Plugging in the Pieces

Part Three – MVC Recruiting

(St. Louis, MO) – Missouri Valley Conference teams are plugging in the pieces of their 2024-25 rosters. In Part Three of our study of this year’s recruiting classes we take a look at Murray State, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois and Valparaiso’s new players.

During Part One we studied Belmont, Bradley, Drake and Evansville. Part Two gave us a look at Illinois Chicago, Illinois State, Indiana State and Missouri State.

UNI, Murray State and Valparaiso are a blend of new and old players. SIU has a new coach and a largely new roster. While the Panthers, Racers and Beacons all boast of potential all-Valley players, the Salukis are largely an unknown commodity.

Plugging in the pieces for these veteran coaches will go a long way to determining the MVC’s final standings.

Murray State Racers – Coach Steve Prohm

Steve Prohm has won 68 percent of his games at Murray State. During his second tour of duty, however, his two teams have combined to win 29 games and lose 35. The Racers lost several key players to graduation, but they return the very productive JaCobi Wood and Nick Ellington. Wood is one of the Valley’s top point guards and Ellington is an effective post player.

Prohm signed four Division 1 transfers and two highly rated high school players. The four experienced players are all juniors or older. Valley fans know SIU transfer A.J. Ferguson (see Familiar Faces). His fellow transfers are Terance Harcum (Apalachian State), Kylen Milton (Arkansas Pine-Bluff) and Texas Tech’s Kyeron Lindsay.

Prohm is excited about his current recruiting class.

 

Harcum arrives after finishing as a third-team, all-Sun Belt Conference honoree and Milton was a second-teamer in the SWAC. Lindsay was ranked as Texas’ eighth best player when graduating from his Denton, Texas high school.

Prohm is confident that this season’s team is better than last year’s squad.

 

Prohm’s prep players are each 6’7 or taller and three-star performers. Chiang Ring is Minnesota’s twelfth best player and Jordan McCullum is Tennessee’s sixth best hooper. Prohm believes this will be and important season for each rookie. He sees them both as players that can have very good Missouri Valley careers.

 

Northern Iowa Panthers – Ben Jacobson

The ‘portal pandemic’ struck a Northern Iowa team that previously looked like a dominating Missouri Valley Conference team. Winners of 19 games and no graduating seniors on the roster made the Panthers look unbeatable.

Four players with all-conference credentials transferred to new programs and Jacobson and his staff had to rebuild. While Jacobson prefers to build with high school players, UNI dug deep into the portal to restock the Panther talent shelves.

After four years of earning some form of all-conference honors, Bowen Born left for Colorado State. Third team guard Nate Heise departed for Iowa State. Former all-freshman team member Michael Duax transferred to Florida Gulf Coast and former MVC all-bench team member Landon Wolf joined Illinois State.

Jacobson says the new era of college basketball may be uncomfortable, but he and his staff have adjusted and he’s excited about his new team.

 

UNI signed two Division 1 players, three high school players and two others from lower divisions of college basketball. Ben Schwieger (Loyola) was once an Atlantic Ten all-freshman team member and reunites with UNI big man Jacob Hutson. Schwieger was limited by injury to ten games. The 6’6 wing is a proven outside threat who started 26 games as a Rambler freshman.

Perhaps the most intriguing newcomer is Virginia transfer Leon Bond. Coming out of high school, Bond was rated as the State of Wisconsin’s second best player and a top 100 player nationally. After a redshirt year, Bond appeared in 24 contests, averaging 4.1 points.

Jacobson says he is a unique athlete and extremely versatile.

 

Three, high level high school players are coming to Cedar Falls. A pair of 6’8 forwards Will Hornseth and Cade Courbat received top ten rankings in their respective State rankings. Born’s younger and taller brother Redek is following his brother’s footsteps in wearing the Panther uniform. Courbat is also following his older brother. Chase Courbat is a redshirt junior.

Redek Born is Iowa’s top ranked player and Jacobson says the younger Born has a very solid all-round game.

 

Jacobson is adding talented experience from the lower divisions of college basketball. Max Weisbrod (D2 Northern Michigan) and Cael Schmitt (D3 Coe College) are 17 point-per game point guards. Weisbrod is a junior and Schmitt a grad transfer.

Despite their heavy losses, UNI recovered well and enjoy the return of Trey Campbell, Tytan Anderson and Jacob Hutson. The Panthers will be one of the top three or four ranked Valley teams.

