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MISSOURI VALLEY MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Bradley
- Northern Iowa
- Murray State
- Illinois State
- Drake
- Belmont
- Southern Illinois
- Indiana State
- Evansville
- Valparaiso
- Missouri State
- UIC
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-MVC 1ST TEAM:
-Duke Deen – Bradley
-Tytan Anderson – Northern Iowa
-Darius Hannah – Bradley
-Johnny Kinziger – Illinois State
-Cooper Schwieger – Valparaiso
-JaCobi Wood – Murray State
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-MVC 2ND TEAM:
-Trey Campbell – Northern Iowa
-Nick Ellington – Murray State
-Jacob Hutson – Northern Iowa
-Zek Montgomery – Bradley
-Malachi Poindexter – Illinois State
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-MVC 3RD TEAM:
-Kennard Davis Jr – Southern Illinois
-Ali Dibba – Southern Illinois
-Cam Manyawu – Drake
-Filip Skobalj – UIC
-Bennet Stirtz – Drake
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COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-Brian Wardle has done a great job since taking over at Bradley, and it looks like this could be one of the better teams he’s had heading into this season. Duke Deen is a very strong guard that gives them a solid backcourt presence, and Darius Hannah gives them a strong presence at the forward position. Zek Montgomery is also transferring in from Rhode Island and should help make up a very strong backcourt.
-I need to preface this by saying that I know I overvalue Northern Iowa every year, but I really like this Panthers team coming in to this season. They have three starters returning from a team that won six out of their last seven before losing in the MVC semis, and they also add four impressive looking transfers on top of that. I like Ben Jacobson as a coach and think this is a team that can win the league, and perhaps do a more than just that.
-Expectations are high for Murray State after they won just 12 games a year ago. They do return their two best players and add Kylen Milton who transfers in from Arkansas Pine Bluff. Terence Harcum from Appalachian State also joins the roster, so they do appear to have some better players this year. It should result in more wins, but I’m still a little surprised they’re being picked this high.
-Illinois State is another team that was rather unimpressive throughout last season, but who did show a few signs of life at the end, and with three starters returning should be a little better this year. Boden Skunkberg is also transferring in from North Dakota State and should be another asset to their lineup, so we could see some improvement for the Redbirds this year.
-For the last several years Drake has been among the best teams in the conference and also made an impact at the national level. This year, they are having to start completely over. Darian DeVries took the job at West Virginia and Ben McCollum now takes over as head coach. He’s tasked with replacing the entire starting lineup. It does seem a little unfair whenever a team is a victim of its own success, but that seems to happen a lot these days. Players and coaches who have success look to move on and sometimes there isn’t anything left at the place they were at before.
-Belmont has managed to win 20 or more games each year they’ve been a member of the MVC, so you don’t want to call them a bust, but at the same time they haven’t been NCAA Tournament regulars or finishing at the top of the conference. This year the Bruins are in complete reset mode with all five starters being gone from a year ago. I like Casey Alexnader as a coach, but he has his work cut out for him this year.
-Southern Illinois is another team that now has a new coach and entirely new starting lineup. Scott Nagy takes over, and has proven that he can be successful with a good run at South Dakota State and a decent one at Wright State. They do have some solid looking transfers in Elijah Elliot who averaged over 16ppg at UTRGV last year, and Ali Dibba who was a strong plaeyer at Abilene Christian. It does at least look they are not starting completely from scratch.
-Indiana State won 32 games a year ago and made it all the way to the NIT Championship game after some would (correctly) say they were snubbed out of an NCAA Tournament bid. They are yet another team that is a victim of their own success. Josh Schertz is gone, and so are all the top players. The Trees are having to start completely over. Matthew Graves takes over as head coach, and he has tried to go into the portal and piece together a team of guys who have some solid D1 experience.
-After season after season of complete crap two years ago, Evansville managed 17 wins a year ago. They won just 5 the previous year, so it was a huge improvement. The bad news is that four of those starters are gone and Head Coach David Ragland (who has done a phenomenal job) will be forced to rebuild. It could be another long year for the Aces.
-Valparaiso always seems to be at the bottom of the league, and this year isn’t looking to be any different. They won just 7 games a year ago, and as Roger Powell enters is second season as head coach he could be in for another long season. Having said that, the top three scorers are back, and they are adding some notable transfers. I don’ think Valpo will be at the top of the league, but I also don’t think they’ll be quite this close to the bottom either.
-Cuonzo Martin is back at Missouri State!! I really do like him as a coach and think he will do well with the Bears. He experienced quite a bit of success when he was there before. Having said that, virtually no one else is back. They appear to be relying on JUCO transfers this season to fill out the roster.
-UIC…oh boy. They actually haven’t been the worst team in the country since joining the league, but this year could be rough. Jordan Mason is a solid transfer from Texas State, but they’ll need some other guys to step up if they’re going to be competitive at all.