The Missouri Valley Conference and Mountain West Conference jointly announced the MVC/MWC Challenge pairings today. ISU drew Colorado State and the Rams will visit Hulman Center on Nov. 20.

No surprise at all on the matchup. It was thought that since ISU was in the lower half of the league, and is destined to be so again this year, that they’d get a lower end MWC team. The Rams are currently 5-11 and 0-2 in the MWC.

It is my understanding that all matchups are one-off’s, so ISU is not necessarily headed back to Fort Collins, Colo. for a return game, though I selfishly wouldn’t mind it. ISU last played Colorado State in 1981.

Here are the other matchups. The inaugural Challenge is a bit of an improvisation as existing games had to be squeezed into the mix, preventing the leagues from having a week’s worth of games. As you’ll see, the plan is for the Challenge to basically take place the last week of November and first week of December after next season.

Pairings
Bradley at BYU, Nov. 13
Colorado State at Indiana State, Nov. 20
Southern Illinois at UNLV, Nov. 21
Air Force at Missouri State, Dec. 5
TCU at Wichita State, Dec. 12 (this series had already commenced and was included)
Creighton at New Mexico, Dec. 19 (this series had already commenced and was included)
Illinois State at Utah, Dec. 19
San Diego State at Drake, Dec. 22
Wyoming at Northern Iowa, Dec. 23 (this series had already commenced and was included)

– Evansville is not participating because it finished last in 2008. The MVC has 10 teams, the MWC has nine.

Future dates
2010 — Nov. 27 to Dec. 4
2011 — Nov. 26 to Dec. 3
2012 — Nov. 24 to Dec. 1