Bennett Koch has a few pairs of shoes to fill this season at Northern Iowa. Even for a 6-foot-9 power forward, those shoes are quite enormous. Yes, Bennett is one of those Kochs. The ones who helped Northern Iowa to a Missouri Valley title and Sweet 16…
Updated May 8 at 2:52 p.m. The Missouri Valley Conference returned to its status as a two-bid league last season with Wichita State and Northern Iowa making the NCAA Tournament. The conference’s depth also improved as Evansville and Loyola won postseason tournament titles, and Illinois State advanced to…
The Missouri Valley Conference has performed well across the board this postseason. Wichita State and Northern Iowa advanced to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament, Illinois State is in the second round of the NIT, Loyola Chicago is in the CBI quarterfinals and Evansville…
Looking at the stat lines of Northern Iowa’s win Friday against Wyoming, one would not expect the Panthers to have won by 17 points. MVC Player of the Year Seth Tuttle had 14 points and 9 rebounds, but needed to attempt 12 field-goals to get there and…
The MVC regular season is all wrapped up and Arch Madness is beginning in a few days. The conference will be announcing its season awards Tuesday, so here are The Catch and Shoot’s all-conference picks. All-MVC Team Fred VanVleet, Wichita State The reigning MVC…
CHICAGO — Northern Iowa is incredible defensively. The Panthers have the 16th-most efficient defense in the nation, according to kenpom.com, after a 58-39 throttling of Loyola on the road Wednesday. That’s surprising because Northern Iowa had nearly the exact same group of players last season, and that…
This is a guest post by Tim Balk (@TimBalk). Balk is a freshman at Northwestern University studying journalism, and he writes with The Catch and Shoot’s Jesse Kramer at The Daily Northwestern. While Northern Iowa’s 58-39 win over Loyola on Wednesday at the Gentile Center…
CHICAGO — It appeared Loyola had finally adjusted to playing without star guard Milton Doyle. The Ramblers had won three of their last four games while averaging more than 1.03 points per possession during that stretch. Going up against the Missouri Valley Conference’s best defense, Loyola’s offensive…
Being in sixth place in a mid-major conference is not indicative of a team with a bright future. But for Loyola, the chance of finishing sixth in the Missouri Valley Conference is a huge step forward for a program that has not had a winning season since…
It’s hard to believe, but Arch Madness begins just three weeks from Thursday. That week is when the Missouri Valley Conference will announce its season awards and all conference team, so here is a look at how those are shaping up with a few weeks left in…
