MVC Preview: Best Bets 2026-27

Ryan McIntyre (@Moneyline_Mac) and Troy Chewning (@Troychewning) break down the 2026-27 Missouri Valley basketball preview, with Drake as a stock up and Belmont as a stock down. Both have UIC winning the regular season, then they split a unit on Drake and Bradley for Arch Madness.

Last year in the Valley, Belmont won the regular season and then got blown out in the quarterfinals. That opened up the bracket, and sixth seed Northern Iowa beat UIC 84-74 in the final to send Ben Jacobson out with a trip to the dance. This year there are two new head coaches: Kyle Green takes over at UNI after a decade at Iowa State with Otzelberger, and Belmont brings back one of its own after stops at Duke and in the NBA.

Ryan McIntyre likes Drake as the stock up. Eric Henderson is in year two, Drake went 6-14 in league play last year, and most of that team is back. Troy Chewning goes with UIC because of everyone returning from a team that lost in the title game. For stock down they both land on Belmont. The floor is always high there, but they lost a lot and the transfers come with big school names more than real minutes.

Both of them have the UIC Flames winning the regular season. After that they split. Troy Chewning has Murray State second, Illinois State third and Valpo fourth, while Ryan McIntyre has Ryan Peyton's Redbirds second off a 23-win season and an NIT Final Four run, with Murray third and Drake fourth. Ryan McIntyre thinks the winner could finish around 13-7, which says a lot about how open the league is. They also disagree on the bottom: Ryan McIntyre puts Indiana State in the basement and Troy Chewning has Evansville there.

For awards, both pick UIC's Rob Ehsan for Coach of the Year and Murray State's Roman Doman for Player of the Year. It's never the one seed at Arch Madness, so Troy Chewning rides Drake, Ryan McIntyre likes Bradley getting better as the year goes and sneaking up on people, and they agree to split the unit between the two longshots.

0:00 Download the SGPN App Today!
2:20 Rally in the Valley
4:09 Last Year's Season in the Valley
7:32 Coaches: Kyle Green at UNI and Brad's at Belmont
13:28 Stock Up, Stock Down: Drake, UIC and Belmont
17:05 Regular Season Order: UIC, Murray State, Illinois State
27:22 Coach of the Year, Player of the Year & Arch Madness
31:08 Sign-Off & Socials

MVC Preview: Best Bets 2026-27 | The College Experience: Basketball (Ep. 1187)

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