Team Profiles

[ACECARD]

University of Evansville

The Purple Aces replaced Marty Simmons with new Head Coach Walter McCarty (formerly an assistant with the Boston Celtics). Simmons was never able to rebuild after the Ballentine / Mockevicius era.

Key losses:
Ryan Taylor (grad transfer to Northwestern) 21.3ppg
Dru Smith (transfer to Missouri) 13.7 ppg, lead the team in assists and steals.
Blake Simmons (graduated) 10.4 ppg

Other losses:
Solomon Hainna (grad transfer to Texas RGV)
Dalen Traore (graduated)
Duane "Boo" Gibson (graduated)

Returners:
KJ Riley: 6-5 Junior PG, started 18 games, 6.8 ppg, 2nd on the team in assists and steals, led the team in free throws made and attempted. Productivity fell when other teams realized that he wouldn't shoot beyond 12 feet.
Dainius Chatkevicius: 6-9 Senior C, started 19 games, 4.8 ppg, led the team in blocks and rebounds.
Noah Frederking: 6-4 Soph SG, 5.4 ppg.
John Hall: 6-7 Soph PF, 2.8 ppg.
Evan Kulhman: 6-8 Soph PF, 2.4 ppg.
Marty Hill: 6-5 Senior WF, 4.1 ppg in 8 games due to injuries.

Newcomers:
Will Becker 6-9 Fr PF, Aurora, CO, 9.8 ppg, 9.9 rpg, 3.7 bpg.
Shea Feehan 6-0 Senior G, Grad transfer from D3 Eureka College, 30.6 ppg, 53.7 fg%, 44.2 3g%.
Shamar Givance 5-10 Fr PG, Toronto, Ontario, 17 ppg, 8 apg, 2.5 spg at First Love Christian Academy, PA
Jawaun Newton 6-3 Fr G, El Paso, TX, 28 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 2 time El Paso player of the year.
DeAndre Williams 6-9 Fr WF, Houston, TX, 24 ppg, 11 rpg at Nation Wide Academy, OKC, Scout 3 stars.

Sitting:
Artur Labinowicz 6-4 Junior G, transfer from Coastal Carolina, 2017-18 10.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg.
Sam Cunliffe 6-6 Junior G, transfer from Kansas via Arizona State, only eligible for 2nd semester at KU, played in 15 games, top 50 recruit in 2016.

Outlook:
The McCarty game plan will be night vs. day compared to the Simmons era. There will probably be some growing pains this year, but Aces fans are excited about the future.

Prediction: PIG

scooter, nice review of the Aces, and pretty much spot on. Probably anywhere from 7-10.

[jackwagon]

Where is SIU nation? Looking forward to hearing their opinion and any update on Bol. Also Indiana State and Valpo? Being an Indiana native I could do a decent job but i'll wait.

[siudawgs]

SIU will be one of the most experienced teams around with five returning starters and six seniors in the rotation, plus a pair of juniors.

Projected starters
PG - Aaron Cook (Jr.). Quality on-ball defender who was much-improved offensively last year. One of SIU’s better athletes. Will share PG duties with Bartley.
Wing guard - Marcus Bartley (Sr.). Had an injury-plagued and relatively disappointing junior year after transferring from SLU. Did hit some big shots and has nice length, though he struggles on D. I’d prefer he plays off the bench unless he steps up his game, but Hinson loves him.
Wing guard - Sean Lloyd (Sr.). One of the toughest dudes in the league at both ends, though not overly skilled offensively.
Forward - Armon Fletcher (Sr.). Leading returning scorer at about 14 ppg. Only 6-4 but long arms and seems to play better at the 4 so he doesn’t fall in love with shooting the 3. Would be a lock for first-team all-conference if he had Lloyd’s grit.
Center- Kavion Pippen (Sr.). Outperformed expectations as lead big last year with Thik Bol injured. Nice touch for a 6-10 dude. His motor can be inconsistent.

