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MVC shuns label

Southern Illinois' Tony Young leads his team into the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Reid Hanley Chicago Tribune
Southern Illinois' Tony Young leads his team into the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

ST. LOUIS – They don’t much care for the term “mid-major” in the Missouri Valley Conference.

The Valley is celebrating its 100th year and its all-time starting five of Larry Bird of Indiana State, Hersey Hawkins of Bradley, Ed Macauley of St. Louis, Xavier McDaniel of Wichita State and Oscar Robertson of Cincinnati is as major as you can get. Last year the MVC qualified four teams for the NCAA tournament with Bradley and Wichita State advancing to the final 16.

“It is a major basketball conference,” said Bradley coach Jim Les, who also played for the Braves from 1983-86. “At every school the main sport is basketball and you’re seeing a lot of resources dedicated to the basketball program.”

There is nothing “mid” about the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, which opens today at the Scottrade Center with Evansville (14-16) playing Drake (16-14) followed by Illinois State (15-15) playing Indiana State (12-17).

The tournament moved to St. Louis in 1995 after being played at school sites and is known as “Arch Madness.” “It has grown as the league has grown,” said Illinois State coach Porter Moser, who played at Creighton from 1986-90. “The tournament has a great atmosphere.”

Last year’s tournament set attendance records, averaging 12,748 per session. The semifinals drew a tournament all-time high 17,722 and the final between Bradley and Southern Illinois, which was televised nationally on CBS for the first time, attracted 14,533.

The fact regular-season champion No. 11 Southern Illinois (25-5) is just a couple of hours down the road won’t hurt attendance or interest. The Salukis won the tournament last season. MVC Player of the Year Jamaal Tatum of Jefferson City is one of four SIU players from Missouri. MVC Defensive Player of the Year Randal Falker of SIU is from St. Louis.

“It’s a good atmosphere for everybody, especially the people from Missouri,” Tatum said.

The Salukis won’t have history going for them. A top seed hasn’t won since Illinois State in 1998. SIU has come in as the top seed five of the last six seasons. Last season it was No. 2.

There is evidence that the Valley is even stronger this year. The MVC is sixth in RPI and was 87-32 in non-conference games this season. Conference teams were 6-3 in games against out of conference top 25 teams. There was also a lot of balance with the bottom four teams combining for 57 victories. Only the SEC bottom four, with 61, has more.

Second place Creighton (19-10) and third place Missouri State (21-9) appear to have the resumes to get in. Fourth place Bradley (20-11), which plays Northern Iowa (18-12) Friday, needs a good showing to make its case to the selection committee.

The Braves, who lost both regular season games to Northern Iowa, return only point guard Daniel Ruffin from last season’s starting lineup.

“It’s interesting: (Some were saying) last year when we received four bids, how did our history dictate we get four bids and what have we done?” Les said. “Well, now if you take those same comments this year it says well, `Geez, we gave them four bids last year and two of the four got to the Sweet 16.’ Now I guess history does dictate we get four.”