uniftw wrote:BEARZ77 wrote:Valleyball wrote:I think the future of the Valley depends on two of three between Bradley, Mo State, and SIU turning back into top programs. Not sure I feel very optimistic about that. (And I am a Bradley fan)
I would take Belmont, Murray State, and Valpo if we could. But that won't fix the Valley.
I've always said that for the Valley to be strong, the 3 you mention[SIU/MSU/Bradley] along with ISUr all have to be solid, no disrespect to UNI or anyone else. I do believe they all are in position to start a climb back up. Barry is solid if not great and he has stabilized that program, I like Bradley's coach and how he is rebuilding that roster and instilling his system. And while I am a huge Lusk detractor, he continues to build a solid roster and may win more consistently despite himself, or after this year, at least leave a good nucleus to his successor. And MSU despite their financial difficulties has done a great job with facilities and infrastructure and has an arena and the support facilities to be very competitive with anyone. The program has shown in the past when in good shape, it will draw 7,500-8,000 nightly, and only Bradley and at times SIU, among the remaining MVC members can claim that or better in any recent memory. I think ISUr is solid right now and you can count on them being a upper level D-1 program consistently for at least the short term, so now UNI just needs to be UNI and these other 3 step up. I also think LOC looks solid on the court, I just don't know if they can garner the interest and support to move to another level with their program. I hope they can.
I mostly agree with this.
UNI will be what UNI is as long as Jake is here - and there is no indication he is leaving. This past season was an anomaly that left even Jake confused. Say what you want about our athleticism - it's never been "raw talent athleticism". Say what you will about recruiting - UNI is landing, and in on, better recruits than ever before. I expect UNI to sign a top 100 recruit for the 2018 class. UNI will almost always be a top 100 program.
Illinois State has shown the ability to recruit raw athleticism under Muller. He is growing as a coach, but I'm not sure I trust that model long term. We need to ride the wave while we can though. Hawkins, Wills, Lee are all gone. Those three were half of the Redbird points per game this past season, about 37% of the rebounds.The top 2 3 point shooters and the 4th best 3 point shooter. 2 of the 3 started all 35 games and the other 32 of the 35. There are now just 3 players who played over 20 MPG left on the roster - and 2 of them are gone after next year. As a matter of fact, looking at the stats, those three plus 2 juniors (McIntosh and Clayton) were about 80% of that stats. Young guys will start to play more and get more time, but for all of the "How will UNI replace Morgan and Ashton talk" there really should be a "Um...Illinois State has almost zero proven players outside of 2 seniors and one other player (Phil Fayne). Their long term window looks shaky". I still don't think Muller is a good in game coach, guys like Lee and Hawkins just bailed him out.
What Barry has brought SIU back to is good. I think we need to start asking how much futher Barry can/will take them. Everyone in the Valley loves Barry, and it may not be all his issue at SIU if he can't take them higher, but allowing a coach to stay on too long, plateau and then drop the program back has just happened at SIU. Do they let it happen because of money or because people like Barry? Or, do they take action if needed. Look at their roster and he loses Sean O'Brien, Leo Vincent and Mike Rodriguez from this year team. Everything I just typed about the guys ISUr is losing applies to these guys. After next year Thik Bohl and Tyler Smithpeters are gone (I just saw Smithpeters got his medical approved). After those two there is a big drop in stats returning down to Aaron Cook, who played just 10 MPG. The hope must be that Armon Fletcher can carry the program for 2 years and pieces are in place around him. Given that ISU was "meh" last year and they are losing almost all of their key pieces by the end of this coming season, how long does Barry get to show he is still growing the program?
Bradley? I actually think in a year or two they will be borderline solid, if not more. I think Wardle is the right guy. This coming year they have 3 seniors, 6 juniors, and I'm not sure how the freshman from last year are split. I give Wardle 2 more full years before I start to judge his ability to build Bradley back.
MSU has the talent. They have the facility. They have the resources. They have everything except a competent in game coach.
Truthfully the conference needs UNI, ISUr, MSU and Bradley to be "the group". Those 4 get to a top 100-125 teams with two or three of them running the top 50-75 and we are in a good spot if we stay at 9 or 10 or 11 or 12. Getting Belmont or Valpo would help with name recognition as well. They may be "small" programs, but the talking heads know the names. People who have done brackets know the names. That helps as well.
We need 5 top 130-140 programs. We also can't have 2 or 3 270 or worse programs.
I see Austin Ruder and Chris Kendrix are transferring. Kendrix....I thought he was pretty good.
We need to avoid key transfers in this conference and we need immediate impact recruits.
The top 100 would be a nice starting point for JuCo recruiting players that are immediate impacts.
ISUr is reloading with Zach Copeland (#42) and William Tinsley (#54) both JuCo players. This should help our rather inconsistent offense improve it's shooting percentages next season...
http://www.jucorecruiting.com/2017jucotop100
Muller has gotten much, much better with his in-game coaching than in year's past.
