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2022-23 Preseason MVC picks

Da Coach

Da Coach

Moderator
Staff member
The 2022-23 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook picks the Missouri Valley -
https://mvc-sports.com/news/2022/9/7...-favorite.aspx

The Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook has picked Drake to win the Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball title in 2022-23 as announced by the organization Sept. 7.
BLUE RIBBON FORECAST
1. Drake
2. Southern Illinois
3. Bradley
4. Belmont
5. Indiana State
6. UNI
7. Missouri State
8. Valparaiso
9. Illinois State
10. Murray State
11. UIC
12. Evansville

ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
F-Ben Krikke, SR, Valparaiso
F-Marcus Domask, SR, Southern Illinois
G-Tucker DeVries, SO, Drake
G-D.J. Wilkins, SR, Drake
G-Cooper Neese, SR, Indiana State

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Tucker DeVries, SO, Drake

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Rod Perry, JR, Murray State

Bradley is picked 3rd behind Drake and SIU. Drake at #1 makes sense, but I wouldn't have picked SIU at #2.
SIU finished 9-9 last season, in 6th place, 2 games behind Bradley.
They appear to be a little better this year, but they lost some key players- 2 of their top 4 scorers, 3 of their top 6 rebounders, and their top 2 three point shooters.
The other picks I would not quite agree with-
Indiana State at #5- Indiana State finished 9th last year, 10 games under .500 (4-14, 11-20). Only Evansville had worse MVC and overall records. Tyreke Key isn't coming back, but they do return most of their production from last year, except point guard and 4th leading scorer Micah Thomas. And, they did add Jayson Kent. So they should be a little better, but not 5th.
Murray State at #10- I can understand why they picked Murray State 10th. They lost essentially their entire team, plus their coach. But they have reloaded nicely, and should finish at least in the middle of the pack or maybe higher, IMO.
 
Holy crap - if those guys are our 1st team MVC by season's end, it will be the weakest that I can remember.
BU will get at least one 1st-teamer - maybe 2
BOOK IT!
 
bradleyfan124 said:
Mast will be first team All-conference
Click to expand...

If he's not, then 2nd team, and another Brave will be 1st team.

I'm absolutely thinking we have a legit shot to win the Valley this year barring major injuries.
This is the year when "The Brave ones rise to the top"

I feel that Hickman, Mast, and Henry are among the best 10 in the league, with Leons potentially being our X-factor.

The big question will be our outside shooting (what killed us last year) and the PG play is an unknown, but those 2 newcomers seem like great fits.
 
Da Coach said:
Here's another preseason ranking from a blogger who appears to do a pretty good job of researching each team-
https://staringatthefloorboards.wordpress.com/2022/09/17/missouri-valley-2022-23-season-preview/

It's a long article with a lot of details.
Here is his ranking-
1. Drake
2. Bradley
3. Belmont
4. SIU
5. Missouri State
6. Murray State
7. Indiana State
8. Northern Iowa
9. Valparaiso
10. Illinois State
11. UIC
12. Evansville
Click to expand...

Really in-depth research on all the teams in the league.
 
Nashville Cat said:
SIU is the most undervalued team in MVC.
Click to expand...
Maybe so, but what would make people pick them higher?

in his final four years Barry finished 4th, 3rd, 2nd, & 3rd and overall was 23 games over .500
in his first 3 years Mullins went 5th, 9th, & 6th and is sub-.500 overall. (against non-conference Strength of Schedule of 306 last year and 280 the yr before and 325 the year before that)!
I know they have their top two guys back but didn't they lose 5 of their top 8 scorers and have 8 new guys.
 
I think the schedule may play a big role in the final standings. Whoever doesn’t have to play Drake twice. Who only gets to play Evansville once and so on so forth
 
Da Coach said:
Another preseason college basketball magazine, "The Almanac" picks Bradley to finish 2nd in the MVC this season-
https://twitter.com/bradleyumbb/stat...06012743745536

They also pick Rienk Mast as a 1st team All-MVC, and Coach Wardle as the "Best X-and-O Coach (voted by peers)".

The Almanac is compiled by a number of very good college basketball sportswriters, and can be ordered online for $19.99-
https://thealmanac.gumroad.com/l/almanac
Click to expand...

I finally got a look at The Almanac preseason basketball magazine.
Here is how they picked the MVC-
1) Drake
2) Bradley
3) SIU
4) Mo St
5) Belmont
6) UNI
7) Indiana St
8.) Murray St
9) Valpo
10) Illinois St
11) UIC
12) Evansville
 
Nashville Cat said:
KenPom preseason rankings are out:

Drake - 79
SIU- 90
​​​​​BU - 124
UNI - 126
Murray - 129
Click to expand...

