An offseason of massive upheaval in Missouri Valley Conference basketball came into focus a bit more this week.
There are five new MVC coaches and several teams were gutted by transfer portal losses.
Here are some observations from the MVC summer Zoom call with league coaches.
Dealing with loss
Drake, Belmont, Southern Illinois, Indiana State and Missouri State were hit particularly hard with portal departures.
“You feel like there was a lot of turnover, and I realize in this conference there was a whole lot of turnover,” Illinois State coach Ryan Pedon said. “We’re actually pretty fortunate in that regard.”
Illinois State basketball coach Ryan Pedon wasn’t hit as hard with transfer portal losses as many of his Missouri Valley Conference rivals.
CLAY JACKSON, THE PANTAGRAPH
Drake hired Iowa native Ben McCollum away from Division II power Northwest Missouri State to replace Darian DeVries, who left for West Virginia.
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“We had to get 10, essentially 12, new players and try to acclimate them to how we want things done,” said McCollum. “We tried to make sure to prioritize character, toughness and effort and make sure we create connectivity early on. We do have talent. I’m definitely excited about this group.”
New Southern coach Scott Nagy is feeling better about how the Salukis closed their eight-week summer session.
“The first seven weeks I was very discouraged. They were not getting any of it,” Nagy said. “The final week some of the stuff was starting to sink in. I felt like that was what I was used to seeing. There is still a lot of work to do in establishing the type of culture we want.”
Belmont coach Casey Alexander lost his top three scorers from a 20-13 team in Ja’Kobi Gillespie (17.2 points), Malik Dia (16.9) and Cade Tyson (16.2).
“They were really good players, but it wasn’t enough to win in this league,” said Alexander. “We wanted to get older. All five of our new players from the portal are fourth-year guys. We’re excited about that part.”
Matthew Graves was promoted from assistant to head coach at Indiana State after Josh Schertz took the top job at Saint Louis. Graves was previously a head coach at South Alabama from 2013-18.
The Sycamores are without their top six scorers from last season’s 32-7 team
“It’s a challenging deal,” Graves said. “We have a really young team. The key to success is having that continuity. That’s why we wanted to load up with a lot of young guys and try to retain them.”
Cuonzo Martin is back as head coach at Missouri State, which will play its final season in the Valley before bolting to Conference USA. Martin coached the Bears from 2008-11 before moving on for stints at Tennessee, California and Missouri.
“The thing we’re trying to find most is the will to win,” said Martin. “I feel great about our guys, and I feel great about our chemistry. It’s a true joy to be around these guys. I think we have the parts to be very successful.”
Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson, the dean of MVC head coaches, said fretting about the transfer portal won’t do anyone any good.
“You don’t have time to sit around and be frustrated, feel sorry for yourself. This is part of it now,” Jacobson said. “We moved on quickly and got to work. We added four players in the portal we feel great about.”
ISU schedule nearly done
According to Pedon, the ISU nonconference schedule is nearly complete.
“We have one game left to schedule, and that’s a non Division I game,” Pedon said. “That’s been a real issue for a lot of teams. We’re glad to have the heavy lifting behind us with regard to scheduling. It should be announced some time in the next week or two.”
Bradley basketball coach Brian Wardle talks with Darrell Brown during a 2020 Missouri Valley Conference game against Illinois State.
LEWIS MARIEN, THE PANTAGRAPH
Bradley coach Brian Wardle lamented the Braves still have two games to finalize to complete their schedule.
“We may not fill them, to be honest,” said Wardle. “Scheduling is hard already and it seems to be getting harder and harder. I’m hoping we can fill our schedule, but we’ll see though.
Back at Bradley
Wardle welcomed back 6-foot-6 Zek Montgomery, who is back at Bradley after a year at Rhode Island.
“He didn’t have the ball in his hands a lot there,” Wardle said. “We won a league championship with him starting. He’s a big guard who can score and make plays.
“We left on good terms. We were sad to see him go, but you always leave the door open. You never know what will happen with the portal. We’re happy to have him back. I think he will be a huge piece of our team.”
The Braves could be the preseason MVC favorite with Montgomery added to returning starters Duke Deen and Darius Hannah.
Jackson fine with 11
MVC commissioner Jeff Jackson said the conference is not in a rush to replace Missouri State. The departure of the Bears will take the Valley from 12 to 11 teams for 2024-25 unless another school is brought aboard.
“It’s amazing how many people struggle with 11. I’ve never struggled with 11,” Jackson said. “I don’t think there is going to be much changed in our presidents and chancellors looking at membership. I think we’re in great shape.”
Jackson added the Valley is “always proactive” especially with the additions of Belmont, Illinois-Chicago and Murray State for the 2022-23 season.
“I feel very comfortable being at 11. It’s a happy number. Will it be the number?” said Jackson. “It’s something you can work with. If there is an opportunity for us to improve by adding a certain institution, I would think our board would take that into account.”
The MVC currently plays a 20-game conference schedule with each team playing two other league teams just once. An 11-team league would allow the conference to return to a full round robin format.
“One of the things I’ve learned over the past three, four, five years is those dominoes are going to fall when they fall,” Jacobson said. “I really trust our leadership going back to (former commissioner) Doug (Elgin) and his staff and now Jeff and his staff. They are obviously tracking it, and they’re going to make the best decisions they can to move our league forward.
“I don’t have an answer whether I think 11 is best, 12 is best or dropping down to 10. They will make the decision that is best for our league to get more teams in the NCAA Tournament.”
Follow Randy Reinhardt on Twitter: @Pg_Reinhardt
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Publish date : 2024-08-06 11:00:00
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