ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Belmont University women's basketball team learned of its inaugural Missouri Valley Conference schedule Thursday morning as the league unveiled its 2022-23 matchups. The Bruins' 20-game conference slate features a three-game homestand in January and 10 total contests in Nashville.
Belmont will face nine of the MVC's 11 fellow members twice and Illinois State and Bradley once. The league schedule only adds to the Bruins' strenuous non-conference stretch, which is one of the most challenging in the country.
Over the past three seasons, the MVC has boasted a top-10 NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) conference ranking and each of the last three years the league has had four teams finish within the top 100 of the NET rankings. The MVC was 10th in the NET conference rankings in 2021-22, seventh in 2020-21 and eighth in 2019-20. At the end of both the 2020-21 and 2019-20 seasons, five MVC programs were ranked in the top 100 of the NET.
Belmont ended last season 45th in the NET rankings, while Missouri State closed out 2021-22 ranked 44th. Northern Iowa (54th), Southern Illinois (79th) and Drake (80th) were also ranked in the top 100 in last year's final NET rankings.
With five MVC teams reaching at least 20 wins in 2021-22 (Missouri State, Murray State, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois, Drake), the Bruins will face no fewer than 12 20-win programs from a season ago in 2022-23. Taking on at least five NCAA Tournament teams from last year during its non-conference slate, Belmont will see two additional 2022 NCAA Tournament qualifiers in Illinois State and Missouri State (at-large). Seven opponents who made national postseason play this past March are already on the Bruins' non-conference schedule and Belmont will go up against six more as Drake, Murray State, Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois all reached last season's WNIT.
The Bruins will host Valparaiso on Friday, Dec. 30 in Belmont's first-ever MVC game, before welcoming the University of Illinois Chicago to the Curb Event Center on New Year's Day. A two-game journey to Iowa will serve as the Bruins' first MVC road trip on Jan. 6 and Jan. 8 where Belmont will take on Drake in Des Moines on Friday before heading to Cedar Falls on Sunday for an outing with Northern Iowa.
The following Wednesday, Jan. 11, the Bruins will head to familiar foe Murray State.
Belmont's three-game homestand from Sunday, Jan. 15 – Sunday, Jan. 22 will see defending MVC Tournament champion Illinois State (Jan. 15), two-time Final Four participant Missouri State (Jan. 20) and defending regular season champion Southern Illinois (Jan. 22) visit the Music City.
The Bruins wrap up January on the road at Indiana State (Jan. 27) and Evansville (Jan. 29).
The Racers visit Belmont to begin the month of February (Feb. 2) before the Bruins go to Bradley on Sunday, Feb. 5. Evansville (Feb. 10) and Indiana State (Feb. 12) meet Belmont at the Curb before the Bruins travel to Carbondale, Illinois, on Friday, Feb. 17 for a matchup at Southern Illinois and cross state lines to face Missouri State in Springfield, Missouri, on Sunday, Feb. 19.
Belmont will host Northern Iowa (Feb. 23) and Drake (Feb. 25) to close out February and the Bruins' regular season home schedule. Senior day will be held on Saturday, Feb. 25 with the Bulldogs visiting.
The Bruins finish the regular season on the road, taking on UIC in Chicago on Thursday, March 2 and Valparaiso in Indiana on Saturday, March 4.
The 2022 MVC Tournament, affectionately known as Hoops in the Heartland, will be held in Moline, Illinois, at Vibrant Arena at The MARK Thursday-Sunday, March 9-12. It marks the seventh consecutive year the league tournament will be held in the Quad Cities, a region of northwest Illinois and southeast Iowa cities (Davenport, Iowa; Bettendorf, Iowa; Rock Island, Illinois; Moline, Illinois). The MVC Tournament will include all 12 member schools with the title game held on Selection Sunday, March 12 and broadcast live on ESPNU.
Missouri State, who has gone 77-11 in MVC play over the last five seasons, has captured two of the last three regular season championships and Drake won the regular season for three-straight years (2017-19) while claiming back-to-back tournament titles in 2017 and 2018.
The MVC has sent multiple teams to four of the last five NCAA Tournaments and last season the Valley was one of just four non-power conferences to receive multiple bids to the Big Dance (American Conference, Atlantic 10 Conference, West Coast Conference). The league has placed two teams in the NCAA Tournament a total of 14 times.
Highlighted by home games against ACC opponents Louisville (Nov. 13), a reigning Final Four team, and Georgia Tech (Dec. 4), Belmont's non-conference schedule includes the 2022 Gulf Coast Showcase (Nov. 25-27) in Estero, Florida, one of the premier in-season college basketball tournaments, and marquee road matchups at Iowa (Nov. 20) and Georgia (Dec. 17).
Both Louisville (No. 4) and Iowa (No. 14) were ranked in the top 15 in the final Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Top 25 Coaches Poll of 2021-22, while Georgia, Villanova - the Bruins' Gulf Coast Showcase first round opponent - and Georgia Tech received votes in both national polls at the end of last season.
Belmont returns seven of its top nine scorers after reaching its second consecutive NCAA Tournament Round of 32 as a No. 12 seed last March with a thrilling, double-overtime victory over fifth-seeded Oregon (73-70). The Bruins became only the second program in Division I women's basketball history to win NCAA Tournament games in back-to-back seasons as a No. 12 seed or lower and were within a ball bounce of their first Sweet 16 trip.
Belmont opens its 2022-23 campaign on Wednesday, Nov. 9 when the Bruins host in-state adversary the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Tipoff times will be announced soon.
Season tickets are on sale now for just $199 per seat and include all men's and women's basketball home games.
Click here to view available seating and purchase your seats.
Single game tickets will go on sale later this fall.
Flex pack plans for the 2022-23 season are also on sale and can be purchased
here. For more information, call 615-460-BALL or visit
BelmontBruins.com.
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