: https://bit.ly/4cULHJ5
MVC Announces Weekly Player Awards:  https://bit.ly/4sFwZKX
Arch Madness Q&A With MVC Men's Basketball Head Coaches: https://bit.ly/402wnCP

AWARDS / ANNOUNCEMENTS
(MARCH 3) All-Bench / Most-Improved Teams:  https://bit.ly/408CdT7
(MARCH 4) All-Conference & Top Honors
(MARCH 5) Scholar-Athlete Team

To access the league’s most up-to-date player availability reports for men’s basketball, powered by HDI, visit here:  Click

• The State Farm MVC Tournament will be contested for the 50th time in 2026.  This year's tournament is March 5-8, 2026, in St. Louis, Mo., at Enterprise Center.
• Nation’s Second Oldest -- Founded in 1907, the Missouri Valley Conference is the nation’s second-oldest Division I athletic conference (behind only the Big Ten).  The MVC is celebrating its 119th season in 2025-26.
• Four Postseason Teams in 2025 — The Missouri Valley Conference had four teams in postseason play in men’s basketball as Drake (NCAA), Bradley (NIT), UNI (NIT), and Illinois State (CBI) represented the MVC.  MVC schools have combined for 12 wins in post-season play the past two seasons.  The six postseason wins in 2024-25 matches the ninth-best total in league history.
• 13-4 in NCAA First Round -- Including Drake in 2025, MVC teams are 13-4 in their first game in the NCAA tourney dating back to 2012. The league has combined for 21 wins in the NCAA Tournament in the past 12 NCAA championships and has had multiple bids 16 times since 1994.

MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE 2025-26 MEN’S BASKETBALL
2025-26 MVC Stats (PDF)   |    NCAA Statistics   |    MVC Standings
MVC Media Guide  |  MVC Composite Schedule  |  MVC NBA Draft Database
NET Rankings & NET Archive  |    Statistics Rankings Summary (Sort by Team or Conf)
 
NATIONAL COLLEGE BASKETBALL SITES / METRICS
ESPN College Basketball Home  |  CBS Sports College Basketball Home
EvanMiya CBB Home Page  |  Bart Torvik CBB Home Page  |  Bracketologists.Com Home Page
KenPom  |  Valley Hoops Insider  |  NCAA Division I MBB Home Page


Title Town -- Belmont earned its first outright MVC title in men’s basketball with its win on Feb. 21 against Indiana State.  Belmont has earned 13 regular season conference championship in the last 21 years – spanning three different conferences (ASUN, OVC, MVC). Belmont, Houston, and Louisville are believed to be the only three NCAA Division I programs to win men’s basketball conference championships in three different leagues over the last two decades.

Planting a Seed -- The league’s first tournament was in 1977.  The first tournament in St. Louis was in 1991.  Forty-three of 49 previous MVC tournament champions were seeded 1, 2, or 3.  The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds have had the most success with 36 titles.

Getting to 20 Wins -- In MVC men’s basketball history, there have been 211 programs to reach 20 wins in a season, including four teams this year. Belmont is just the fifth, however, to reach its 20th victory by Jan. 31.

20 Wins Entering Arch Madness -- Since 1994, three or more teams have reached 20+ wins in the same season 15 times prior to the conference tournament.  Only three times have four teams reached 20+ wins prior to the MVC Tournament (2023, 2025, and 2026).

3 Teams w/20+ Wins Entering Arch Madness
1994 -- Bradley#, Southern Illinois*, Tulsa*
2000 -- Creighton*, Indiana State*, Missouri State#
2004 -- Creighton#, Southern Illinois*, Wichita State#
2005 -- Creighton*, UNI*, Southern Illinois*
2006 -- Missouri State#, UNI*, Wichita State*
2007 -- Bradley#, Missouri State#, S. Illinois*
2008 -- Creighton#, Drake*, Illinois State#
2009 -- Creighton#, Illinois State#, UNI*
2010 -- Illinois State#, UNI*, Wichita State#
2020 -- Bradley, Loyola, UNI (COVID, no post-season)
2022 -- Drake, Loyola*, Missouri State#
2023 -- Belmont, Bradley*, Drake#, Indiana State, S. Illinois
2024 -- Bradley#, Drake*, Indiana State#
2025 -- Belmont, Bradley#, Drake*, UNI#
2026 -- Belmont, Bradley, Illinois State, Murray State
*denotes NCAA; #denotes NIT

Coaching at Arch -- Ben Jacobson of UNI has had more Arch Madness appearances as a head coach than any other.  His four tourney titles rank second only to Dana Altman of Creighton, who had a league-record six.  Only 11 coaches have won the tournament more than once (including Jacobson and Brain Wardle of Bradley.)

Winning Four Straight -- No team from the MVC has won four games in four days to claim the league tourney title.  Only one team seeded 7 or worse has reached the finals:  #7 Valparaiso (2020). In 2025, Valparaiso became the first 11 seed to reach the semifinals. In 2020, the top three seeds lost their first game for the only time in league history. The combined seed total (11) in the championship game (4&7) matched the 2019 record (5&6) for highest seed total to reach the title game.

Seed Madness -- In the 49 previous iterations of Arch Madness, only six teams seeded worse than No. 3 have won the crown (No. 4 Creighton in 2000; No. 5 Indiana State in 2001; No. 4 UNI in 2016; No. 5 Bradley in 2019; No. 4 Bradley in 2020; and No. 4 Loyola in 2022). Only four teams seeded 7 or worse have reached the semifinals: #7 Bradley (1998); #8 Drake (2020); #7 Valparaiso (2020); and #11 Valparaiso (2025).

