Illinois State coach Dan Muller reveled in a bit of schadenfreude upon Wichita State’s early exit from the NCAA Tournament, taking a thinly-veiled shot at Shockers coach Gregg Marshall and his program’s decision to leave the Missouri Valley Conference for the American Athletic Conference after last season.

After Wichita State, the No. 4 seed in the East Region, lost to No. 13 Marshall 81-75 in San Diego Friday, Muller tweeted, “I guess switching conferences doesn’t magically make things better. Valley teams advance in the Dance.”

Muller’s not backing down from his tweet –  it hasn't been deleted, and he doubled down on his criticism of Marshall during an interview with ESPN.

Wichita State had plenty of March Madness success during its time in the Missouri Valley, and Loyola-Chicago, the MVC’s lone representative in this year’s tournament, advanced to the second round with a buzzer-beater against Miami Thursday.

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

Well, once – in 2012, the year before Muller started at Illinois State.

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

Marshall, unaware of Muller’s tweet, said after Friday’s loss that he does not believe the conference switch impacted his team’s postseason performance.

"No, I don't think (so), 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.