Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament

All right, Coach, next question.

We have a new Valley kind of, uh, Valley tournament, right? Arch Madness is now gonna have the women combined in.

Yeah.

Uh, some games, some breaks, some more games.

But, um, beyond that, like I don't [laughs] ... not, uh, not a whole lot tying, uh, me to it.

I, I never went to, um, Arch Madness, and obviously that's, they've, they've changed that now as well.

So, like, I know there are a lot of Creighton fans that have, like, deep ties and great memories from that aspect of it, and I never made it down there, so I don't necessarily have that.

Um, so I don't know.

And it was kind of fun to see just the way people gravitated towards that team.

And obviously that would have been the case, particularly if they made a deeper run in Arch Madness.

But man, that was a fun year.

And it's one of those years where you're watching it and you're thinking, man, these are the good old days, right?

But, man, I like UIC a lot.

I think their staff does a really good job.

Illinois State, it's just one of those things where I think Kinzinger and Walker are great, but are they players that can win at that high of a level? Like can Kinzinger defend in big moments in Arch Madness? Can Chase Walker, I guess, defend in big moments in Arch Madness too? Can Illinois State win while playing through an old school back to the basket big? That's kind of my question there as the game kind of changes.

And obviously teams are starting to go more towards frontcourt guys, which maybe could hurt them as well, where teams actually have the bodies to match Chase Walker a little bit.

Sorry fellas, better luck next year.

Enjoy Arch Madness.

Speaking of quarterback struggles, I don't think any team has experienced as much whiplash so far this season as the Bears.

After putting up 59 points against the Panthers in week one, with claims from head coach Ben Johnson that they were coming for the all-time season scoring record, the Bears suffered a double blow by losing to the Vikings nine to three in a slop fest and losing Caleb Williams in the process.

How about some other valley? Missouri Valley Conference.

Arch Madness? The MVC.

Do you think Arch Manning knows about Arch Madness?

No way.

He should.

Their defense is elite, but it cannot be expected to completely shut down offenses such as Southern Cal, Indiana, and Oregon, especially now that the margin for error created by the Texas game is gone.

Has Arch Madness of Texas already won this year's Heisman Trophy? Hell to the no.

As discussed previously on USA Today's College Football Unfiltered podcast, it's entirely possible to lose a Heisman Trophy in September.

See more Dante, Say, and Julian.

Tough end to your season.

And then you go into Arch Madness.

Oh.

Yeah.

We've talked to Brian

Harden about it.

Yeah, it's no longer the beloved Arch Madness bracket that we've seen.

They've changed it to try and better suit the regular season conference champion because Belmont lost last year and the Valley wants to put their best teams into the NCAA tournament.

Okay, onto the Missouri Valley, the MVC, the Valley, RIP their tournament format.

Arch Madness is, is not quite gonna be the same anymore, but it's okay.

They're giving advantages to their, their top teams.

What do you got for your MVC number, Will?

I think like the top end of this league is pretty flat, in that I'd have like the top three or so teams all ranked fairly similarly.

Uh, like Murray State has the most talent for sure, but I don't think it's by like 50 spots in terms of talent.

Uh, like Illinois State could win the league, UIC could do it, and at this point, once you get to Arch Madness, I just kind of blindly believe whoever wins the league regular season's not gonna win the tournament-

Yep