Primarily a collection of news links about all 12 Missouri Valley League teams on a daily basis, culled from online newspapers, school athletic websites, the conference website, and school newspapers, plus some other content from time to time.
45. The only school celebrating 100 seasons as a program in 2017-18: Loyola of Chicago. The Ramblers are the dark horse pick in the Missouri Valley, which no longer has Wichita State sitting on its iron throne.
It’s Sept. 23 and we’re just 48 days from opening day.
Thanks to the brilliance of Chris Schutte, we arrive at 48 minutes, the length of an NBA game. This leads to never not-interesting question: which mid-major stars have a chance at playing in the world’s best 48 minute game next season?
Here are some players that will have scouts watching in 2017-18:
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Alize Johnson, Missouri State. The athletic senior forward’s return makes the Bears a favorite in the post-Shockers Missouri Valley. He dominated last year, finishing first in defensive rebounding percentage and second in offensive rebounding percentage in league play, while getting to the free throw line 107 times. And Johnson beat out even the most elite of the 2018 prospects in being named MVP of Adidas Nations this summer.
Fletcher, whose brother played NAIA basketball, picked up a scholarship offer from Kansas State last weekend. The Wildcats join Missouri State and a host of other low and mid-majors that have offered Fletcher.
I’m not sure if we’ll a team assert itself as a dominant force at the level that the Shockers were during this decade. If anything, we’ll see more parity, which could be a good thing for the conference. Northern Iowa, Valparaiso (albeit in the Horizon League), and Illinois State to an extent have all found decent levels of success in recent years. Will they dominate year in and year out like Wichita State did? Probably not, but it shouldn’t be a surprise if those are some of the schools that end as regular contenders in the Valley.
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What's your favorite kind of cupcakes: Chocolate, Vanilla or Valpo's non-con schedule?
I don’t actually like cupcakes or cake of any kind, really. That being said, Valparaiso’s non-conference schedule isn’t anything to write home about, but it’s not terrible. Road games against Purdue and Northwestern are nice gets. Utah State, UNCW, Kent State and Santa Clara were all top-150 in KenPom last year. I personally think Ball State will be the best team in the MAC this year. Sure, there’s cupcakes on there, but it’s definitely not as bad as it could be.
Illinois State Redbirds (MVC) vs. South Carolina Gamecocks (SEC), 11:30 a.m. (ESPN2)
Boise State Broncos (MW) vs. UTEP Miners (C-USA), approx. 2 p.m. (ESPNU)
Iowa State Cyclones (Big 12) vs. Appalachian State Mountaineers (Sun Belt), 5:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
Tulsa Golden Hurricane (American) vs. Western Michigan Broncos (MAC), approx. 8 p.m. (ESPN3)
Semifinals (Nov. 17)
Nov. 10: Presbyterian at Tennessee (Tennessee); UMBC at SMU (SMU)
Nov. 12: Chicago State at Purdue, 4 p.m. (BTN) (Chicago State); UMBC at Arizona (Arizona)
Nov. 16: Presbyterian at N.C. State (N.C. State)
Nov. 18: Chicago State at Northern Iowa
Nov. 19: Nicholls State at Western Kentucky (WKU)
TBA: Nicholls State at Villanova (Jon Rothstein via Twitter)
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Savannah Invitational
Nov. 11, 19, 21: Campus sites
Nov. 24-25: Savannah, Ga.
Nov. 24-26: Birmingham, Ala. (Samford)
Hosts’ Day 1 (Nov. 24)
Loyola of Chicago Ramblers (MVC) vs. UNCW Seahawks (CAA), 5 p.m.
Valparaiso Crusaders (MVC) vs. Kent State Golden Flashes (MAC), approx. 7:30 p.m.
Hosts’ Day 2 (Nov. 25)
Loyola of Chicago vs. Kent State, 5 p.m.
Valparaiso vs. UNCW, approx. 7:30 p.m.
