Impact Players From the Big East to the MVC

(St. Louis, MO) – Who are the new impact players that will help their Missouri Valley Conference teams take a run at Loyola? They might all be from the Big East Conference. After the Ramblers’ won 32 games, the Valley championship and made a run to the Final Four, other MVC teams are looking for answers.

There are new recruits and transfers that could make several teams contenders in this year’s Valley race. Newly eligible transfers will play a significant role in resurgences at Indiana State, Illinois State, Missouri State  and Valparaiso.

One of the most celebrated freshmen in recent memory could lead the charge at Northern Iowa.

Now Eligible Transfers

Three impact players from the Big East Conference will play big MVC roles this year. Indiana State’s Cooper Neese, Valparaiso’s Ryan Fazekas and Missouri State’s Jarred Ridder transferred to their respective schools last season. All three are expected to be stand out this year.

Fazekas transferred from Providence, Neese from Butler and Ridder from Xavier.

Ryan Fazekas

Fazekas may be the most accomplished of these impact players. The 6’8 junior made 19 starts and played in 58 games during his time with the Friars. He was a dominant high school performer for Marquette Catholic (Indiana) and recorded 56 three-pointers at Providence.

Head coach Matt Lottich is excited about Valparaiso’s second season in the Valley. Lottich has a large group of returning players, an exciting freshman and the proven abilities of Ryan Fazekas.

 

 

Cooper Neese

Neese is another Indiana native that left the Big East to return to his roots. During his senior season, he was the Indiana State prep scoring scoring champion and a finalist for the Indiana ‘Mr. Basketball‘ award. He originally signed with Butler, but transferred to ISU before playing a game with the Bulldogs. The 6’4 guard scored 2,496 high school points and is poised to be an impact player for head coach Greg Lansing.

Lansing says hardworking sophomore Tyreke Key and Neese will be impact players on this year’s Sycamore team.

 

 

Jared Ridder

Like Neese, Ridder was a Big East signee that never played with the team. The Springfield-Kickapoo graduate transferred to Missouri State before ever practicing with Xavier. Ridder’s senior year was capped off by being named the ‘Mr. Show-Me Basketball‘ player. He is the all-time leading scorer at Kickapoo.

Ridder set the Kickapoo scoring record with 1,628 points while leading his team to a record of 55-8. The 6’4 Ridder buried 73 three-pointers while making nearly 58 percent of all his field goal attempts.

Other Emerging Stars

Impact players abound in the league, including the on again, off again arrival of Zach Copeland at Illinois State and the integration of Matt Chastain gives ISU an impressive starting five.

Zach Copeland & Matt Chastain

Copeland originally sighed with the Redbirds last of season, but academic issues kept him away from Normal, Illinois. Now eligible, Copeland is ready to do special things in a Redbird uniform. Copeland was a star for City College of San Francisco.

The 6’4 wing is a an explosive performer who scored 18.7 points per game and connected on 47.7 percent of his three-point attempts.

Chastain started his collegiate career at Loyola after scoring over 2,000 prep points at LeRoy High School. Chastain scored 3.7 points per game over three games with the Ramblers.

ISU head coach Dan Muller says Copeland and Chastain add something the Redbirds were missing last season.

 

 

A. J. Green

Northern Iowa’s A. J. Green is one of the most decorated incoming freshmen in recent memory. The 4-star, home grown recruit has Panther fans  salivating at the possibilities of having such a talent on the roster.

Head coach Ben Jacobson says Green adds an electric dimension to his UNI team. The 6’4 guard was an all-state performer with a polished game.

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