2017–18 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball season
The 2017–18 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2017, followed by the start of the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play began in late December 2017 and concluded in March with the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
With a win against Evansville on February 18, 2018, Loyola clinched at least a share of its first-ever Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship. With a win over Southern Illinois on February 21, the Ramblers clinched the outright MVC championship.
Loyola defeated Illinois State in the championship game to win the MVC Tournament and received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
This season marked the first season with Valparaiso as a member of the conference. The Crusaders were invited to join the conference after Wichita State left the conference to join the American Athletic Conference.
Loyola received the conference's only bid to the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Final Four before losing to Michigan.
Drake was the only other conference school that received a bid to a postseason tournament, receiving a bid to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament where they went 1–1.
Head coaches
Coaching changes
's fourth-year head coach Ray Giacoletti resigned on December 6, 2016 after the first eight games of the season. Assistant coach Jeff Rutter was named interim head coach. Following the season, the school chose not to keep Jeff Rutter as head coach and hired Niko Medved, former head coach at Furman, as the Bulldogs' new head coach.Coaches
| Team | Head coach | Previous job | Years at school | Overall record | MVC record | MVC titles | NCAA Tournaments |
| Bradley | Brian Wardle | Green Bay | 3 | 38–60 | 19–35 | 0 | 0 |
| Drake | Niko Medved | Furman | 1 | 17–17 | 10–8 | 0 | 0 |
| Evansville | Marty Simmons | SIU Edwardsville | 11 | 184–175 | 82–116 | 0 | 0 |
| Illinois State | Dan Muller | Vanderbilt | 6 | 122–80 | 75–48 | 1 | 0 |
| Indiana State | Greg Lansing | Indiana State | 8 | 133–126 | 73–71 | 0 | 1 |
| Loyola | Porter Moser | Saint Louis | 7 | 121–111 | 42–58 | 1 | 1 |
| Missouri State | Paul Lusk | Purdue | 7 | 106–121 | 52–75 | 0 | 0 |
| Northern Iowa | Ben Jacobson | Northern Iowa | 12 | 250–150 | 130–86 | 2 | 4 |
| Southern Illinois | Barry Hinson | Kansas | 6 | 99–96 | 47–55 | 0 | 0 |
| Valparaiso | Matt Lottich | Valparaiso | 2 | 39–26 | 6–12 | 0 | 0 |
Notes:
- All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.
- Overall and MVC records are from time at current school and are through the end of the season.
- Lottich and Moser's conference records only includes MVC play, not prior Horizon League records.
Preseason
Preseason poll
SourcePreseason All-MVC teams
| Honor | Recipient |
| Preseason Player of the Year | Alize Johnson, Missouri State |
| Preseason All-MVC First Team | - |
| Preseason All-MVC First Team | Donte Ingram, Loyola |
| Preseason All-MVC First Team | Brenton Scott, Indiana State |
| Preseason All-MVC First Team | Bennett Koch, Northern Iowa |
| Preseason All-MVC First Team | Reed Timmer, Drake |
| Preseason All-MVC First Team | Aundre Jackson, Loyola |
| Preseason All-MVC Second Team | - |
| Preseason All-MVC Second Team | Thik Bol, Southern Illinois |
| Preseason All-MVC Second Team | Darrell Brown, Bradley |
| Preseason All-MVC Second Team | Klint Carlson, Northern Iowa |
| Preseason All-MVC Second Team | Phil Fayne, Illinois State |
| Preseason All-MVC Second Team | Tevonn Walker, Valparaiso |
Source
Regular season
Conference matrix
This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. Each team played 18 conference games, playing each team twice.Player of the week
Throughout the regular season, the Missouri Valley Conference named a player and newcomer of the week.| Week | Player of the week | Newcomer of the week |
| November 13, 2017 | Brenton Scott, Indiana State | Kavion Pippen, Southern Illinois |
| November 20, 2017 | Keyshawn Evans, Illinois State | Marques Townes, Loyola |
| November 27, 2017 | Donte Ingram, Loyola | Tywhon Pickford, Northern Iowa |
| December 4, 2017 | Bennett Koch, Northern Iowa | Kavion Pippen, Southern Illinois |
| December 11, 2017 | Dru Smith, Evansville | Cameron Krutwig, Loyola |
| December 18, 2017 | Milik Yarbrough, Illinois State | Milik Yarbrough, Illinois State |
| December 26, 2017 | Alize Johnson, Missouri State | Milik Yarbrough, Illinois State |
| January 2, 2018 | Milik Yarbrough, Illinois State | Milik Yarbrough, Illinois State |
| January 8, 2018 | Reed Timmer, Drake | J. T. Miller, Missouri State |
| January 15, 2018 | Alize Johnson, Missouri State | Tywhon Pickford, Northern Iowa |
| January 22, 2018 | Donte Ingram, Loyola | Cameron Krutwig, Loyola |
| January 29, 2018 | Clayton Custer, Loyola | Milik Yarbrough, Illinois State |
| February 5, 2018 | Reed Timmer, Drake Ryan Taylor, Evansville | Kavion Pippen, Southern Illinois |
| February 12, 2018 | Alize Johnson, Missouri State | Kavion Pippen, Southern Illinois |
| February 19, 2018 | Reed Timmer, Drake | Milik Yarbrough, Illinois State |
Conference Awards
SourcePostseason
Missouri Valley Conference Tournament
Teams were seeded by conference record, with ties broken by record between the tied teams followed by overall adjusted RPI, if necessary. The top six seeds received first-round byes.NCAA Tournament
The winner of the MVC Tournament, Loyola, received the conference's automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament.| Seed | Region | School | First Four | First Round | Second Round | Sweet Sixteen | Elite Eight | Final Four | Championship |
| 11 | South | Loyola | N/A | defeated Miami 64–62 | defeated Tennessee 63–62 | defeated Nevada 69–68 | defeated Kansas State 78–62 | lost to Michigan 69–57 | |
| W–L : | Total: |