Note: This story has been updated on March 3 with the release of the bracket.
The top seeds in the Missouri Valley Conference basketball tournament bracket look a bit familiar.
Arch Madness begins Thursday at Enterprise Center in St. Louis, and Drake (27-3, 17-3), led by first-year head coach Ben McCollum and his gang of Northwest Missouri State transfers, earned the top seed.
Guard Bennett Stirtz, the conference leader in scoring, assists and steals, leads the Bulldogs, who survived a scare from Missouri State on Sunday to improve to 5-0 in overtime games this season and keep their NCAA Tournament at-large bid hopes alive by winning 68-60. The title is the first outright regular-season crown for the Bulldogs since 2008.
Preseason favorite Bradley (24-7, 15-5) beat Northern Iowa (20-11, 14-6) 73-56 on Sunday to earn the No. 2 seed.
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Despite the loss, Northern Iowa, which earned the third seed, is 7-2 since the start of February and regained the services of Virginia transfer Leon Bond, who was out for more than a month.
Bradley and Drake had the top two seeds two seasons ago, although in the opposite order. The Bulldogs routed Bradley in the title game that season.
Belmont (21-10, 13-7) is the fourth seed, and Illinois State (18-13, 10-10) is the fifth seed. The Redbirds finished tied with Illinois Chicago but won the tiebreaker by having a better NET ranking.
Of local interest, Southern Illinois (13-18, 8-12) is the eighth seed and will play Indiana State (14-17, 8-12) at noon on Thursday to open the tournament.
After a roller-coaster first season for new coach Scott Nagy in which the Salukis were blown out by those same Sycamores 95-77 on Sunday, SIU finished in a three-way tie for eighth but won the NET ranking tiebreaker.
Missouri State (9-22, 2-18), under coach Cuonzo Martin, earned the 12th seed. MSU struggled to its worst conference season in its 35th and last season in the league. The Bears did take Drake to overtime twice this season, losing both. Missouri State is off to Conference USA next season as its football program moves up to the Bowl Subdivision. Martin is in his first year of his current stint with the Bears.
Missouri Valley Conference tournament bracket
Post-Dispatch photographers capture hundreds of images each week; here's a glimpse at the week of Feb. 16, 2025. Video edited by Jenna Jones.
