Looking For an Education

Seven Early Season Games

(St. Louis, MO) – I’m looking for an education! After talking to coaches and reading reports, I really want to know if the teams we cover are any good. Reading previews (even my own) only gets you so far. Even watching games on television isn’t the same as seeing teams and players, in person and in action.

So here are seven early season games that will help me learn about the teams we spend the most time covering. Thankfully, several of the teams are weaving into my area and I can get a good view from several perspectives on the Missouri Valley and Ohio Valley Conferences and on Saint Louis U.

Heavy Weight MVC/OVC Clashes

The OVC’s top two teams are traveling close enough to me that I have to go see them early in the year.

November 6 – Belmont @ Illinois State

Preseason OVC favorite Belmont visits the revamped Redbirds of Illinois State. Even in a rebuilding year of sorts for ILS, the talent in Normal, Illinois will be a difficult road challenge for first-year Bruin head coach Casey Alexander.

Belmont was an NCAA Tournament team last season and returns 6’11 sophomore Nick Muszynski and outstanding point guard Grayson Murphy. Transfer Tyler Scanlon balances the attack. The Bruins are looking for their 10th straight 20-plus win season.

Dan Muller’s team is practically brand new, but they are not young. Transfers Jaycee Hillsman, Keith Fisher III and Dedric Boyd are talented and proven Division 1 players.

December 3 – Murray State @ Missouri State

The defending OVC champion Racers travel to Springfield, Missouri to tangle with the highly talented and preseason MVC favorite Bears.

Missouri State is loaded with D1 transfers with proven track records and they feed off head coach Dana Ford’s intensity and attention to detail.

Murray State is figuring out ‘life after Ja’ as they sent all-world guard Ja Morant to the NBA, but the Racers are still very talented. Tevin Brown, leads a large group of returners who are hungry to prove they too, are good players.

These two games will give this writer a great sense of how our two leagues compare. There are other crossover games, but these two are of major importance.

SLU Welcomes Important Foes

November 9 – Valparaiso

Speaking of improved teams with D1 transfers, Valparaiso visits Saint Louis. The Crusaders have returners Ryan Fazekas and Javon Freeman-Liberty joining forces with transfers Eron Gordon and Nick Robinson and should be greatly improved.

November 17 – Seton Hall

An early season game with Seton Hall is huge for the Billikens and will give us a great look into the new-look SLU squad against an elite level team. Seton Hall is a top-20 team, led by all-American guard Myles Powell.

November 23 – Belmont

We get a second look at the Bruins as they visit Chaifetz Arena. Seeing the Bruins against an A-10 squad will be informative. How Alexander has landed his rotation by then will be fun to watch.

December 1 – Southern Illinois

First-year coach Bryan Mullins brings the Salukis to St. Louis for a game with the Billikens. SLU has done a great job of playing SIU, Southeast Missouri, Missouri State and SIUE. These regional rivalries are great for the fans of those regional programs.

Billiken Make Up

Jordan Goodwin (Althoff Catholic) and Hasahn French lead a Billiken team that lost a lot of talent from last year’s NCAA Tournament team. Those two play nasty defense and this is now their team. Goodwin scores (10.5 ppg), rebounds (7.5 rpg), assists (123) and steals (66). He has been named to the A-10’s preseason, third team, all-conference team.

French scores (9.3), rebounds (8.4) and blocks shots (66). He was a third-team all A-10 player and earned his way on the conference’s all-defensive team. He has been named to the preseason second team squad from the A-10. Hometown recruits Yuri Collins (St. Mary’s) and Terrence Hargrove (East St. Louis) will just be getting their feet wet in the D1 game.

SIUE Welcomes the Crusaders

New head coach Brian Barone also welcomes Valparaiso to our area. Neither Valpo nor Southern Illinois Edwardsville are rated very highly in their leagues. Both were picked second last in preseason polls.

Both are better than that.

This writer does not believe Valpo will finish ninth in the Valley, nor will SIUE finish 11^th in the OVC.

This early season game will be a good measuring stick for each team.

The Cougars return Brandon Jackson, Teresse Williford and Cameron Williams from last year’s team and have some solid incoming talent.

These seven games will give ValleyHoopsInsider.com an education as to how the Ohio Valley and Missouri Valley Conferences measure up to one another and to Saint Louis University. They will also give us an early season read on the 2019-20 destiny for SLU.

Do Good