Projected bench
Thik Bol (Sr., C). If healthy, an excellent shot-blocker and defensive force, but health is a major question. Would be fun to see him and Pippen on the floor a lot together, but Hinson tends to favor small lineups.
Eric McGill (Jr., G). Bounced around at SEMO and juco ball before taking medical redshirt after getting hurt early last year. Flashy combo guard who has quick hands on D.
Rudy Stradnieks (Sr., C). Slow-footed big who likes shooting 3s. Hasn’t shown much.
Brendon Gooch (So., wing). Decent athlete who probably is just an energy role player off the bench.

SIU also has four freshmen, most notably PG Darius Beane (Anthony’s younger bro, more of a playmaker than big scorer), but this is a veteran squad that will ride the older guys hard. Expecting most of the freshmen to redshirt.

Outlook: In Year 7 of Hinson’s tenure, this season needs to be a big payoff. If not now, when?

[Kyle@MOState]

Here's what I got for Bradley.

Departures:

Donte Thomas -- 2nd Team all MVC last year. The glue of last year's team, did everything well.
Ryan Stipanovich -- Was a freshman forward, scored 2.4 ppg.

Additions (all Freshmen):

Ari Boya -- 7'1 center from Miami via Cameroon who reclassified from 2019 (but is 19 y/o). 247 had him in their top 200 for the 2019 class but he fell out after reclassifying. Still the #59 center in 2018 class though. When the Braves played Amsterdam a few weeks back, Boya had 15 pts, 10 rebounds, making 7-of-9 shots from the field and added six blocks. Bradley was his only offer but he committed very early (start of junior year) due to a connection with one of our assistants and was getting interest from several SEC schools.
Armon Brummett -- 6'4 SG. Second team all state at nearby Decatur MacArthur. Freak athlete with a good shot. Very under the radar recruit. Didn't play AAU ball and was expected to play college football like his twin brother (now at NIU) but called a late audible. Bradley was his only offer.
Ja'shon Henry -- 6'6 SF from Canada. National Preparatory Association player of the year, averaged 29 ppg. Other offer was St. Bonaventure.

Projected Starters:

Darrell Brown Jr. (JR) -- 3rd Team all MVC last year. Leading returning scorer, runs the show.
Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye (SR) -- All Defensive team last year. Wasn't much of a scorer though until late last year. Improved his ability to create, dribble and drive and finish around the rim and scored in double digits a few times down the stretch.
Nate Kennell (JR) -- Arguably the best shooter on the team. Tough, not afraid to take a charge.
Elijah Childs (SO) -- All Freshman team last year. Good scorer, blocker/defender. Hoping he'll break out.
(Nov-Dec) Koch Bar (JR) -- No honors last year, was on all Freshman team two years ago. Not bad around the rim and a good FT shooter but plays a little soft. You could say he doesn't get enough blocks for someone his height. Also not always in the right position.
(Dec-) Ari Boya (FR) -- Described above. I expect he'll leapfrog Bar for the starting spot sooner rather than later.

Other Contributors:

Antoine Pittman (JR) -- Took a voluntary redshirt last year to work on his game because he wasn't projected to get many minutes. A plus defender who scored 6 ppg his sophomore year. Could eat into Hodgson's minutes.
Luuk Van Bree (SR) -- Taller and just as good a shooter as Kennell, but plays Euro soft.
Jayden Hodgson (JR) -- Can play the point or 2 spot. Streaky scorer and seemed to stop taking shots altogether late last year in the midst of a cold spell. Confidence shaken?
Ja'shon Henry (FR) -- See above. Could see minutes on the wing due to his height and scoring punch.
Armon Brummett (FR) -- See above. We have a lot of guards ahead of him so I wouldn't expect a lot of minutes this year, but if matchups dictate we need athleticism he could see time.

