Last year at this time there was a LOT of uncertainty and anxiety among Valley fans because the Shockers running away with the league ALONE. On top of that, you had a longtime member leave and a new school without much recent success coming in at the same time there was massive conference reorganization. So many thought the MVC might be relegated-- perhaps semi-permanently-- to a one-bid league.
Yet just a year later, you have not one but TWO teams reach the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament (and one of those an at-large), one team in the second round of the NIT, one team in the second round of the CIT, and the new, iffy program hosting a game in the quarterfinals of the CBI. With basically half the teams eliminated from all the postseason tournaments, ALL the MVC teams are still going. At this moment, the MVC is .0001 behind the West Coast Conference for the 9th best conference RPI in college basketball. And although UNI is going to lose a lot of players to graduation and will not be quite as strong next season, all the other postseason participants are bringing back almost all their starters.
That's pretty awesome for the near term future of the league.
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