Nothing But NET: MVC at 9 -- The Missouri Valley Conference is ranked No. 9 as a conference in the NCAA NET ratings (March 1). Belmont (55) headlines seven MVC programs that rank in the Top 120. The Bruins are joined by UNI (81) and  Illinois State (90) in the Top 100. Belmont’s 51 WAB (wins above bubble) tops the Conference. The last time the league had seven teams in the Top 120 at the end of the season was in 2009-10.

Road Warriors -- Belmont is 11-2 in true road games this season after going 9-4 in true road games last year.  Since 1975-76, only 18 MVC teams (all of them won the league’s regular-season title) have won 10 or more road games in a season.  Sixteen played in the NCAA Tournament, one was ineligible for post-season play, and the other won the NIT.  Only two teams in that span won more than 11 road games in a season.

MVC MBB “True” Road Wins, Since 1975-76
13 -- Bradley (1985-86)* [NCAA Tournament]
12 -- Wichita State (2013-14)* [NCAA Tournament]
11 -- Belmont (2025-26)
11 -- Bradley (1981-82)* [NIT Champions]
11 -- Southern Illinois (2003-04)* [NCAA Tournament]
*denotes MVC regular-season champ

50 Years of Madness
The 2026 MVC Tournament marks the 50th year of the Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament.

First Tournament: 1977 (Southern Illinois, champion)
36th-Straight Tournament played in St. Louis (campus sites 1977-90)
Total Tournament Games: 406 (entering 2026 tournament)

Most Titles
12 - Creighton
5 - UNI
5 - Southern Illinois
4 - 5 teams

Most Tournament Victories (entering 2026)
47 - Illinois State
43 - Bradley
43 - Creighton

Most Title-Game Appearances
13 - Creighton
13 - Illinois State
10 - Bradley
10 - Southern Illinois

Titles by Seed
1 - 18 times
2 - 18 times
3 - 7 times
4 - 4 times
5 - 2 times

<50 Yields Good Results -- Since 1990-91, 56 MVC teams have been rated in the Top 50 of the NET (or RPI) on Selection Sunday, and 41 have been selected for the NCAA Tournament (the other 15 earned an NIT bid.) Here are the 15 MVC teams with Top-50 metric scores not selected for the NCAAs (13 of the 15 have occurred since 2005). The data does not include the 2020 NCAA Tournament, as it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. UNI had a NET rating of 48 in 2019-20. Since 1990-91, 1292 out of a total 1351 eligible teams from No. 1-40 have made the NCAA Tournament. Only 45 eligible teams (including nine from The Valley) ranked 40 and better in the past 26 years have not made the NCAA Tournament, most recently (from The Valley) Indiana State (28) in 2023-24.

Doing it With Defense -- UNI ranks in the Top 4 nationally in both scoring defense and three-point percentage defense. Bradley is seventh nationally in turnover margin.

Making Shots -- Belmont ranks in the Top 4 nationally in field goal percentage, effective field goal percentage, and three-point field goal percentage.

Johnson Leads the Braves -- Jaquan Johnson of Bradley leads the league in steals and ranks sixth in the NCAA in steals per game (2.58).

On Target -- Belmont’s Tyler Lundblade leads the nation with his 93.4 free throw percentage accuracy. That figure currently ranks fifth-best for a single season in MVC history. Lundblade also ranks in the Top 10 in the NCAA in three-pointers attempted (5th, 273) and threes made (2nd, 112).

Roster Rebuilds -- Only three MVC teams returned more than half of their playing roster from last season -- of the league’s total 166 roster spots in 2025-26, 61.4 percent of the players are new to their programs. ESPN research indicates Murray State is one of just nine DI programs with no players returning from last year’s roster.



MVC Player of the Week
AJ Casey, Evansville
F, 6-9, Sr., Chicago, Ill. (Whitney Young HS) | Miami (Fla.) / Saint Louis
Casey averaged 24.7 PPG last week - a league best.  He scored 37 points while hitting the game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer against Valparaiso, and his 37 points was a career-high. The 37-point effort was the most in the MVC this season and highest total for a player since Leon Bond III of UNI scored 37 against Montana on Dec. 16, 2024.

MVC Newcomer of the Week
Boden Skunberg, Illinois State
G, 6-5, 210, Gr., Jamestown, N.D. (Jamestown HS) | North Dakota State
Skunberg averaged 14.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game for the Redbirds who went 2-0 on the week with wins at UNI and at home against Belmont … He made 58.8 percent (10-of-17) of his shots over the two games - 12th-best on the week in the MVC, and the ninth-best three-point percentage (.545, 6-of-11) … He opened the week with a 14-point, 8-rebound battle in ISU’s win over UNI, as he was 6-of-10 from the field and 2-of-5 from long range … In the regular-season finale at home against Belmont, he scored 15 points, making 4-of-7 shots from the field, 4-of-6 from long range, and 3-of-4 from the charity stripe, while also pulling down four rebounds and dishing out a pair of assists.

MVC Freshman of the Week
JT Pettigrew, Valparaiso
F, 6-8, 220, Fr., Lisle, Ill. (Bolingbrook)
Pettigrew averaged 16.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per game over two games this week, including a game-winning 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds remaining to beat Drake 74-71 on Wednesday. He scored 15 of his 17 points after halftime in Saturday’s regular-season finale at Evansville after being limited to six minutes of first-half action due to foul trouble. He has scored in double figures in seven straight games and pulled down at least five rebounds in 11 consecutive contests.