Versatility = Success in the Missouri Valley Conference

(St. Louis, MO) – Baseball has five tool players and college basketball has ‘stat stuffers’. A player that can score, dish, rebound and defend is a rare breed, and when a coach has a player he can lean on in any situation, that helps a team succeed. Certain players in the Missouri Valley Conference, Milton Doyle of Loyola, Sean O’Brien of Southern Illinois, Missouri State’s Alize Johnson, Wichita State’s Markis McDuffie and preseason player of the year Jeremy ‘Captain’ Morgan are as versatile and reliable as a team could want.

Milton Doyle – Loyola Ramblers

“Doyle is a 6’5 point guard” according to Missouri State head coach Paul Lusk. Doyle leads the Ramblers (16-7, 6-4) in scoring (15.9 per game), assists, blocked shots and is second in rebounding. The Chicago native graduated in December and continues to take classes at Loyola, where his head coach Porter Moser says he is the consummate leader.

 

Missouri State head coach Lusk, who has one of the most versatile players in the league in Johnson, says Doyle is a difficult match up for any team.

 

 

Alize Johnson – Missouri State

It’s easy to think of Johnson as an inside power forward when you see his scoring and rebounding numbers, but then you watch him play and look at his three-point numbers you realize how difficult he is to defend. His .397 percentage from deep belies his power forward position.

Johnson scores (14.9 ppg), leads the MVC in rebounding (10.7 rpg) and coaches tell me he has a high motor. Loyola head coach Porter Moser says Johnson an electrifying player.

 

 

Johnson is the odds-on favorite to win the Valley’s ‘Newcomer of the Year’ award.

Sean O’Brien – Southern Illinois

Barry Hinson’s ‘Swiss-Army-Knife’ is Sean O’Brien. The 6’7 senior leads the Salukis in rebounding (8.0 per game), third in scoring (11.9), second in assists and first in heart and leadership. O’Brien has played through injuries his entire career and this season he is greatly limited at practice so that he can be full throttle during the games.

In mid December, I witnessed a 22 point, nine rebound and nine assist game against Southern Illinois Edwardsville, that was jaw-dropping. Saturday the Mundelein, Illinois native registered a similar feat with 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists. His six double-doubles lead the Salukis. Johnson’s 13 such feats, including seven during league play, lead the Valley.

Head coach Barry Hinson says O’Brien’s intangibles play as big a role on the Saluki team as the points that he scores.

 

 

Markis McDuffie – Wichita State

Like some of the others on this list, McDuffie combines, talent, size, versatility and work ethic to create the many dimensions of his game. As a 6’8 ‘small forward’ McDuffie is too big for smaller wings and too quick for the taller ones. His ability to defend (he has the second most steals on the Shocker team), score from outside (.404 from deep) and rebound (he’s second at 5.5 per game) combine to make him a threat at all times. He leads the Shockers (12.5 ppg) in scoring and is growing into his enormous potential.

Drake head coach Jeff Rutter says while there are a lot of talented players on this year’s WSU squad, McDuffie’s length and talent make him impossible to defend.

 

 

Shocker head coach Gregg Marshall says McDuffie’s versatility comes in handy, and he is working with the sophomore to become even more efficient, by slowing the game down.

 

 

Jeremy ‘Captain’ Morgan – Northern Iowa

There have been endless stories written about ‘Captain Morgan’ but as the Panthers struggled, and have now reemerged as a threat in the Valley, his brilliance is seen even more. Early in the season, he carried the load of a struggling team, but with the emergence of Bennett Koch and Klint Carlson, Morgan has been able to go back to filling the box scores in numerous ways, because other teammates are contributing.

His wide-ranging numbers are practically historic. He leads the Panthers in scoring, rebounds, assists, blocked shots AND steals. He could become just the second collegiate player in the last 20 years (Shane Battier) to average at least 10 points (15.9), five rebounds (6.0), two steals (2.2), 1.5 blocks (1.35) and two three pointers (2.0) for an entire season.

‘The Captain’ plays the point, plays in the post and defends like a demon. Illinois State head coach Dan Muller says Morgan can do it all.

 

 

The Valley prides itself on ‘complete players’ and there many others we could add to this list, like Paris Lee and Deontae Hawkins at Illinois State and Wichita State’s Landry Shamet, but these five stand out and if the league gave out a ‘Scottie Pippen Award’ for the most versatile in the conference, these five would be contending for the title.

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