With Bradley’s victory over Loyola on Wednesday, we are moving into unprecedented territory for Missouri Valley Conference parity from top to bottom.
First-place Loyola is now 9-4. There hasn’t been a Valley regular-season champion with as many as four losses since Creighton finished 13-5 in 2012-13.
Just three other times in the Valley’s 111 years has a league titlist lost as many as five games besides Creighton: in 1998-99 when Evansville finished 13-5, in 1992-93 when Illinois State was 13-5 and in 1970-71 when Drake, Louisville and Saint Louis tied for the top at 9-5.
Since the league expanded to 10 teams in 1991, only 10 seasons have yielded a champ with at least four defeats.