Our favorite basketball conferences postseason tournament gets underway today, the MVC tournament championship. In recent years the Missouri Valley Conference has started to achieve some notoriety from the media and general public, but most fans still don’t grasp the brand of basketball the Valley offers. If you are a true basketball fan try to catch a few of these games on TV this week. If you are a purist watching some of the sick offensive sets these teams run, how tough they defend, and the brilliant coaching styles, all are a work of art.
To see the full schedule check out the Maddux Sports 2007 MVC tournament bracket or for more info on the tourney check out the missouri valley tournament page from Maddux Sports.
The first 2 games of the tournament will pit the #9 seed Drake Bulldogs against the #8 seeded Evansville Purple Aces. Both are senior laden teams with capabilities of putting a run together in the tournament. The late game sees #10 seed Indiana State Sycamores take on the #6 seed Illinois State Redbirds. Indiana State is a young team that may have ran out of gas, where as the IL State team is playing respectable basketball and relies heavily on juco transfers.
The 2007 of this tournament looks wide open, sure Southern Illinois has to be considered the favorite, but Creighton, Missouri State and Bradley all have the ability to win the conference championship. Consider that 6 valley teams have remained in the Maddux Sports top 25 mid major poll all season long (SIU currently #1) and their A game is good enough to beat almost anyone in the country.
It should be an exciting tournament and unfortunately we cannot go out on a limb here as we will make a prediction that SIU will be victorious. Creighton, Missouri State, and Wichita State will likely be in 2 wars just to get to the championship game. After those 2 wearing games, beating a physical Saluki team will be a tall order. We have handicapped this league very accurately so stay tuned for basketball picks and more updates on the Missouri Valley Tournament.
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