Who Won the Valley’s Recruiting Battle?

(St. Louis, MO) – Is the Missouri Valley Conference poised for a great basketball season? If you look at the returning talent and recruiting done by MVC coaches, you have to expect some big things from the Valley.

Some great players are coming into the MVC, but which team bagged the biggest prize? Which Valley team is ready for the largest bump in talent level? Bradley grabbed a top 100 recruit, Southern Illinois loaded up on St. Louis area talent and Evansville was active in the Junior College world, but who scored the recruiting coup de grass?

Wichita State has a great core coming back from last year’s 35-1 team and Gregg Marshall’s staff was extremely active in the fall signing period and have re-stocked some critical roster spots. They will be the cream of the crop in the MVC again in 2014-15. The signing a pair of 6’7”, three-star recruits Zach Bush and Rashard Kelly will help replace Chadrack Lufile and Kadeem Coleby. Replacing Cleanthony Early is more difficult.

Weber’s staff believes Darius Carter and red-shirted Shaq Morris and Ria’n Holland can combine to pick up that slack and the nucleus of Fred VanVleet, Ron Baker and Tekele Cotton will carry the team to great heights.

Bradley seems to be the team with the most upward mobility. Geno Ford’s team is already better with last year’s addition of Illinois’ Mike Shaw. After sitting out 2013-14 the 6’8” junior is already established as a leader in both the character and skill questions surrounding the Braves.

Shaw was a top 100 recruit out of Chicago De La Salle and this year the Braves have added another top 100 talent in Josh Morgan from Chicago Morgan Park. Ford’s staff is bringing more talent to ‘The Hill Top’ than any time in the last 15 years.  Outstanding junior college point guard Tramique Sutherland gives Bradley their first true point in several years. Those three players will give Bradley a needed change from last year’s 12 – 22 team.

Evansville’s well documented junior class headed by the Valley’s leading scorer (D. J. Balentine) and rebounder (Egidijus Mockevicius) has been joined by two junior college all-americans in guard Taylor Stafford and high flying wing Willie Wiley. Villanova transfer Mislav Brzoja becomes eligible this season. A seven-footer from the University of Nebraska will join the team in 2015. Marty Simmons’ Purple Aces look poised to climb the MVC’s standings.

Southern Illinois has reloaded more Jack Bauer in a fire fight. Barry Hinson’s staff mined the St. Louis area for Edwardsville’s Armon Fletcher, Fort Zumwalt North’s Chaz Glotta and Alton Marquette’s Deion Laender. Those three freshmen are all explosive performers and they will be joined by a physical presence in 6’8” Illinois transfer Ibby Djimde. Add in three-star talent Jordan Caroline from nearby Champaign and you have a stellar influx of Saluki strength. Former Salukis Marcus Fillyaw and Mike Balogun have left the team.

Missouri State picked up prize point guard Shawn Roundtree (Fletcher’s teammate at Edwardsville) late in the Spring signing season. Roundtree joins several highly regarded wings in Chris Kendrix (Willard, MO), Robin Thompson (St. Louis) and JC transfer Camyn Boone.

Northern Iowa has a small incoming group headlined by Virginia transfer Paul Jesperson and Iowa all-stater Wyatt Lohaus. The freshman point guard was a high school teammate of current Panther Jeremy Morgan. The 6’5” Jesperson was a sophomore starter at Virginia where he averaged just under five points per game.

According to ESPN Loyola and Drake have the second and third best recruiting classes (behind Wichita State). Loyola recently signed three-star forward Marlon Jones (Chicago’s Orr Academy) and Drake has picked up three players with multiple stars behind their names.

Illinois State could be the team most ready to surprise. Head Coach Dan Muller is excited about the addition of three junior college players to his extremely young team, but it’s the now eligible duo of Teddy Hawkins and MiKyle McIntosh that excites the Redbird coaches. Both have good size, athleticism and talent. Hawkins originally signed by Wichita State but didn’t academically qualify. After a year at prep school Hawkins then sat out a season in Normal and is now eligible and many expect stardom from the Dayton native.

At Indiana State, the most excitement is reserved for red shirt freshmen Alex Etherington and Brenton Scott.

What does all of this mean? The Valley will be a much better league in 2014-15. The influx of talent on all ten campuses will make the MVC a strong player on the national scene. You could make a case for all ten teams to be greatly improved.

While I believe Wichita State is still the class of the league, the balance of power is moving to the state of Illinois. Bradley and Illinois State will be greatly improved and Loyola will be significantly better. SIU seems to be a year away, but those four schools will be teams that will be fun to watch this year.

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