The Mountain West and Missouri Valley Conference announced their 2016 tip dates for the second year of four agreement between the two leagues. This year all but one game will be played on Saturday Dec. 3, with the lone exception being the Southern Illinois game at UNLV which is Monday Dec. 19.
The matchups are based up on a variety of factors which include the previous year's success, record and RPI rankings, as well as predicting what teams will look like next year. The last statement is odd since the non-conference slate is not even over.
This season the Mountain West went 6-4 in this series and in the history of this challenge the Mountain West holds a 3-1-1 edge.
A few interesting notes on the matchups. If we go off of record Southern Illinois is the best team in the Missouri Valley but they go on the road to face UNLV is 8-4, and then Northern Iowa has the top RPI and they are playing at Wyoming.
There does not seem to be any particular reason for these matchups. What might be the easiest way to set these games would be to go with winning percentage and set the parings that way.
There is no official television partner as the home team will use the conference-affiliated television partners to broadcast these games.
Below are the matchups for the 2016 MW-MVC Challenge Series:
Saturday, December 3 San Diego State at Loyola in Chicago, Illinois
Saturday, December 3 Indiana State at Utah State in Logan, Utah
Saturday, December 3 Northern Iowa at Wyoming in Laramie, Wyoming
Saturday, December 3 Boise State at Evansville in Evansville, Indiana
Saturday, December 3 Missouri State at Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colorado
Saturday, December 3 Wichita State at Colorado State in Fort Collins, Colorado
Saturday, December 3 Nevada at Bradley in Peoria, Illinois
Saturday, December 3 New Mexico at Illinois State in Normal, Illinois
Saturday, December 3 Fresno State at Drake in Des Moines, Iowa
Monday, December 19 Southern Illinois at UNLV in Las Vegas, Nevada
For the second consecutive year, the San Jose State Spartans are not invited as the MVC has only 10 teams. compared to the Mountain West's 11.