Great Expectations

(St. Louis, MO) – No two players in recent history have entered the Missouri Valley Conference with as much fanfare and expectation as Deontae Hawkins and Milton Doyle. Now midway into the season, the question has to be asked.

Are they the transformational players we thought they were?

Both players took unique routes to their current schools. Hawkins originally signed with Wichita State and ended up at Illinois State. Doyle initially signed with Kansas and landed at Loyola.

There was such turmoil about Hawkins moving from one Valley school to another that Commissioner Dough Elgin had to rule on his status and whether he would even play against WSU on two different occasions. MVC coaches reacted to the first ruling so significantly that Elgin chose to reconsider.

A Chicago native, Doyle was enrolled at Kansas, but never attended a class and wanted to play close to home and liked what Porter Moser was doing with the Ramblers.

Hawkins

‘Teddy’ Hawkins is a work in progress, but shows great upside. His 10 point scoring average and his penchant for shooting threes (he has attempted 64 in the opening 15 games) are a bit of an enigma for Valley watchers. As a 6’8 athletic wing, you find yourself wanting more from him. You expect him to take over games athletically and assert his will on games.

Recently he has seemed to have greater belief in his ability and his growing role in Dan Muller’s rotation. The transfer of big man Reggie Lynch in the offseason seems to have affected the entire Redbird team, that is only now starting to figure out how they play without the 6’10 shot blocking machine. Hawkins and MiKyle McIntosh seem to be realizing they are important parts of the plan.

Head Coach Dan Muller says Hawkins has been his most consistent player, “We’ve had some ups and downs this year and that’s why we have the record we have. We haven’t had a whole lot of consistency with a whole lot of guys. Deontae has been a guy who has been very consistent.”

Doyle

By all accounts, Doyle is the quintessential ‘team player’. Doyle leads the Ramblers in scoring and assists and is second in rebounds and blocked shots. Injury problems last season limited his overall achievements and the lineup around him has been different this season. Porter Moser’s team misses last year’s ‘alpha dog’ Christian Thomas and he is looking for his best players to play well.

“We have to get our leaders playing well. Milt twisted his angle at Notre Dame and he is probably struggling with the ankle more mentally than physically because of last year. He was so good for us last year and we have to get him to that level again and we have all the confidence in the world that we will get him there,” said Porter.

One other sophomore with high expectations is Wichita State’s Conner Francamp. He just became eligible at the semester after his transfer from Kansas. The Wichita native struggled early this season, but has seemed to improve with each game.

“With 10-15,000 people collectively holding their breath every time you pulled the trigger hoping the shot would go in, and then it didn’t and there was a large groan,” said Marshall. “That has subsided a little bit and he’s getting more comfortable each and every game.”

Hawkins, Doyle and Francamp, three players that will largely decide the balance of power in the MVC.

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