2021-22 Missouri Valley Basketball Preview
Missouri Valley Basketball Preseason Predictions
WagerTalk college basketball handicapper Adam Trigger offers his thoughts on the upcoming 2021-22 Missouri Valley Basketball season. Which teams are being underrated by the betting market? Which teams should you stay away from? Check out Adam’s Missouri Valley Basketball betting preview.
The 2021-22 college basketball season tips off on Tuesday, November 9th, and Adam Trigger wants to introduce himself with a big discount! For a limited time, you can get the opening seven days of the college hoops season for ONLY $39, giving you access to ANY college basketball selections played during opening week, including ANY 5% Best Bets on the hardwood! Stay on top of the latest College Basketball updates direct from Las Vegas!
Missouri Valley Basketball Betting Preview
We have made it to the middle of the country as we continue to work our way east and landed on one of my favorite conferences year in and year out, the Missouri Valley. I’ve always loved this conference but when The Valley is good that’s good for college basketball and this might be the strongest the MVC has been since Wichita State and Creighton were perennial contenders for at large berths out of the MVC. I see 4-5 teams that have a legitimate shot to win the Missouri Valley basketball conference this year, that makes for some excellent parody and we should be able to find value in The Valley this season.
Missouri Valley Basketball ‘BET ON’ Teams
Northern Iowa Panthers – Drake will end up being the consensus favorite and Loyola-Chicago has a new coach so, while both are still excellent squads that will contend for another regular season MVC title, my pick to win the MVC and a team I expect to be excellent value against the number this season is Northern Iowa. Last year is a throwaway season for Northern Iowa, star guard AJ Green went down for the year three games into the season and the Panthers ended up having to forfeit their game against Drake in the MVC Tournament semifinals due to COVID. That certainly wasn’t the expectation as Northern Iowa was 25-6 and 14-4 in the MVC in 2020 before the season was called off for COVID and I expect this season’s UNI team to resemble the one that won the league in 2019-20, not the one that tanked last year.
Ben Jacobson is now in his 17th season as head coach of Northern Iowa and has taken the Panthers to the NCAA Tournament four times with COVID robbing him of a fifth appearance in 2020. Northern Iowa is 160-110 in MVC play under Jacobson, he’s as veteran of a coach as you will find in this league and virtually all of his players are taking advantage of the extra year which means Jacobson has his entire team back and won’t be trying to assimilate transfers like everyone else in the country. The only new players on the Northern Iowa roster are three transfers that likely won’t see the floor so Northern Iowa is also a team to look at early since the Panthers went through their growing pains last year (while most will have them in November and December this season). Green is a superstar at this level and reports are he’s looked outstanding in practice and is fully healthy entering the season. Five players on the Northern Iowa roster averaged double figures for the Panthers last year and UNI will start four seniors and a junior with the junior being Noah Carter who ended up being a breakout player for Northern Iowa last season. This is essentially the team that won this league in 2019-20 which additional depth, they are consistently being picked behind Drake and Loyola-Chicago in season previews and I think that’s a big mistake.
Missouri State Bears – I have to take one more shot at Missouri State as a “play on” because I think the Bears are going to be undervalued against the other top teams in this league. Missouri State has been a “bet on” for me for two years now, they didn’t pan out in 2019-20 finishing 16-17 before the season was called off but Missouri State did take a step forward last year getting hot down the stretch to finish 17-7 overall and 12-6 in the MVC. If this was a different year I would say Missouri State is good enough to win this league but with Drake, Loyola-Chicago and Northern Iowa being as good as they are I find it unlikely that will happen. With that being said, I think the perception is Missouri State is a step down from that trio but I don’t think that’s the case. Talent wise, Missouri State belongs in the upper echelon of The Valley but I think the Bears might be an afterthought (at least at first) and we might be able to find some value against the number with what I consider to be a very good Missouri State team.
Isiaih Mosley is one of the guys I liked as a freshman in 2019-20 and he’s blossomed into arguably the best player on this Missouri State team averaging 19.8 points per game last season. Missouri State has a legitimate center in Gaige Prim who is easily one of the top post players in this conference averaging 16.7 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. Missouri State brings in IUPUI transfer Jaylen Minnett who was the best player on that Jaguars team last year and can score a number of different ways, averaging 16.9 points per game in the Horizon League last year. Donovan Clay transfers in from Valparaiso to add depth in the front court and, unlike last year, the new additions mean Missouri State will actually have a couple of guys on their bench that can play this season. It’s year four in Springfield for head coach Dana Ford and this is the best team he’s had to date, I still think Missouri State is better than they are getting credit for and I’ll look to back the Bears when and where possible this season.
Missouri Valley Basketball ‘BET AGAINST’ Team
Indiana State Sycamores – Yet another example here of a team that was a “bet on” team for me last season and I’ll be fading this year. In this case I don’t think it was because I was so right about Indiana State last year that they are now overvalued, it’s that Indiana State actually wasn’t all that great (the Sycamores did go on a decent run after a bad start to finish 11-7 in the Valley) and now has a new head coach and a very young team outside a couple starters. The Greg Lansing era is done in Terre Haute after 11 seasons and the new head coach is Josh Schertz who has had a long, successful career in Division 2. Schertz gets guard Tyreke Key back who has been one of the better players in this conference for years but he can be selfish with the ball at times and I have to wonder how excited he is to burn his final year of NCAA eligibility in a rebuild. Schertz brings a couple players with him from Lincoln Memorial but he’s likely going to put them in the starting lineup and that’s a big step up from D2 to The Valley. Indiana State loses Jake LaRavia which means the Sycamores are unproven big time in terms of scoring in the paint. In not sure anyone on this Indiana State team outside of Key can score consistently and in the past when Key has tried to do it himself it hasn’t always been pretty.
The Missouri Valley is just way too good this year, you will have Drake, Loyola-Chicago and Northern Iowa all likely battling it out for a title, Southern Illinois and Missouri State are good enough to compete with anyone on a given day and Valparaiso could be better than advertised with a number of transfers. Even Illinois State and Evansville who have been bottom feeders in this league the last couple seasons are better. Indiana State is one of the only teams in this league that got worse this past offseason and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the Sycamores sink to the bottom of this conference.
Other College Basketball Conference Previews
West Coast Conference Preview
WAC Conference Preview
Big Sky Preview
Mountain West Conference Preview
Pac-12 Conference Preview
Big West Conference Preview
Summit League Preview
Big XII Conference Preview
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Conference Tournament Betting
The 2021-22 Missouri Valley Basketball Tournament is a long way away, but it’s never too early to sharpen up some of your betting skills. Minty Bets sat down with Marco D’Angelo and Ralph Michaels to discuss some college basketball conference tournament betting tips, and how those games are different than regular season contests.
2021-22 NCAA Basketball National Championship Odds
The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook has just released their updated 2021-22 NCAA Basketball National Championship odds, and Gonzaga remains the 6-to-1 favorite, followed by Texas (10-to-1), Kansas (12-to-1) and UCLA (12-to-1). Once the season tips off, WagerTalk’s live odds screen will feature up-to-the-minute betting lines from a variety of offshore and domestic sports books.
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