UPDATE: The Bears were awarded the 7 seed by virtue of having a higher RPI (133) than Evansville (137) and Northern Iowa (141). MSU will face number 10 Valparaiso Thursday, 8:30 pm in the MVC Tournament play-in game at Scottrade Center.
The Missouri State men closed the regular season with a 71-56 loss at Northern Iowa; their fourth straight defeat. The loss turned out to be worst case scenario as Indiana State’s 66-64 win over Bradley left the Bears to play in the dreaded Missouri Valley Conference Tournament “play-in” game Thursday in St. Louis.
MSU finished in a three-way tie for 7th place along with Evansville and Northern Iowa. The tiebreaker according to league rules will utilize RPI to determine the seeding. Those numbers won’t be official until Sunday morning.
1 – Loyola (15-3)
2 – Southern Illinois (11-7)
3 – Illinois State (10-8)– [RPI breaks tie / ISU was 86 and Drake was 137 heading into today’s game.]
4 – Drake (10-8)
5 – Bradley (9-9)
6 – Indiana State (8-10)
7 – Evansville/Missouri State/UNI (7-11) – [RPI breaks tie – teams all split with one another in head-to-head]*
8 – Evansville/Missouri State/UNI (7-11)
9 – Evansville/Missouri State/UNI (7-11)
10 – Valparaiso (6-12)
*It’s anticipated that Evansville/Missouri State/UNI RPI numbers will all be within 10 points of one another. As of Saturday afternoon Missouri State was at 126, Evansville at 142, UNI at 146.
Illinois State/Drake tie also broken by RPI, but it won’t shift in Drake’s favor on Sunday AM’s report, so ISU is the 3 seed.
