If you’re up for heart-stopping basketball action, then Arch Madness is just for you! This year, two teams, in particular, are on a collision course for an epic championship game matchup. Drake and Loyola Chicago met twice in the regular season, splitting both games in the same weekend.

In the first game between the two, it was all Loyola Chicago by a score of 81-54. In that game, Loyola shot 63.8% from the field and outrebounded Drake 32-22. The Ramblers were led by Aher Uguak who, scored 18 points and had five rebounds.

In that second game, Drake came out with the fire of vengeance by defeating Loyola in Overtime 51-50. In that second matchup, Loyola led by as many as 10 points but, Drake refused to roll over and came out on top in a massive MVC game.

Both teams have to get there first, but just the thought of the third game between Drake and Loyola for a Championship is enough to get any College Basketball fan excited. These two programs are already locked in for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which in reality would make for a better championship matchup between the two programs.

In a way, a championship matchup between Loyola and Drake would almost have a poetic feel to it. Here we are in a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic and, the two teams that had been the best all season would play each other for the third time to decide who the true champion of the Missouri Valley Conference was.

From a matchup standpoint, the third game would likely play out very similar to the second game of the series, where they went to overtime and battled to the bitter end.

Some people would argue that the second game of the series was the fluke game and, Loyola is just that good of a basketball team. Although that might be true, you can throw out everything from the regular season because nothing matters until March. Arch Madness has had an amazingly long history of delivering some of the greatest moments in March Madness history, and that’s why the third game between these two would be one of the epic proportions, one that will go down in history as one of the greatest conference championship games of all-time.

Arch Madness will get underway on Thursday afternoon as Bradley takes on Southern Illinois in the eight and nine matchups. Following that game, fans can enjoy the matchup between Northern Iowa and Illinois State.