What's Up In The Missouri Valley: What's Up In The Missouri Valley 1/28/2025

College basketball midseason reset: Contenders, bubble teams and pesky mid-majors to watch--The Athletic

Mid-majors who could make a run
Drake: First-year coach Ben McCollum, who won four national titles at the Division II level, is at his best in March, and he brought along four of his Northwest Missouri State players who know his formula. The Bulldogs own three wins over high-majors this year. Two of those (Miami and Kansas State) haven’t aged well, but at one (Vanderbilt) has. The Bulldogs take great shots and make it difficult for you to do the same. And Bennett Stirtz (17.7 ppg, 6.5 apg, 2.6 spg) is one of the best mid-major stars in the country. Bradley, currently a game ahead of Drake for first place in the Missouri Valley, is also a team that could be dangerous. Similar to last season when MVC tournament winner Drake made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and MVC regular season champ Indiana State made it to the NIT championship game, this is a league that’s worthy of multiple bids. Don’t hold your breath that the selection committee will agree.

MVC/OVC Repeating Stars--Valley Hoops Insider

Player of the Week Repeating Stars

For the first time all season, a Missouri Valley Conference player has received a second ‘Player of the Week’ award. This week’s first of the repeating stars is Drake’s Bennett Stirtz. The 6’4 junior averaged 21 points, 6.5 assists, 3.5 steals and 3.5 rebounds during the Bulldogs’ (18-2, 8-2) two victories. Stirtz leads the Valley in scoring (17.7 ppg), assists (6.45), assist/turnover ratio (3.58) and steals (2.55).
Crowded Newcomer Race

Belmont’s Carter Whitt joins teammate Jonathan Pierre and Indiana State’s Samage Teel as Valley’s the only multiple ‘Newcomer of the Week’ winners. While Teel has claimed three awards the Belmont duo each have two. Whitt averaged 16 points, 8.5 assists and 5.5 rebounds for the surging Bruins (15-6, 7-3). The 6’3 graduate student is third behind Stirtz and Murray State’s JaCobi Wood averaging 5.1 assists-per-game.
Freshmen Repeating Stars Abound

Gabriel Pozzato is beck! The Evansville rookie missed numerous games with injury and has been working his way back to top shape and last week averaged 17 points and 6.5 rebounds as the Purple Aces split a pair of games. Pozzato won the Valley’s first ‘Freshman of the Week’ award and now joins Valparaiso’s All Wright and Bradley’s Jaquan Johnson as a multi-week honoree.