Rivalries in the MVC

by **Adunk33** » January 17th, 2018, 9:59 am

Are there any more rivalries in the MVC, especially that fans outside of the schools involved care about?

I got to think about this last night in the first half of the Drake-UNI game. The first half was a little chippy and I loved it.

Do other Valley fans care about the ILST vs BU rivalry? In the last 5 years or so it seemed like the rest of the MVC fans kept an eye on Wichita State vs ILST due to some bad blood there.

What do you think? What rivalries are up and coming in the league? I can see Loyola and ILST becoming one due to the Red invasion of Chicago for every game up there and both teams being more competitive.

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by **mule** » January 17th, 2018, 10:51 am

Neither of these rivalries are either up and coming or of interest to fans of other teams I suppose, but they are very long running. UE has played ISUb continuously since 1921 (except for 1925-27) and played SIU starting in 1927 being continuous since 1940.

by **Bear4Life** » January 17th, 2018, 11:54 am

In the 90's and 2000's it was always Wichita State and SIU as Missouri State's biggest rivals. Obviously WSU is out of the picture now and the SIU rivalry has sort of calmed down over the last 10+ years. I am hoping that one will start to heat up with improvement from both teams.

UNI and Illinois State always seem to draw pretty good interest from the MO State fan-base as well. Most of us simply have too much respect for UNI and Jacobson to really hate them, but those games are always good/close with them.

Overall, I feel like other than BU v ILS there aren't really any major rivalry's in the conference. Part of that is because there isn't a dominant team to hate...If Drake keeps improving I could see UNI v Drake becoming a legit in-state rivalry and you do have UE v INS as a nice one as well.

by **Blers** » January 17th, 2018, 1:03 pm

I've actually had internal debates on this in regards to Loyola since we're still so new.

I've always found that our match ups with Indiana State yield fun results... There was the Arch Madness beat down after Loyola was swept in the regular season, a really fun double OT game in Gentile a few seasons back, and then this years game was a nail biter as well where Indiana State came out on top. We also frequently have good close games with UNI and I think we've split the series since joining the valley. But I don't really think that really makes them rivalries yet.

Illinois State I could certainly see becoming something. It's hard for me to point to their fans showing up as a reason though, we frequently have decent pretty good away crowds, especially on weekends with schools in state. A big part of that comes from being in the city where there's large alumni bases and the ability to make the game part of a larger trip.

We haven't played Valpo yet, but that may make for a natural rival as the other new school, not to mention one that's pretty close.

by **squirrel** » January 17th, 2018, 4:17 pm

Bradley-ISU is one of the longstanding ones...a lot of electricity between Dick Versace and Bob Donewald in the 1980's. Then in the 1990's between Kevin Stallings and Jim Molinari during a period when both had NCAA-level programs.

Bradley and Drake have always had a unique relationship, as the two longest-standing members of the league. Bradley showed outward support and nominally withdrew from the league for a short time in a show of support for Drake in the wake of the Johnny Bright incident. (However, this is a bit of revisionist history, as Bradley had actually been voted out of the league following the point shaving and academic issues that came to light at the same time. But they publicly announced they were withdrawing as soon as the vote occurred, and it is not apparent that the league ever formally announced their decision as a result. Source: "A Proud Heritage" / Yates - an officially santioned Bradley University sesquicentennial history book). So while not really a "rivalry" it is a unique kinship as elder statesmen, and they commonly play league openers or finales against one another.

But Loyola, was Bradley's most prolific out-of-conference opponent before they joined the league, and had played many high profile games over the years, dating back to the 1930's. Even though both programs had lost prestige, rare was they year they did not play. I would LOVE to see both programs continue their upward trajectory and build up something special.

by **hot nuts** » January 18th, 2018, 10:34 am

I'm surprised their isn't more friction between Loyola and Illinois State not only because they are both Illinois schools, but Porter Moser being fired from Illinois State after loading up the program pretty well for Jankovich. Maybe if they both finish atop the conference and or meet in the title in St. Louis. I have been pretty impressed with the number of scarves I've seen walking around Arch Madness the past couple years.

by **Kyle@MOState** » January 18th, 2018, 11:45 am

I think all of the fans collectively hated Wichita State as a program. That was THE game that you had to show up for, and the one that was the most widely attended for all schools. Most of the Wichita State fans one on one, were pretty nice and I had plenty of interaction with them through my work and up in St. Louis during the tournament, but collectively they were the worst, and they were the obvious target for hatred. I don't feel like I have that in my heart now. A lot of fans of MO State feel the same way, and I think that we need that hatred of a rival for the average fan to pick up on that. Plus even though it is the MISSOURI Valley conference, we are the only school in the state of Missouri, so there aren't even natural geographic rivals that some of the other schools have. This will be a transitional year, and a villain will emerge, but it is really missing this season.

by **DUBulldog** » January 18th, 2018, 4:52 pm

For Drake, Creighton was the main rivalry prior to them leaving the MVC. The two schools were a little more than 100 miles apart and competed for the same students (very similar academic programs at the two schools).

Bradley is a rivalry for Drake due to both being in the MVC for 60+ years

UNI series has been too lopsided to be considered a rivalry, but has the potential to be a good rivalry if Niko can turn this program around.

by **BirdsEyeView** » January 19th, 2018, 10:16 am

hot nuts wrote:I'm surprised their isn't more friction between Loyola and Illinois State not only because they are both Illinois schools, but Porter Moser being fired from Illinois State after loading up the program pretty well for Jankovich. Maybe if they both finish atop the conference and or meet in the title in St. Louis. I have been pretty impressed with the number of scarves I've seen walking around Arch Madness the past couple years.

I think we would need a Jackie "Chan" style kick controversy to get this rivalry started.

by **BTbird** » January 19th, 2018, 10:39 am

hot nuts wrote:I'm surprised their isn't more friction between Loyola and Illinois State not only because they are both Illinois schools, but Porter Moser being fired from Illinois State after loading up the program pretty well for Jankovich. Maybe if they both finish atop the conference and or meet in the title in St. Louis. I have been pretty impressed with the number of scarves I've seen walking around Arch Madness the past couple years.

Give it time. I think a lot of the ISU fan base still likes PM. We didn't have our best years under him but I think he has Loyola on the right track.