Illinois State's Dan Muller reminds Gregg Marshall about value of MVC

Illinois State coach Dan Muller took a shot at Wichita State's Gregg Marshall with a tweet just moments after the Shockers, seeded fourth in the East Region, were upset by No. 13 seed Marshall in the first round of the NCAA tournament Friday.

Muller has been coach at Illinois State since 2012. Marshall and Wichita State left the Missouri Valley Conference after last season to join the American Athletic Conference.

Muller later expanded on his tweet in an interview with ESPN.?

"Their coach has said a lot of disrespectful things about our conference since they left," he said. "I don't think Wichita ever lost a first-round game while in the Valley."

Wichita State advanced to the NCAA tournament six consecutive times while in the MVC, and lost in the first round just once -- in 2012 just before Muller was hired. The Shockers went to the Final Four in 2013 and the Sweet 16 in 2015.

"I'm just defending my conference and pointing out that our league does a great job preparing teams for postseason success," he said. "Just look at the numbers. The MVC should get more opportunities in the NCAA tournament because we're pretty dang good."

A spokesman for the Wichita State program declined to respond specifically to Muller's comments, but in an email wrote, "We wish nothing but the best for Valley and for Loyola in their game tomorrow."

Marshall, who was not privy to Muller's comments after his team lost, was asked postgame if he has a different mindset about the Missouri Valley now that he's in the American.

"No, I don't think, at least from my perspective. I can't read the minds of my players, but from a coaching staff perspective, it didn't change at all," he said. "Our preparation was as thorough and diligent as we could possibly do. [Marshall] had our full and undivided attention."

Information from ESPN's Kyle Bonagura was used in this report.