2018–19 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball season

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2018–19 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball season
LeagueNCAA Division I
SportBasketball
Number of teams10
TV partner(s)ESPN3, CBSSN, CBS
Regular Season
2019 MVC ChampionsLoyola & Drake
Season MVPMarques Townes, Loyola
Tournament
ChampionsBradley
  Runners-upNorthern Iowa
Finals MVPElijah Childs, Bradley
Basketball seasons
2018–19 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Loyola–Chicago 12 6   .667 20 14   .588
Drake 12 6   .667 24 10   .706
Southern Illinois 10 8   .556 17 15   .531
Missouri State 10 8   .556 16 16   .500
Bradley 9 9   .500 20 15   .571
Northern Iowa 9 9   .500 16 18   .471
Illinois State 9 9   .500 17 16   .515
Indiana State 7 11   .389 15 16   .484
Valparaiso 7 11   .389 15 18   .455
Evansville 5 13   .278 11 21   .344
2019 MVC Tournament winner

The 2018–19 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2018, followed by the start of the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season on November 6, 2018. Conference play began in late December 2018 and concluded in March with the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

Defending regular season and tournament champion Loyola shared the regular season title with Drake at 12-6.

Bradley defeated Northern Iowa in the championship game to win the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and thereby received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Bradley received the conference's only bid to the NCAA Tournament and lost to Michigan State in the first round, 76-65. Loyola-Chicago received a bid to the NIT and lost in the first round at Creighton, 70-61.

Drake was the only other conference school that received a bid to a postseason tournament, receiving a bid to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament where they lost in the first round at Southern Utah, 80-73.

Head coaches[]

Coaching changes[]

On March 3, 2018, Missouri State announced that head coach Paul Lusk had been fired.[1][2] He finished with a seven-year record of 106–121. The school announced that former Tennessee State head coach Dana Ford had been named head coach of the Bears on March 21.[3]

On March 13, 2018, Evansville fired head coach Marty Simmons.[4] He finished at Evansville with an 11-year record of 184–175. On March 22, the school hired Boston Celtics assistant coach, former Kentucky player and Evansville native Walter McCarty as head coach.[5]

On March 22, 2018, Drake announced that head coach Niko Medved had accepted the head coaching position at Colorado State, where he had previously served as an assistant.[6][7] A week after Medved's departure, Drake hired Creighton assistant and Iowa native Darian DeVries for the head coaching job.[8]

Coaches[]

Team Head coach Previous job Years at school Overall record MVC record MVC titles NCAA Tournaments
Bradley Brian Wardle Green Bay 3 38–60 19–35 0 0
Drake Darian DeVries Creighton
(Asst.)
1 0–0 0–0 0 0
Evansville Walter McCarty Boston Celtics
(Asst.)
1 0–0 0–0 0 0
Illinois State Dan Muller Vanderbilt
(Asst.)
6 122–80 75–48 1 0
Indiana State Greg Lansing Indiana State
(Asst.)
8 133–126 73–71 0 1
Loyola Porter Moser Saint Louis
(Asst.)
7 121–111 42–58 1 1
Missouri State Dana Ford Tennessee State 1 0–0 0–0 0 0
Northern Iowa Ben Jacobson Northern Iowa
(Asst.)
12 250–150 130–86 2 4
Southern Illinois Barry Hinson Kansas
(Adm.)
6 99–96 47–55 0 0
Valparaiso Matt Lottich Valparaiso
(Asst.)
2 39–26 6–12 0 0

Notes:

  • All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.
  • Overall and MVC records are from time at current school and are through the beginning of the season.
  • Ford, Lottich, and Moser's conference records only includes MVC play, not other conference records.

Preseason[]

Preseason poll[]

Source[9]

Rank Team
1. Loyola (29)
2. Illinois State (10)
3. Southern Illinois (4)
4. Bradley
5. Northern Iowa
6. Indiana State
7. Valparaiso
8. Missouri State
9. Drake
10. Evansville
(first place votes)

Preseason All-MVC teams[]

Honor Recipient
Preseason Player of the Year Clayton Custer, Loyola
Preseason All-MVC First Team
Jordan Barnes, Indiana State
Clayton Custer, Loyola
Phil Fayne, Illinois State
Armon Fletcher, Southern Illinois
Milik Yarbrough, Illinois State
Preseason All-MVC Second Team
Darrell Brown, Bradley
Keyshawn Evans, Illinois State
Cameron Krutwig, Loyola
Kavion Pippen, Southern Illinois
Marques Townes, Loyola

Source[9]

Regular season[]

Conference matrix[]

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. Each team will play 18 conference games, playing each team twice.

  Bradley Drake Evansville Illinois State Indiana State Loyola Missouri State Northern Iowa Southern Illinois Valparaiso
vs. Bradley 2–0 0–2 0–2 1–1 1–1 2–0 1–1 1–1 1–1
vs. Drake 0–2 1–1 2–0 0–2 2–0 0–2 1–1 0–2 0–2
vs. Evansville 2–0 1–1 2–0 2–0 1–1 1–1 2–0 2–0 0–2
vs. Illinois State 2–0 0–2 0–2 1–1 1–1 1–1 1–1 1–1 2–0
vs. Indiana State 1–1 2–0 0–2 1–1 2–0 2–0 1–1 2–0 0–2
vs. Loyola 1–1 0–2 1–1 1–1 0–2 2–0 0–2 1–1 0–2
vs. Missouri State 0–2 2–0 1–1 1–1 0–2 0–2 2–0 1–1 1–1
vs. Northern Iowa 1–1 1–1 0–2 1–1 1–1 2–0 0–2 2–0 1–1
vs. Southern Illinois 1–1 2–0 0–2 1–1 0–2 1–1 1–1 0–2 2–0
vs. Valparaiso 1–1 2–0 2–0 0–2 2–0 2–0 1–1 1–1 0–2
Total 9–9 12–6 5–13 9–9 7–11 12–6 10–8 9–9 10–8 7–11

Postseason[]

Missouri Valley Conference Tournament[]

References[]

  1. ^ Rothstein, Jon (March 3, 2018). "Missouri State fires Paul Lusk". fanragsports.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2018. Retrieved March 3, 2018.
  2. ^ "Sources: Missouri State parts ways with Lusk". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  3. ^ Goodman, Jeff; Borzello, Jeff (March 21, 2018). "Missouri State hiring Dana Ford of Tennessee State". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
  4. ^ Goodman, Jeff; Borzello, Jeff (March 13, 2018). "Sources: Marty Simmons out after 11 seasons at Evansville". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  5. ^ "Evansville hires Celtics' McCarty as coach". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  6. ^ Star, Sean (March 22, 2018). "Colorado State set to hire Niko Medved as its men's basketball head coach". Reporter-Herald. Loveland, CO. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  7. ^ "Drake's Niko Medved leaves for Colorado State; Dave Thorson takes over as interim coach". Des Moines Register. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  8. ^ Bain, Matthew (March 29, 2018). "Drake hires Creighton assistant Darian DeVries as head men's basketball coach". Des Moines Register. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
  9. ^ a b Hickey, Pat (October 18, 2018). "Evansville basketball teams picked to finish last in the Missouri Valley Conference". Retrieved October 18, 2018.
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