No return game w/ Davidson this year.

https://twitter.com/davidsonmbb/status/1328735336218824704

Makes sense to not travel there, imo.

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Northwestern just issued their schedule...we are not on it.......4 non-cons.....Arkansas Pine Bluff, Chicago St. Siu Edwardsville and Pitt......all at home...maybe we grab SIU-Edwardsville while they are up here...??? December 2nd is their first game.

It would be interesting to know just how much was happening for Porter and Loyola behind the scenes trying to put a schedule together. I wonder what games we had tentatively scheduled that schools pulled out of.

I would be impressed now if we got 4 games before January against ANYONE.

DePaul now dealing w/ Covid issues. Wonder if that'll nearly force a game w/ Loyola now sometime in December if it wasn't already going to happen.

Missouri State Prez:

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If only they had listened to JCT back in April!

So I just read the statement from the MVC on changing the schedule format.

“Consistent with those principles, the Conference has adopted a new scheduling format for men’s and women's basketball Conference games. The new format significantly reduces travel and places an emphasis on the health and safety of student-athletes, coaches and staff. The Conference will continue to play an 18-game format in which most MVC teams will face one another in a two-game series on back-to-back days at the same site. Each institution will play four road series and four home series and will also face their designated 'travel partner' in a single-game, home-and-home series. All Conference play begins after Christmas.”

I hate to say it because this pandemic is terrible, but the back to back games against teams definitely favors us heavily because of our depth. If any team is built to play back-to-back games in the Valley, it’s us. Building leads, resting our starters, and counting on our bench to hold a lead is going to be key. This is going to be a way different looking conference season, and it’ll be interesting to see what different strategies teams try to employ to win back-to-back games each week.

I’ll be really interested to see our “series” with UNI. last year, UNI seemed to run their starters into the ground on minutes. If they do it again this year, it’ll be interesting to see how they all do in “game 2” with less than 24-hours’ rest. I think the new schedule might cost them some wins they normally would have gotten.

I also think we are going to see us have different starting lineups from game 1 to game 2. I bet one game we will have Clemons, Kennedy, and Cooper starting, and in game 3 Norris, Hall will start and take a majority of minutes.

I’m sad we won’t have a normal season, but I’m optimistic about the makeup of our team to thrive in the conference is going to try and complete it.

Are they going to have Arch Madness, or will the winner of the regular season get the automatic bid?

“Results of Conference play will determine seeding for the State Farm MVC Men's Basketball Championship (March 4-7, 2021) at Enterprise Center in St. Louis and for the MVC Women's Basketball Championship (March 11-14, 2021) at TaxSlayer Center in Moline, Ill. All 10 teams qualify for both events. The new scheduling model, adopted for this season only as a response to the global pandemic, will be unveiled in early December, and additional announcements regarding television selections with the league's national television partners ESPN, CBS Sports Network, FOX Sports and NBC Sports Chicago will follow.”