SportsPulse: Can Loyola-Chicago make history by beating a stacked Michigan squad? USA TODAY Sports’ Scott Gleeson says the Ramblers have a very real chance to. USA TODAY Sports
The entire 111-year history of the Missouri Valley Conference is a story of evolution, of being loved and then left behind by members whose athletic ambitions outgrew the league.
All the way back to 1928 when a group of original members split off into a conference that would eventually become the Big Eight, survival and change have become defining characteristics of the Valley, whose basketball prominence often has been threatened by events it couldn’t control.