Let the Season Begin

(St. Louis, MO) – There is great promise surrounding the upcoming Missouri Valley Conference season, and the campaign starts this week, but there are some significant questions to ask as they toss the ball up for the first time this week.

How Quickly Will the Talented Shockers Jell?

Wichita State has the most talented squad in the Missouri Valley Conference, but they failed to impress during their summer Canadian tour and their exhibition victory over Augusta was less than inspiring.

Don’t read too much into those lack luster performances. Head Coach Gregg Marshall is clearly trying to mix and match his players in an effort to find which players can fit which roles. Marshall told me his team is still trying to learn how to ‘play angry’ and how to play their signature tough-minded defense.

Markis McDuffie, Landry Shamet, Conner Frankamp are as talented a trio the Valley has seen in years. Shaq Morris appears to be poised for a huge season and Zach Brown is the closest thing to a Shocker mainstay as there is on the roster. They’ll be very good, but how soon. Their rugged schedule may not allow Marshall the luxury of time to create the needed Shocker culture.

Can the Redbirds Rebound From Distractions?

Illinois State was picked second in the Valley preseason poll. Dan Muller had four returning starters and some talented transfers ready to contribute, but a funny thing happened on the way to MVC prominence.

Tony Wills hasn’t recovered from a sports hernia injury, so the Birds dropped to three returning starters. Then legal problems (alledgedly driving under the influence and with a suspended license) caused the suspension of another starter, the talented Deontae Hawkins. He remains suspended at the time of this writing.

Two other players, newcomer D.J. Clayton and redshirt transfer Milik Yarbrough were arrested in an alledged cell phone robbery. So Muller’s team goes from deep and experienced to thin and untested.

Will the Bears Succeed Early and Often?

Missouri State is loaded with returning players and added three talented newcomers. There is some significant optimism in Springfield, Missouri. With a relatively light non-conference schedule, MSU could post a gaudy record heading into the conference season.

Holdovers Dequon Miller, Chris Kendrix, Obadiah Church, Jarrid Dixon and Ryan Kreklow will be joined by highly regarded Alize Johnson, who scored 24 points in MSU’s exhibition win over Missouri Baptist, Jarred Rhodes and flashy guard Ronnie Rousseau.

If that wasn’t enough to build on, Coach Paul Lusk is seeing the return of three-point expert and former freshman of the year Austin Ruder coming back from hip injury and budding contributor Robin Thompson. Ruder was bombing from deep against MBU. Thompson was impressive at last year’s March Madness tournament.

Have the Baby Braves Turned a Corner?

Brian Wardle’s second season on the Hilltop should be dramatically better than the first. Sophomores Antoine Pittman, Ronnie Suggs, Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye and Luuk van Bree will team with newcomers Darrell Brown and Jayden Hodgson to form a solid nucleus. ‘Old Man’ Donte Thomas (he’s a returning junior) was second in scoring last year and led the Braves in rebounding.

All of the returners played significant minutes last season and the head coach says his former freshmen all had great moments at times, but lacked the consistency he believes his team will enjoy this season.

Bradley’s exhibition win (83-66 over UW-Lacrosse) featured nine three-pointers in just 25 attempts. Suggs led the Braves with three triples. He was one of four BU players scoring in double figures.

Bradley opens the season with three straight at Carver Arena, so there is a chance to start fast and build confidence for the difficult portion of their non-conference schedule. The Braves’ first true road game isn’t until after Thanksgiving when they travel to Lantz Arena for a game with Eastern Illinois.

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