MVC Tournament Championship game- Sunday, March 6

[bigjimmy]

10:41 left and Drake leads 13-6. Loyola really struggling on offense so far with 3-14 shooting, 5 turnovers and having 5 shots blocked. Drake’s not lighting it up either as they are just 5-15 so far

[bigjimmy]

DeVries with 10 points so far as Drake continues to lead. 18-11 with 7:35 left

[bigjimmy]

8-0 run by Loyola puts the Ramblers up 19-18 with 5:16 left. Drake’s gone almost 4:00 without scoring

[bigjimmy]

A 19-0 run put Loyola up 9 and it was looking like they were doing their thing but Drake closed the half on a 7-0 to be down just 27-25 at the half

[bigjimmy]

Game going back and forth between a 2 and 6 point lead for Loyola. Both teams shooting under 40% overall and they both have 10 turnovers

[bigjimmy]

7:16 to go and Loyola leads 50-42. Drake is down to 16-49 overall, 4-15 from 3 while Loyola is 19-50 overall, 5-18 from 3. Drake in the Bonus+ now but have missed 5 of their 7 bonus FT shots.

[Da Coach]

I have always thought the fatigue excuse in tournaments like this was overblown. But Drake has been only relying on 6 players, and they appear to be noticeably tired. All their shots are short or offline, and even on defense, they appear a step slow. Loyola appears to be a bit tired themselves, but they still have the energy to blow by defenders and make shots. It'll be tough for Drake these final 5 minutes.

[bigjimmy]

3:59 left and it’s looking pretty good for Loyola as they’re up 55-48. Drake hasn’t scored consecutive points since late in the first half and haven’t been able to stop Loyola enough to cut into the lead.

[bigjimmy]

I have always thought the fatigue excuse in tournaments like this was overblown. But Drake has been only relying on 6 players, and they appear to be noticeably tired. All their shots are short or offline, and even on defense, they appear a step slow. Loyola appears to be a bit tired themselves, but they still have the energy to blow by defenders and make shots. It'll be tough for Drake these final 5 minutes.

I would agree that Drake looks tired. DeVries has scored just 5 points in the last 25 minutes, Sturts has committed some reach in fouls and a lot of shots have been short. Loyola has also gotten some back door layups this half as well

[bigjimmy]

Now or never time as Loyola leads 57-53 with 1:09 to go. Drake has the ball and must score if they want to have a chance to win

[Da Coach]

Drake managed to close to within 2 points, but could get no closer as Loyola wins 64-58

https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=383716

Drake finishes 24-10, but only 22-10 against D1 opponents.
Their NET is around 80, and they have only 2 Quadrant 1 wins (both over Loyola). Overall Q1 record is 2-4. Non-Con SOS is 223.
So there is no chance they will get an NCAA at-large bid.
UNI will get an NIT auto-bid for winning the regular season championship.
Drake is not assured of an NIT at-large bid, but if they get some help (gotta hope other conference winners don't get bumped off and land in the NIT), they could get in.

[Tommy]

I hate Loyola.

[battlebasset]

It's literally like the MVC doesn't have a team in the tournament. I hope Loyola gets their head handed to them in the first game. I'll be rooting for UNI in the NIT. Hope they go deep.

[Mikovio]

It's literally like the MVC doesn't have a team in the tournament.

Sure they do. Murray!

[bradleyfan124]

This is where I think the NCAA is wrong. I think the regular season winner gets the automatic bid and if someone else wins the tournament then they go also. They put more emphasis on 3 days than teams battling it out over 2 months. I think the reasoning ( other than money)the tournaments were set up is to catch the teams that catch fire at the end of the season.