Deep Bench:

Luqman Lundy (SR) -- JUCO recruit last year who plays sparingly to back up Brown at the point. Not much of a scorer, should only see about 5 mpg.
Peter Hanley (SR) -- Walk on forward granted a scholarship when JUCO recruit Chudier Bile left over the summer.

Outlook: This team finished 5th last year but was the only team to beat Loyola at full strength and nearly did it twice, taking them to the wire in STL. Losing Donte hurts but the addition of Boya, return of Pittman and a year of experience and development under Wardle should make this team better. Wardle has steadily improved every year and proven his ability to develop players -- DLO's development in particular is very impressive, as was Donte's -- so I'm optimistic. I think this team will be right there with ISU and SIU battling for 2-4.

I can't believe that Brown, Bar, and Kennell are just juniors... Feels like they have been in the league forever

[BuBrave2006]

I can't believe that Brown, Bar, and Kennell are just juniors... Feels like they have been in the league forever

They're on the Sam Singh academic plan.

[BCPanther]

Quick Update to the UNI Profile from above.

Jake announced yesterday that JUCO transfer Tray Croft will redshirt. Thanks to the great state of Alabama, Tray was not able to take two classes in high school that his high school simply didn't offer that are requirements to get an AA degree in Iowa. This wasn't discovered until the tail end of the spring semester and caused him to have to take summer classes at Iowa Central CC in order to graduate from there so that all of his work transferred to UNI. He finished everything up but wasn't able to get to Cedar Falls until classes started at UNI at the end of August.

He'll still have two years of eligibility remaining and the minutes he would have played will go to Wyatt Lohaus and Spencer Haldeman. Experienced options but neither is a true point guard.

[Majik45]

Here's what I got for Bradley.

Outlook: This team finished 5th last year but was the only team to beat Loyola at full strength and nearly did it twice, taking them to the wire in STL. Losing Donte hurts but the addition of Boya, return of Pittman and a year of experience and development under Wardle should make this team better. Wardle has steadily improved every year and proven his ability to develop players -- DLO's development in particular is very impressive, as was Donte's -- so I'm optimistic. I think this team will be right there with ISU and SIU battling for 2-4.

Great write-up on Bradley, and I would add the following:

Bradley can win the valley if:
Darryl Brown and Elijah Childs make the leap to 1st/2nd team caliber players, and Ari Booya comes in as a difference maker as a freshman (like Childs last year). We also need Luuk Van Bree to be able to knock down shots and eat up some of the minutes Donte Thomas filled, especially since we "lost" our Juco recruit after 2 weeks of being on campus. We also would need Pittman or Jayden Hodgeson to take a step up to a solid role player.

Worst case scenario:
We don't get anyone to step up and take Donte's place inside, and don't get development other returning players. I have a hard time seeing us finish below 6th as the majority of the players are now upper classman and finished 5th last year.

[ahunte1]

Interesting that ISU named a sophomore and junior as captains when there are several returning seniors. Given what Muller said yesterday, it certainly seems like MY is going to play all year, but unlike others here I wouldn't drop ISU too far in my predictions if he were to be dismissed from the team.

[Adunk33]

Interesting that ISU named a sophomore and junior as captains when there are several returning seniors. Given what Muller said yesterday, it certainly seems like MY is going to play all year, but unlike others here I wouldn't drop ISU too far in my predictions if he were to be dismissed from the team.

Just to clear it up, that was last season when both were sitting out. Chastain (So) and Copeland (Jr) would go to the center court Captain meetings with Fayne and Evans (who are now Sr).

[Mikovio]

Brown, Kennell and Koch have gotten major minutes since they stepped on campus and that class maturing will be a big part of the program's progress. '19-'20 should be the peak, when they're seniors and the Braves lose only one starter in Lautier-Ogunleye.

Brown and Childs are the biggest breakout candidates. The biggest knock on Bradley is probably that they lack a serious league MVP contender who will take over games. If it happens Childs is my guess. Right now it's a well rounded team with a bunch of guys who know their roles, play good defense.