I don’t know if you know this, but the Missouri Valley Conference tournament begins today.
Let’s talk about it.
The odds are pretty low (about, uh, zero) that anyone from the MVC makes the NIT as an at-large bid. The odds are not that low, though, that Northern Iowa grabs an automatic bid while infuriating a nation for approximately 27 hours until said nation moves along to other outrage (guessing the nation won’t think UNI’s NIT-worthy, but don’t worry—I believe in youNI, and yes, losing to SIU on Saturday sounds like a great idea). Those odds are about three-in-ten. Not bad odds. But not good enough for us to talk about any of their players or anything. We don’t want to get too attached.
Anyway, until we’re told otherwise, it’s the Northern Iowa show. And it’s coming to you live from St. Louis. #ArchMadness (man I love that name).
Northern Iowa, if you’re just catching up, raced out to an 11-1 record entering New Year’s Eve, and not one of those we’ve-played-absolutely-no-one-respectable 11-1 records. They beat South Carolina in Mexico. They beat Colorado in Boulder. They lost to West Virginia in Mexico (I’m not going chronologically here—there was only one trip to Mexico), but it was close. They were looking *good.*
Since New Year’s Eve, they’ve also looked, on the whole, good. More than that, though, they’ve looked poised. They’ve lost four times in conference play, none to particularly inspiring competition, the perfect number for a team in this year’s MVC to earn themselves a place in the NIT conversation if they can #LoseOneTheyShouldn’t between now and Sunday. In fact, should they qualify, they’ll very possibly enter the NIT as the favorite to win the whole thing (they also might get to host FCS rival North Dakota State in the first round, and that would be a story).
In other words, UNI, the grass is pretty darn green over here in the NIT’s backyard. Why don’t you come on over?
If you’re wondering when you can support UNI’s quest to qualify for and eventually win the NIT, making at least one radio host join me in using their championship as justification to illegitimize the title claims of the other tournament’s winner, it begins tomorrow. Yes, you’re right, I did say earlier that the MVC Tournament begins today. It does. There are just byes and things. More byes than things. You know how it goes. But yes, UNI plays tomorrow night against the winner of Drake and Illinois State. Should be fun.
