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Evansville continues almost-silent consistency in Arch Madness win over Missouri State

Seventh-seeded Missouri State had No. 2 seed Evansville right where it wanted in the teams’ Missouri Valley Conference Tournament quarterfinal Thursday night-tie game, 15 minutes to play, pressure squarely on the higher seed. Then, with quiet efficiency on its next three possessions against the Bears’ matchup zone defense, the Purple Aces scored six straight points-layup, layup, two free throws. Evansville would not trail again.

Regular season titles should matter more than they will to committee

Arkansas-Little Rock, San Diego State, Tennessee-Chattanooga, Valparaiso, Wichita State. All five share a lot in common as teams who are highly questionable to receive bids to this year’s NCAA tourney if they don’t win their conference tournaments. Those five also share something else in common, though: all will finish the season as sole, undisputed champions of conferences that play a double round-robin schedule.