Visitors’ Round-Robin
Nov. 24
Southeastern Louisiana Lions (Southland) at Samford Bulldogs (SoCon)
Nov. 25
Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils (SWAC) vs. Southeastern Louisiana
Nov. 26
Mississippi Valley State at Samford
On-Campus Games
Nov. 11: North Carolina Wesleyan (Non-D1) at UNCW (UNCW)
Nov. 19: Mississippi Valley State at Kent State (Kent State); Samford at Loyola of Chicago (Samford)
Nov. 21: Southeastern Louisiana at Kent State; Samford at Valparaiso; Mississippi Valley State at Loyola of Chicago (MVSU)
Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic
Dec. TBA: Campus sites
Dec. 22-23: Las Vegas
Hosts’ Day 1 (Dec. 22)
San Francisco Dons (WCC) vs. Duquesne Dukes (A 10) (Duquesne)
Southern Illinois Salukis (MVC) vs. Nevada Wolf Pack (MW) (matchup from Reno Gazette-Journal)
Hosts’ Day 2 (Dec. 23)
San Francisco vs. Nevada
Southern Illinois vs. Duquesne
Visitors’ Semifinals (Dec. 22)
North Carolina A&T Aggies (MEAC) vs. Radford Highlanders (Big South) (Radford)
Lamar Cardinals (Southland) vs. UC Davis Aggies (Big West)
Visitors’ Finals (Dec. 23)
Championship:
Consolation:
On-Campus Games
Dec. 14: UC Davis at San Francisco (San Francisco)
Dec. 17: North Carolina A&T at Duquesne (Duquesne); Lamar at Southern Illinois (Southern Illinois); Radford at Nevada (Nevada)
Dec. 19: Lamar at Duquesne; North Carolina A&T at Southern Illinois: Radford at San Francisco; UC Davis at Nevada
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Conference Challenges
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(MVC)
Nov. 28: Loyola of Chicago at Boise State; Utah State at Valparaiso; Colorado State at Missouri State
Nov. 29: UNLV at Northern Iowa; Air Force at Indiana State; Illinois State at Nevada; Evansville at New Mexico
Dec. 2: San Jose State at Southern Illinois; Drake at Wyoming; Bradley at San Diego State
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Sioux Falls Showcase
Dec. 2: Sioux Falls, S.D. (South Dakota State)
Missouri State vs. South Dakota State, 8 p.m. (MidCo SN)
Green is listed as a point guard, but he can shoot the lights out and may be just as valuable off the ball. As a shooter, he is disciplined, creative, and accurate. As a point guard, he can drive, pass, and set up. While Big Ten schools like Minnesota and Nebraska pursued him, Green opted for the Missouri Valley, where the competition is suddenly wide open after Wichita State’s departure. It helps that Green’s father, Kyle, is an assistant for Ben Jacobson, but regardless, the MVC is getting an impact player in the backcourt.
Boise State has added much needed depth at point guard with the addition of Lexus Williams. Story: https://t.co/JfZqduxhYo
— BlueTurfSports.com (@BlueTurfSports) June 8, 2017
The Broncos have a lot going for them in 2017-18. Mainly, the return of Chandler Hutchison, an athletic wing that exploded last season (17.4 PPG, 7.8 RPG) and could challenge for MWC Player of the Year. He’ll be flanked by another talented wing in sophomore Justinian Jessup. That’s the good. The bad is that Boise State lost its starting point guard when Paris Austin (12.3 PPG) transferred to Cal. In steps Williams, who started 44 games over three seasons at Valpo. Fordham grad transfer Christian Sengfelder is also important, as he replaces one of the best three-point shooting big men in the country in Nick Duncan. If they can can roughly approximate what Austin and Duncan did last year, the Broncos could find themselves at the top of the MWC.
It’s always good to get the first official visit for one of your top targets, and Valparaiso showed exactly why that’s the case this weekend when they picked up Javon Freeman-Liberty, a Chicago native, following his official visit to campus. A 3-star shooting guard who averaged over 12 points per game on the Nike EYBL circuit for MeanStreets, Freeman-Liberty received strong interest from high-major programs and had planned official visits for Akron and Florida Gulf Coast. These are the type of prospects that Matt Lottich’s staff will have to continue to land if it hopes to enjoy the same success it had in the Horizon League moving up to the Missouri Valley. Here are some highlights of Freeman-Liberty from InTheGymHoops 2.0 on YouTube:
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