Shockers clinging to top of MVC

Originally published in USA Today Sports Weekly’s College Basketball Season Preview issue.

By CURRAN McCAULEY

The Missouri Valley Conference was dominated by senior leadership during the 2015-16 campaign. Nine of the ten members of the All-Conference first and second teams were seniors as were seven of the top ten leading scorers.  Despite turnover across the board, the team to beat in the conference remains Wichita State as the Shockers return 2015-16 MVC freshman of the year Markis McDuffie (7.4 ppg) as well as guard Conner Frankamp (6.1 ppg). Landry Shamet will look to make an impact after missing all but three games to injury last season. The incoming freshman class, led by CJ Keyser, will also be expected to contribute immediately.

Northern Iowa will try to return to the NCAA tournament behind Jeremy Morgan (11.3 ppg) and Klint Carlson (7.4 ppg).  Illinois State is a team to watch as Paris Lee (11.1 ppg ) and MiKyle McIntosh (10.9 ppg) are standouts on a balanced squad that may be one year ahead of its time with key transfers Christian Romine (UTEP) and Milik Yarbrough (Saint Louis) sitting out.

Southern Illinois will rely on seniors Sean O’Brien (12.1 ppg) and Mike Rodriguez (8.3 ppg) after losing stalwart scorer Anthony Beane.  Missouri State returns Dequon Miller (12.7 ppg) and Chris Kendrix (12.1 ppg) to a Bears core that is a dark horse contender for a deep conference tournament run and should see the postseason in some form in 2016-17.

Indiana State, the best rebounding team in the conference a season ago, will be buoyed by conference player of the year candidate Brenton Scott (14.6 ppg), but the Sycamores must replace the production of departed leading scorer Devonte Brown.  Loyola hopes that Clayton Custer and Milton Doyle (11.2 ppg) can lead the Ramblers to March.

Evansville is in a bit of a rebuilding mode after reaching the conference title game last season with first-teamer D.J. Balentine and rebounding machine Egidijus Mockevicius both gone. Jaylon Brown (10.8 ppg) is the top returning scorer for the Purple Aces.  Bradley struggled for consistency last season as Brian Wardle continues to grow a Braves team that received an influx of talent from the recruiting trail. Drake puts their hopes in returning guard Reed Timmer (16.8 ppg), the third leading scorer in the conference last season.

Projected Order of Finish 

1. Wichita State (24-8, 16-2)
2. Northern Iowa (22-12, 11-7)
3. Illinois State (18-14, 12-6)
4. Southern Illinois (22-10, 11-7)
5. Missouri State (13-19, 8-10)
6. Indiana State (15-17, 8-10)
7. Loyola-Chicago (15-17, 7-11)
8. Evansville (25-9, 12-6)
9. Bradley (5-27, 3-15)
10. Drake (7-24, 2-16)

* 2015-16 finish in parentheses.

Player of the Year

Brenton Scott, G 6-1, 192 Indiana State

Rookie of the Year

C.J. Keyser, G 6-3, 187 Wichita State

All-Conference Teams

First Team –
Dequon Miller, Sr. G, Missouri State (5-10, 176)
Brenton Scott, Jr. G, Indiana State (6-1, 192)
Jeremy Morgan, Sr. G,  Northern Iowa (6-5, 192)
Reed Timmer, Jr. G, Drake (6-1, 185)
Markis McDuffie, So.  F, Wichita State (6-8, 194)

Second Team –
Conner Frankamp, RS-So. G,, Wichita State (6-1, 174)
Clayton Custer, Jr. G, Loyola-Chicago (6-1, 185)
Landry Shamet, R-Fr G, Wichita State (6-4, 187)
Paris Lee, Sr. G, Illinois State (5-11, 183)
Chris Kendrix, Jr.  F, Missouri State (6-5, 185)

Rating the Recruits

Wichita State – The Shockers bring in yet another stellar recruiting class in 2016-17. The jewel of the class is CJ Keyser (6-3, 185), a shooting guard from Bel Air, Md.  Keyser, who attended a postgraduate year at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire, is ranked by many top recruiting services as a three star recruit. Other standouts in the class include Austin Reaves (6-5, 170) a versatile point guard from Arkansas and Daishon Smith (6-0, 160), a JUCO transfer from Florida who figures to be in the mix for playing time in the backcourt.

Loyola-Chicago – The Ramblers will have the services of Clayton Custer (6-1, 185), a transfer from Iowa State, who sat out last season and will be eligible for the 2016-17 campaign. The incoming class includes Cameron Satterwhite (6-3, 170), a three-star shooting guard from Arizona. Also joining the fold for Porter Moser’s squad are Croatia’s Bruno Skokna (6-4, 175), a guard and Vlatko Granic (6-8, 230), a forward.

Bradley – The Braves bring in an intriguing class, headlined by Koch Bar (6-9, 220) a post player originally from South Sudan. Bar, a three-star recruit according to many top recruiting services, attended high school in Orlando before averaging 14.5 points and 9.5 rebounds at Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville during his senior campaign. Bar was teammates with fellow incoming freshman Jayden Hodgson (6-3, 185), a guard originally from Australia. Hodgson average 15.1 points a contest.

Don’t Miss Games:

Northern Iowa at Evansville (Jan. 1) – The 2017 portion of the schedule will begin with Northern Iowa traveling to Evansville’s Ford Center to take on the Purple Aces in a rematch of the 2016 Missouri Valley Conference Championship in which the Panthers narrowly took down an upstart Evansville squad en route to a spirited NCAA tournament run that ended with a two-OT loss to Texas A&M in one of the more memorable games of the year.

Wichita State at Northern Iowa (Jan. 8) – Two of the conference’s elite programs meet in Cedar Falls sporting new looks, as the Shockers’ Fred Vanvleet, Ron Baker and UNI’s Wes Washpun have all exhausted eligibility. Last year, the Panthers ended Wichita State’s school-record 43-game home winning streak and took home an overtime victory in the conference tournament semifinals.

Southern Illinois at Illinois State (Feb. 22) –  A Land of Lincoln showdown in Normal, Ill. will likely have conference tournament seeding implications as two squads looking to move into the upper echelon of the conference square off late in the year with NCAA tournament appearances on their mind.