I'm aware how Ken Pomeroy does his ratings, and the Preseason Ratings are done a little differently than those during the season-
KenPom Preseason Ratings- https://kenpom.com/blog/preseason-ra...ith-transfers/
He does take into consideration D1 transfers, but ignores incoming freshmen (unless they are Top 30).

But I am surprised to see where Pomeroy's system ranks a couple teams-
One is SIU, which he ranks #90, the second best team in the MVC. They finished 16-15 last year, and 9-9 in the MVC, 2 games behind Bradley in 6th place and 5 games behind Drake. They lost 2 starters (Coupet, Verplancken), who were their best 3 point shooters, plus a couple other key rotation players. But, they did add 3 transfers who are expected contribute (Newton, Johnson, Rupert), but none of them shoot threes anywhere close to the guys they lost. I could be wrong, but I don't see them jumping from a .500 team with an RPI of 205, to a Top 100 KenPom, at #90, just shy of Drake . I think it shows the folly of preseason projections.

The other surprise is UNI, rated at #126. They lost their top 3 players (MVC POY and 21 ppg scorer A.J.Green, 17 ppg scorer Noah Carter, & top rebounder and 3pt% shooter Trae Berhow), and return only about 1/3 of their scoring from last season. They added no transfers, just several unproven freshmen, none of whom were rated higher than 2-star recruits.
One additional note regarding returning big man Austin Phyfe, who was severely limited last season due to a case of "long Covid". He averaged just 9 minutes per game, 3.7 ppg and 1.2 rpg last season. At a UNI media day today, Head Coach Ben Jacobson and Phyfe himself told media that he would not be available to play to start the season, but they were hopeful he could return for limited minutes at some point in the season. Jacobson also said that the only starters determined so far are 3rd year players Bowen Born and Nate Heise, and sophomore (2nd year) Tytan Anderson. The other starters will be one of the 4 freshman guards, and the 5 spot will be either Cole Henry or James Betz. That will be a very young lineup.

Here are all the MVC teams KenPom rankings-
Drake 79
SIU 90
Bradley 124
Belmont 125
UNI 126
Murray St. 129
Missouri St. 134
Indiana St. 135
Illinois St. 215
Valparaiso 216
UIC 272
Evansville 337
 
Da Coach said:
I'm aware how Ken Pomeroy does his ratings, and the Preseason Ratings are done a little differently than those during the season-
KenPom Preseason Ratings- https://kenpom.com/blog/preseason-ra...ith-transfers/
He does take into consideration D1 transfers, but ignores incoming freshmen (unless they are Top 30).

But I am surprised to see where Pomeroy's system ranks a couple teams-
One is SIU, which he ranks #90, the second best team in the MVC. They finished 16-15 last year, and 9-9 in the MVC, 2 games behind Bradley in 6th place and 5 games behind Drake. They lost 2 starters (Coupet, Verplancken), who were their best 3 point shooters, plus a couple other key rotation players. But, they did add 3 transfers who are expected contribute (Newton, Johnson, Rupert), but none of them shoot threes anywhere close to the guys they lost. I could be wrong, but I don't see them jumping from a .500 team with an RPI of 205, to a Top 100 KenPom, at #90, just shy of Drake . I think it shows the folly of preseason projections.

The other surprise is UNI, rated at #126. They lost their top 3 players (MVC POY and 21 ppg scorer A.J.Green, 17 ppg scorer Noah Carter, & top rebounder and 3pt% shooter Trae Berhow), and return only about 1/3 of their scoring from last season. They added no transfers, just several unproven freshmen, none of whom were rated higher than 2-star recruits.
One additional note regarding returning big man Austin Phyfe, who was severely limited last season due to a case of "long Covid". He averaged just 9 minutes per game, 3.7 ppg and 1.2 rpg last season. At a UNI media day today, Head Coach Ben Jacobson and Phyfe himself told media that he would not be available to play to start the season, but they were hopeful he could return for limited minutes at some point in the season. Jacobson also said that the only starters determined so far are 3rd year players Bowen Born and Nate Heise, and sophomore (2nd year) Tytan Anderson. The other starters will be one of the 4 freshman guards, and the 5 spot will be either Cole Henry or James Betz. That will be a very young lineup.

Here are all the MVC teams KenPom rankings-
Drake 79
SIU 90
Bradley 124
Belmont 125
UNI 126
Murray St. 129
Missouri St. 134
Indiana St. 135
Illinois St. 215
Valparaiso 216
UIC 272
Evansville 337
Click to expand...

I think these projections may be directionally correct even though UNI's slot is inexplicable. Bottom line is that the Valley is going to be a rock fight 3-8.
 
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