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MISSOURI VALLEY
35 of the 36 at-large bids to last year’s NCAA Tournament came from the top eight conferences. The only “other” team to get voted in by the Committee was the Missouri Valley’s Wichita State Shockers, who received an 11 seed and a trip to the First Four after Northern Iowa captured the automatic bid (and an 11 seed as well). After the NIT failed to come calling for any other MVC teams, the rest of the league members passed on appearances in other postseason events, leaving only the two NCAA teams to represent the Valley after Selection Sunday had passed. Both teams did fare well as Wichita State knocked off Vanderbilt in the First Four and upset Arizona in the Round of 64 before losing to Miami. Northern Iowa also pulled off an upset, eliminating Texas before falling to Texas A&M. In all, it was another solid season for the Valley, proving once again that this league plays a very high level of basketball.
Wichita State said goodbye to senior leaders Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet after the season, meaning that the gap between them and the rest of the conference is almost certain to close. Northern Iowa may take a step or two back this season with three of their top players gone. Two other teams, Illinois State and Missouri State, may be the schools primed to fill in the gaps as both have solid weapons returning. A potential surprise team could be the Bradley Braves, who return all five starters and still have one of the youngest rotations in the nation. Evansville and Southern Illinois both won well over 20 games last year but got hit very hard by offseason losses and will need to begin rebuilding.
Predicted Order of Finish
1. Illinois State – The Redbirds return three of their top four players, guard Paris Lee and forwards MiKyle McIntosh and Deontae Hawkins. The talent and experience are here to capture the regular season title.
2. Wichita State – It may be tough for the Shockers to win the league again without Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet. The good news is that there are no significant seniors and there are several players that look ready to step up into starring roles, including Markis McDuffie, former Kansas transfer Conner Frankamp and a now healthy Landry Shamet.
3. Missouri State – Returnees Dequon Miller and Chris Kendrix both averaged over 12 points per game last season. In addition, having Austin Ruder back healthy will make the Bears dangerous, especially if they can develop some depth down low.
4. Northern Iowa – Star Wes Washpun is one of three key players gone from last year’s team, meaning that Jeremy Morgan will have to be the leader of a squad that features 11 players that are either newcomers or redshirted last year.
5. Bradley – The Braves took a lot of lumps last season, but they were starting four freshmen and a sophomore. All five are now a year older, and this dark horse pick could learn from last year’s experiences and surprise this time out.
6. Loyola-Chicago – Head coach Porter Moser has brought in a solid group of newcomers, but the team may still be a year away from making any serious noise.
7. Indiana State – Second leading scorer Brenton Scott does return, but top scorer Devonte Brown and third best Khristian Smith are both gone. The Sycamores will need to find more offense to help Scott if they want to finish anywhere near the top of the league.
8. Drake – Four starters do return from last year, but that team lost 24 games. They should at least improve on that, especially with guard Reed Timmer leading the way.
9. Southern Illinois – The Salukis lost their best backcourt player (Anthony Beane) and their best frontcourt player (Bola Olaniyan) from last year’s roster. A serious lack of any size remaining down low could spell serious trouble for this team.
10. Evansville – The Aces will likely take a major step backwards now that both D.J. Balentine and Egidijus Mockevicius are both gone. Seniors Jaylon Brown and Blake Simmons are the top two returning players, but not much should be expected this season.