2021 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament

The 2021 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament, popularly referred to as "Arch Madness", was a postseason men's basketball tournament that completed the 2020–21 season in the Missouri Valley Conference. The tournament was held at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri from March 4–7, 2021.

2021 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2020–21
Teams	10
Site	Enterprise Center St. Louis, Missouri
Champions	Loyola-Chicago (2nd title)
Winning coach	Porter Moser (2nd title)
MVP	Cameron Krutwig (Loyola-Chicago)
Television	CBS, CBSSN, MVC TV
Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournaments ← 2020 2022 →

2020–21 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 17 Loyola Chicago †	16	–	2		.889			26	–	5		.839
Drake	15	–	3		.833			26	–	5		.839
Missouri State	12	–	6		.667			17	–	7		.708
Indiana State	11	–	7		.611			15	–	10		.600
Evansville	7	–	11		.389			9	–	16		.360
Valparaiso	7	–	11		.389			10	–	18		.357
Northern Iowa	7	–	11		.389			10	–	15		.400
Bradley	6	–	12		.333			12	–	16		.429
Southern Illinois	5	–	13		.278			12	–	14		.462
Illinois State	4	–	14		.222			7	–	18		.280
† 2021 MVC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

Despite the conference being the only conference to complete their entire conference schedule in the 2020-21 season, the tournament was marred by a positive COVID test in the Northern Iowa program prior to their quarterfinal matchup against Drake. Despite subsequent negative tests, contact tracing combined with St. Louis health protocols required UNI to forfeit the game advancing Drake to the next round.^[1]

Seeds

Teams were seeded by conference record, with ties broken by the overall record in conference games played between the tied teams, then (if necessary) by comparison of records between the tying institutions versus the top team in the standings (and continuing from top to bottom of standings, as necessary, with the team having the better record against that team receiving the better seed). The top six seeds received opening–round byes.^[2]

Seed	School	Conference	Tiebreaker 1	Tiebreaker 2
1	Loyola-Chicago	16–2
2	Drake	15–3
3	Missouri State	12–6
4	Indiana State	11–7
5	Evansville	7–11	4–0 vs. VU, UNI
6	Valparaiso	7–11	1–3 vs. UE, UNI	0–2 vs. LU, 1–1 vs. DU
7	Northern Iowa	7–11	1–3 vs. UE, VU	0–2 vs. LU, 0–2 vs. DU
8	Bradley	6–12
9	Southern Illinois	5–13
10	Illinois State	4–14

Schedule

Game	Time *	Matchup	Score	Television
Opening Round – Thursday, March 4
1	5:08 pm	#8 Bradley vs. #9 Southern Illinois	63–73	MVC TV
2	8:08 pm	#7 Northern Iowa vs. #10 Illinois State	65–60
Quarterfinals – Friday, March 5
3	11:08 am	#1 Loyola-Chicago vs. #9 Southern Illinois	73–49	MVC TV
4	2:08 pm	#4 Indiana State vs. #5 Evansville	53–43
5	5:08 pm	#2 Drake vs. #7 Northern Iowa	Canceled[A]
6	8:08 pm	#3 Missouri State vs. #6 Valparaiso	66–55
Semifinals – Saturday, March 6
7	12:05 pm	#1 Loyola-Chicago vs. #4 Indiana State	65–49	CBSSN
8	3:05 pm	#2 Drake vs. #3 Missouri State	71–69
Final – Sunday, March 7
9	1:10 pm	#1 Loyola-Chicago vs. #2 Drake	75–65	CBS
* Game times in CST; rankings denote tournament seed.

^[4]

Tournament bracket

	Opening Round Thursday, March 4 MVC TV					Quarterfinals Friday, March 5 MVC TV					Semifinals Saturday, March 6 CBSSN					Final Sunday, March 7 CBS
						1	No. 20 Loyola-Chicago	73
						9	Southern Illinois	49
	8	Bradley	63
	9	Southern Illinois	73
											1	No. 20 Loyola-Chicago	65
											4	Indiana State	49
						4	Indiana State	53
						5	Evansville	43
																1	No. 20 Loyola-Chicago	75
																2	Drake	65
						2	Drake
						7	Northern Iowa[A]
	7	Northern Iowa	65
	10	Illinois State	60
											2	Drake	71
											3	Missouri State	69
						3	Missouri State	66
						6	Valparaiso	55

^[5]

Postseason History Multiple Bids

NCAA tournament

MVC NCAA Tournament Teams
2021	(8) Loyola (Chicago)	(11) Drake

Notes

1. Northern Iowa withdrew from the MVC Tournament due to a positive COVID-19 test, which led to the game being cancelled, and Drake advancing in the tournament.^[3]