MVC – Year of the Freshman

(St. Louis, MO) – The ‘Year of the Freshman’. We’ve heard that phrase all pre-season and all season long. This campaign is supposed to be all about Andrew Wiggins at Kansas and Duke’s Jabari Parker, Aaron Gordon from Arizona and Kentucky’s Julius Randle. Lately, the Jayhawks have another freshman that people are talking about in big man Joel Embiid.

Those players are great and making national noise on almost a nightly basis, but what about the ‘class of 2017’ in the Missouri Valley Conference? Almost none of the freshmen making national news right now will even be in school by summer, so let’s look at the MVC’s ‘year of the freshmen.’

The leader of the band is unquestionably Loyola-Chicago forward Milton Doyle.  All the former Kansas recruit has done is lead the Ramblers in scoring, assists, blocks and he’s second in rebounding and minutes played. The Chicago Public League product is a lock for the Valley’s ‘Freshman of the Year’ award.

Head Coach Porter Moser says, he has done everything you could want of first year player.

 

Indiana State Head Coach Greg Lansing says Doyle is one of the most talented freshmen in the country.

 

Evansville has three very solid first year players in Jaylon Brown, Duane Gibson and Head Coach Marty Simmons’ son Blake. Simmons says Doyle is as talented a freshman as there is in the nation.

 

Blake Simmons is second on the Purple Aces in scoring, while Gibson leads Evansville in assists and Brown is the leader in steals. Those three are the foundation that Simmons is building around their cornerstone, sophomore D.J. Balentine. The Kokomo, Indiana native leads the MVC in scoring and is among the nation’s top point producers.

The surprising Illinois State Redbirds have several freshmen in the fold, but the leader of the pack is their big, rugged center Reggie Lynch. Head Coach Dan Muller played a post position in the MVC and knows what it takes to succeed. He believes Lynch, who leads the Valley in blocked shots can be a force when he learns how to stay out of foul trouble.

 

Missouri State has some talented youngsters too. Austin Ruder is one of the most prolific first year three point shooters in league history and Tyler McCullough is already a strong contributor in the MSU post.

Head Coach Paul Lusk says freshmen have to make adjustments and grow into the game.

 

We haven’t talked about SIUC’s Sean O’Brien or Northern Iowa’s Jeremy Morgan, Missouri State’s Devon Thomas or Drake’s Blake Danielak and Jacob Jenson, but the MVC has as good a crop of freshmen as I have seen in announcing and reporting on the league.

There are some great St. Louis area recruits coming into the conference next year and Illinois State has Deontae Hawkins in the pipe line for next season. Hawkins was a Wichita State signee that ended up in Normal and is sitting out the season. He comes to the MVC with great expectations.

Do Good