Who Will Be the MVC Player of the Year?

(St. Louis, MO) – Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet keep taking turns being named to All-American teams and VanVleet  is the pre-season Missouri Valley Player of the Year, but who will be the end of the season POY?

Clearly those two Wichita State guards are spectacular and will have a following nationally and across the Valley, but who could challenge “Double Trouble”?

There are a few major candidates.

Evansville’s D.J. Balentine led the Valley and finished seventh in the national scoring race. The 6’2 junior guard averaged over 22 points a night and is poised to blow even larger in 2014-15. Balentine will have a deeper team to support him and he won’t have to handle the ball as often.

Balentine can shoot from long range (.398) and can slash to the lane. He believes his growing team will have greater success this season. When you think of Balentine think young Michael Jordan before the Bulls went on their championship runs.

Seth Tuttle is making a bid as the only senior in the conversation. The Northern Iowa big man finished last season playing his best basketball. He finished the season as the Valley’s second leading rebounder (8.0) and  sixth in scoring (15.4). At 6’8 and in the best shape in his life Tuttle could be one of those box score fillers that leads a balanced and deep team to a lot of wins. Think Kevin McHale on those old Celtic teams.

 

But a dark horse in this race is the mythological Deontae Hawkins from Illinois State. Hawkins was originally signed by Wichita State but was a non-qualifier. He followed then assistant coach Dana Ford to the Redbird program. Hawkins is such a talent that the Shockers protested loudly.

Originally Hawkins was going to sit out games against WSU and after much haranguing by other league coaches,  Commissioner Doug Elgin changed gears and decided Hawkins would be eligible in all Valley contests.

As a high school senior Hawkins ranked as the 48^th best forward in the country and the fourth best player in the state of Ohio. At 6’8 and highly athletic Hawkins is a unique MVC talent. Observers in Normal report ‘Teddy’ can do special things.  As a 21-year-old freshman, he is also ‘a grown man’. Think of a young Kansas Jayhawk named Paul Pierce.

His head coach Dan Muller says that Hawkins leads a large group of newcomers at Illinois State.

 

There are other candidates like Anthony Beane at Southern Illinois, Missouri State’s Marcus Marshall and Bradley’s incoming transfer (Illinois) Mike Shaw. The talent is deep and athletic in the Valley this season.

What about Baker and VanVleet? Head Coach Gregg Marshall says those two and guard Tekele Cotton are great competitors.

You would be foolish to vote against those two Shockers, but if you did, and you chose Balentine or Tuttle or Hawkins you wouldn’t be far off.

Do Good