Five Missouri Valley Conference storylines for the 2026-27 season

1. The New Arch Madness Format

We won’t see if the 1 and 2 seeds getting double byes makes a real difference in one year, but there are other ways that the new format will impact the best conference tournament in mid-major basketball. Usually the tournament has great attendance, but with the top teams not playing until Saturday, could that change? It could impact the regular season as well considering that getting a top-two seed is more important than ever plus one team misses the tournament entirely. Maybe injured players will try to come back from injury sooner as a result of the new format. Could teams that are locked into a certain range rest some guys in the last game or two in preparation for playing more games in St. Louis? Only time will tell.

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2. Murray State’s Expectations

As Matt Norlander reported last week, Murray State spent more money than almost every mid-major team in the nation and outspent every other team in the Valley by a decent amount. The Racers bring back Roman Domon and made a handful of other high-level additions this past spring. Ryan Miller’s team cratered at the end of last season but will enter this one as the favorite to win the conference and make the NCAA Tournament. Murray State is now tasked with answering the question of will they win the league and can they do it in runaway fashion?

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3. A new face at Northern Iowa

For the first time since George W. Bush was in the Oval Office, Ben Jacobson will not be running the Northern Iowa program. It will be former UNI assistant Kyle Green, who has plenty of experience in Cedar Falls despite not being there for five years. While he was not being on Jacobson’s bench since the COVID pandemic, Green didn’t go far. He called Ames and Iowa State home while the program underwent its rise into one of the better programs in college basketball. Now, Green…

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Publish date : 2026-10-27 13:13:00

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