(Nashville, TN) – St. Louis talent is starting to pour over the borders of the Ohio Valley Conference. The conference that sent five teams to post-season play last year is just starting to see the benefits of recruiting in the Gateway City.
The least talked about, but most significant player in this invasion of St. Louis based players is Jacksonville State’s Cameron Biedscheid. The Cardinal Ritter product joins Alton High’s JaQuail Townser in the Gamecock line up this season. When in high school, Biedscheid was held in similar esteem as Washington Wizard’s guard Bradley Beal and Sacremento King Ben McLemore.
Biedschied averaged over six points per game during his freshman season at Notre Dame. Now after transferring to Missouri and sitting out last season, he is ready to flash is 4-star talent in the OVC.
Eastern Illinois Head Coach Jay Spoonhour told me the 6’7″ Biedscheid is the most talented player in the league. JSU coach James Green is pleading for some lower expectations for his player that hasn’t played college basketball since late 2013. Green says Biedscheid will be rusty and won’t be eligible for about the first dozen Gamecock games.
Biedscheid should be special, but let’s not forget top level St. Louis area players that were impact performers last year and are poised to shine even more brightly this season.
Jacksonville State
Don’t go to sleep on JaQuail Townser! The former Alton Redbird averaged almost eight points and over three assists per game, before an injury ended his season.
Eastern Illinois
The Panthers are coming off perhaps their best NCAA Division 1 season racking up 18 wins including their first ever post-season victory. Two key components to that team were St. Louisans Trae Anderson and Cornell Johnston.
Hazelwood Central’s Anderson led the team in scoring and landed on the OVC’s second team, all-conference team and all-newcomer team. Not bad for a virtual walk-on. Anderson averaged over 13 points and almost five rebounds per game.
Ladue High’s Cornell Johnson was the league’s Freshman of the Year and joined Anderson on the all-newcomer team. The Panther point guard led the OVC in 3-point shooting percentage and was third in assists (4.7). The left-handed speed demon is set for another great run.
Two other St. Louis area players are coming to Charleston. St. Charles High’s Casey Teson and Fort Zumwalt South’s Marshawn Blackmon are two fresh difference makers for EIU. Teson is a tremendous shooter and Blackmon a terrific athlete.
Spoonhour says college basketball is full of surprises and he couldn’t have predicted the great success of last year’s St. Louis players, but he knows this year’s crop brings something special with them.
Austin Peay
Head Coach Dave Loos coached high school basketball in St. Louis and continues to have strong ties to the area. Sophomore Josh Robinson (St. Mary’s) was a truly special freshman. The 6’3″ guard averaged just under 10 points per game and shot 44 % from long distance.
Two others from St. Louis will be Governors this season. Webster Groves’ Stephen Harris and Fort Zumwalt North’s Zach Glotta will make strong bids for playing time. Glotta was an all-state performer and is a coach’s son. He and Harris were AAU teammates. Loos says both players have a chance to make an impact in Clarksville.
Southern Illinois Edwardsville
New Cougar coach Jon Harris didn’t have to go far to add some St. Louis area talent to his SIUE roster. Three players came from Edwardsville High School and two of them were the coach’s nephews. Tre and Jordan Harris, and Josh White were Tiger teammates. Tre is transferring in from Kansas State and will be ineligible this season. Jordan is a 6’1″ freshman and White a 6’3″ transfer from South Dakota State.
Carlos Anderson played against the younger Harris in the highly respected Southwestern Conference. He was from the same school that produced Austin Peay’s Townser, Alton High.
Coach Harris says he believes it’s important to build a fence around the immediate area and get as much St. Louis area talent as possible.
Tennessee State
Another impact freshman last season was Tennessee State’s Darreon Reddick. The 6’4″ guard from Belleville East averaged almost eight points and 3.6 assists per game for the Tigers.
The OVC is a league on the rise and helping that plane take off are a lot of St. Louis area players. Cameron Biedscheid and others will make their mark and the conference will be better for it.
Do Good
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.@SEMOMBB wins at home and is 2-0, tied with @MSUEaglesMBB atop the @OVCSports. Our prayers are with the @LRTrojans after the death of one of their managers Josh Claxton. Their game with EIU was postponed today.
Good officiating in the @SEMOMBB/@SIUEMBB in a little late game dust up.
BTW, @LindenwoodWBB is 2-0. @CoachAmyEagan has that program headed the right direction.
With @SkyhawkHoops winning on the road and @LUMensBball winning at home, right now, 5 @OVCSports teams are 1-1.
