(St. Louis, MO) – There are big questions on the minds of Valley watchers as pre-season ‘media day’ approaches. Of course Wichita State will be the favorite to repeat as champions and some recognizable names will be placed on the all-conference teams, but after two weeks of practice, will some of the key questions begin to be answered?
Coping With Huge Losses
Wichita State and Evansville each lost two of the greatest players in program history. How do they recover? The answers are as different as the black and gold Shocker uniforms and the purple and orange gear worn in Evansville.
Wichita State re-loads. Despite losing all-americans Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker, the Shockers have serious talent to fill in the holes. Reigning Freshman of the Year Markis McDuffie will have plenty of help coming from red-shirt freshman Landry Shamet, third year starter Shaquille Morris and Kansas transfer Conner Frankamp.
The Shockers are loaded.
It is a different story in Evansville. Marty Simmons’ team lost the league’s leading scorer (D. J. Balentine) and leading rebounder (Egidijus Mockevicius) to graduation. During the offseason, two-year starter Blake Simmons went down with an injury and won’t return this season. Coach Simmons had been grooming Harris Brown to replace Balentine, but Brown left the program. The 10 year head coach has his work cut out for him this season.
Can Illinois State Contend For the Title?
The Redbirds have been on a steady climb in Dan Muller’s four years. They’ve finished sixth (2013), tied for fourth (2014), third (2015) and tied for second last season. There is just one more rung to reach the top of the ladder.
No Valley team outside of the State of Kansas can match ISU for athleticism and no team, other than Missouri State can match their experience. Three of Muller’s returning starters have all-conference potential as Paris Lee, MiKyle McIntosh and Deontae Hawkins all averaged better than 10 points per game last season. Lee was also named to the All-Defense Team. Highly regarded recruits will shore up some depth issues, and they could challenge for the top spot.
Is There a Surprise Team?
Last year Southern Illinois came from seemingly nowhere to win 22 games and contend for an upper level finish. Who will be that team in 2016-17?
Loyola has some good young talent to join with veterans Milton Doyle, Donte Ingram and Ben Richardson. Iowa State transfer Clayton Custer is expected to make some immediate impact in down town Chicago.
Dequon Miller – missouristatebears.com
Missouri State returns virtually everybody from a 13 win team. Newcomer of the Year Dequon Miller, and junior Chris Kendrix return after averaging double figures in scoring, while sophomores-to-be Ryan Krellow, Obadiah Church and Jarred Dixon are ready to blossom after productive first seasons in Springfield.
Maybe last year’s tribe of freshmen Bradley Braves have grown up and are ready to compete.
Can Brenton Scott Carry a Team?
Indiana State’s Brenton Scott is the league’s second leading returning scorer to Drake’s Reed Timmer (16.8 to 14.6 ppg). Can he carry a team with a bunch of players you haven’t heard of.
They have a three-man rotation in the post and another guard in Everett Clemons and a nice energy guy who shoots threes in Matt Van Scyoc, but none of those players are named Jake Odum, Devonte Brown or Khristian Smith who have been the ‘household’ names in Terre Haute for the past half decade.
Scott can do it all, and now he has a chance to pull a team to greater success.
Do Good
Twitter Feed
.@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.