Southern Illinois Salukis – Scott Nagy

New coaches bring new rosters, but SIU coach Scott Nagy does have several Missouri Valley veterans on his team. Returners Kennard Davis, Jarrett Hensley and Sheridan Sharp were not ‘prime time players’ but they do bring SIU and Valley experience to this year’s team.

Missouri State transfers  Damien Mayo and Tyler Bey have been around the MVC block. While Bey has only played 18 games, including eight against MVC opponents, Mayo has participated in 60 D1 games starting 38. Mayo’s numbers don’t stand out, but former coach Dana Ford and current coach Nagy each bragged on his leadership and intangibles.

Nagy says Mayo was a player they pursued right away.

 

Bey came to Springfield, Missouri after a stint at the Overtime Elite program and came with big expectations. They didn’t seem to materialize at Missouri State, but Nagy says Bey could be their best ‘shot maker’ and still has a very high ceiling.

 

Nagy’s first recruiting class includes four other D1 transfers, two junior college players with solid backgrounds and two Illinois high school players. Three of the D1 players were double-digit scorers at their last stops.

Texas State’s Davion Sykes (11.2 ppg) is a 6’6 rebounding guard. He grabbed nearly seven boards per game for the Bobcats. After reaching double-digits once during his first eight games, Sykes reached that total in eleven of his final fourteen games.

Nagy says Sykes’ athleticism helps him on both ends of the floor and he can defend multiple positions.

 

Western Athletic Conference second teamer Ali Dibba has scored over 800 collgiate points. He started his career at Chicago State but spent the past two seasons at Abilene Christian.

Grad-transfer Elijah Elliott comes from Texas Rio-Grande Valley. His 16.6 point scoring average is the best among all current Salukis. While his long range game is questionable, he averaged three assists per game.

Drew Steffe redshirted last season at Texas Tech. Some observers believe he is the best of the Saluki crop of new players.

Junior college transfers Jorge Moreno and Antwaun Massey rebounders. The 6’10 Moreno and the 6’6 Massey were each top-60 junior college recruits while averaging over ten points per game and nearly seven rebounds.

Freshmen Jaheem Webber and Isaac Billington are Illinois natives and Nagy has made a priority of recruiting within SIU’s home state. Webber is a three-star, 6’9 center and ranked as Illinois’ eleventh best player. Massey averaged 15 points per game.

Nagy had to recruit a roster for THIS season which meant he had to hit to portal hard. He prefers the traditional way of building a team from the bottom up, but knows college basketball’s current realities don’t lean that direction.

He’s pinning his long term hopes on retaining players he recruits.

 

Nagy has put together a roster of proven Division 1 players. Proving they are good enough collectively to compete in the Valley is their next challenge.

Valparaiso Beacons – Roger Powell Junior

Suddenly Valparaiso is one of the more stable programs. Returning starters Cooper Schwieger, Darius DeaVeiro and Isiah Safford return along with lesser known returners Kaspar Sepp and redshirt guard Lucas Scroggins.

Stafford fought through injury all last season and his availability is still a huge question looming over the Beacon squad.

Schwieger is the reigning ‘Freshman of the Year’ and is joined this season by his twin brother Carson. He is one of five Division 1 transfers joining the Beacon roster. Maryland Eastern Shore transfer Devon Ellis is a Chicago-land area native, who averaged 11.6 points and is one of four former Link Year Academy Beacons. The Schwieger brothers and incoming freshman All Wright attended the Branson, Missouri school.

Powell says Ellis can do more than score. His size (6’7, 225) and athleticism gives the Beacons some better matchup opportunities.

 

The Valpo head coach has a unique relationship with Link Year believes his second Schwieger brother can grow into a significant role on the Beacon team.

 

Isaiah Shaw is 6’7 Grand Canyon transfer. Holy Cross transfer Louth Coulibaly (6’9, 248) brings needed size and experience to the frontcourt and Western Michigan transfer Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro does a little of everything.

The 6’3 guard scores (8.8), rebounds (3.4) and distributes (3.1) and his assist-turnover rate is very solid.

Freshmen guards Justus McNair and Wright are players that could contribute this season, but are firmly in the long-term Valpo plans. Joliet native McNair was Illinois’ 16^th best player and Wright was the sixth best coming out of Missouri.

If Stafford is healthy, and that is a big if, the Beacons could be the Missouri Valley’s surprise team in 2025.

Do Good