The games are on their schedules. Now the Missouri Valley Conference's men's basketball teams just have to win them.

That was the message from the league's coaches at this year's media day in St. Louis. Before 2008, the MVC had earned at least two bids into the NCAA tournament nine straight seasons. Last year made it two in a row with only the champion entering as the league's automatic bid, and Valley coaches said there's only one way to try to change that.

"The bottom line is, we have to take advantage of our opportunities when they arise," said Indiana State coach Kevin McKenna, whose team has a date Nov. 16 with LSU. "Our margin of error is so slim that you have to take advantage of those opportunities."

There will be at least 16 opportunities this season for MVC schools to beat a school from the six BCS conferences (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Big East, SEC and Pac-10).

Last year was the first time since the 1997-98 season that the MVC had back-to-back years without multiple bids to the NCAA field of 65. A league record seven teams made the postseason, but there were also four tournaments for the first time in history. The Collegeinsider.com tournament became the second new postseason tournament in the last two years after the College Basketball Invitational began in 2008.

The six BCS conferences got 36 teams into last year's NCAA tournament, the most in the last five years, which meant fewer opportunities for the mid-majors the Valley is full of. Creighton finished the regular season 26-7 but was relegated to the NIT.

This year, the Bluejays have a game against Michigan in the Old Spice Classic and a home game against Nebraska. CU coach Dana Altman didn't say his team had to win those games to get into the NCAA tournament, but did say the Valley, as well as other mid-major leagues, must make a bigger statement.

"We hope it's not a trend," Altman said. "We hope we do a better job, our conference, and conferences like us ... of promoting themselves and having better years."

Valley teams return 31 of 50 starters, meaning the league may have a great chance to make that big statement.

Northern Iowa, the defending league champion, has all five starters back from a 23-11 squad. The Panthers have four BCS games on their schedule, the most of any team in the league.

"The reality of it is, a lot of it goes back to November and December," UNI coach Ben Jacobson said. "Hopefully, we can position four or five teams in November and December, and then have a great league race so we've got three or four teams in the at-large hunt.

"We've got talented teams right now that can beat people, because I think we've got a lot of juniors and seniors."

Southern Illinois University took a marked step back in its scheduling this season, as it only has three teams that made the NCAA tournament on its docket, including UNI. The Salukis had one of the toughest schedules in the nation last year, as they played top-10 Duke and UCLA in back-to-back games and had road games at Western Kentucky, Saint Mary's (Calif.) and Nevada.

Only half of the league's teams finished with a winning record last season, and SIU was not one of them. The Salukis return three players that started at least one game, and brought in two junior college players in Jack Crowder and John Freeman that could make an immediate impact.

"This year, (the league) has so many returning players, that you've gotta make a run where we can try to get more than one at-large bid," SIU coach Chris Lowery said. "This is the year to do it, when you're older, you have several guys returning, a lot of guys back."

todd.hefferman@thesouthern.com

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