A Return to Prominence?

(St. Louis, MO) – Is this the year the Missouri Valley reclaims its title as “The Best Mid Major Conference”? Many Valley observers believe the Wichita State wave of success will draw the rest of the league into some national prominence.

This question is complicated by conference realignment. There have been more changes in college basketball allegiances than re-districting on the American political spectrum. Is the American Athletic Conference a ‘mid-major’? Is the Big East? How has the Mountain West shaken out? The Atlantic 10 may be a power conference now. Who knows?

Looking at the Valley’s returning players, we find sixty percent of last season’s starters return to an MVC that was extremely young a year ago. The Shockers bring a nationally ranked team to the top of the Valley and there is very genuine optimism reigning throughout the rest of the conference.

With the league returning nationally known stars in Wichita and league-wide household names coming from Chicago, Evansville and Springfield, there is legitimate excitement in ‘America’s Renaissance Conference’. If you add to that stability the infusion of power conference transfers in several programs, the MVC is poised for a great season.

There have been no coaching changes for two years and we’re seeing growing continuity in the Valley.

Wichita State is clearly the class of the league. Guards Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet are not only the faces of the Shocker team but also that of the MVC. Swing man Tekelle Cotton provides grit, outside shooting, athleticism and some high-flying dunks. The big question for Gregg Marshall’s Shockers will be how they replace their power forward and center positions this year.

But don’t worry about Marshall. He finds the right players for the right spots all the time. Darius Carter (7.9 & 4.5) is a senior with big game experience and they are very high on freshmen Rashard Kelly and Rauno Nurger and 6’8 Junior transfer Tevin Glass.

MVC fans know there are special players at several other Valley outposts.

Evansville returns the league’s leading scorer in D. J. Balentine and virtually their entire team from last season. Balentine averaged almost 23 points per game and was the ‘Mr. Outside’ to Egidijus Mockevicius’ ‘Mr. Inside’. The big Lithuanian led the Valley in rebounding and collected almost 11 points per night. Not only does Evansville return everybody they’ve added two dynamite transfers in Taylor Stafford and Willie Wiley.

Illinois State returns shot blocking phenom Reggie Lynch and three other returning starters and mixes in the highly touted duo of Deontae (Teddy) Hawkins and MiKyle McIntosh. These two Canadians come with great expectations. Hawkins is ‘the one that got away’ in Wichita and was a controversial figure in the league last off season as MVC Commissioner Doug Elgin sorted out eligibility issues because Hawkins had originally signed a NLI with the Shockers.

Bradley will look significantly different in 2014. Illinois transfer Mike Shaw and top 100 recruit Josh Cunningham give the Braves size and athleticism they’ve lacked the whole time Geno Ford has been on the Hilltop.

Loyola returns the freshman and newcomer of the year in Milton Doyle. The 6’4 sophomore originally signed with Kansas and is now a legit star for the Ramblers. He averaged 15 points per game and brought high-light reel dunks to Gentile Arena. Veteran Christian Thomas (13 & 6) was Coach Porter Moser’s first recruit four years ago and is the quiet leader of the second year MVC squad.

Missouri State is strengthened by the return of 2013 Freshman of the Year Marcus Marshall, who missed most of last season. Marshall has a decent supporting cast returning with him, but what excites the Springfield natives is the arrival of Junior College transfers Camyn Boone and Loomis Gerring. Both players had stellar JuCo careers and should be big contributors on Paul Lusk’s team.

Not only does Northern Iowa have everybody back from last year, but they’re adding Virginia transfer Paul Jesperson to the mix. The 6’6” started 33 games for the Cavaliers and is the former Wisconsin prep player of the year.

The problem with figuring out if the Valley climbs into the national consciousness is that the non-conference schedule for most of the teams other than Wichita State, doesn’t present many opportunities to grab attention. UNI faces both Iowa and VCU, while Missouri State tangles with Saint Louis U. Loyola battles Michigan State and an exception to the weak scheduling is Bradley who connects with Memphis and Kansas State. Drake isn’t timid either. Ray Giacoletti is challenging De Paul, Murray State and Iowa State.

There is no question the league is recruiting better, but now the challenge for the MVC teams is to schedule their way into some national respect.

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