The MVC in 2019-2020

[Majik45]

Appears that Bradley Sophomore Center Ari Boya is having a small procedure in his lower leg today. He'll be out for at least 4 weeks, but should be ready to go by the season:

https://www.pjstar.com/sports/20190805/ ... -procedure

[siudawgs]

Time for some unbridled (but perhaps mostly justified) optimism about the MVC this year.

Below are my first, second and third team preseason all-MVC teams. The best part about this is you could easily go deeper than this with very good players. I'm not sure there's been this much quality individual talent in the league in at least a few years. You may not agree with these projections, but it's certainly not tainted by homerdom, as there are no Salukis to be found.

First team

Darrell Brown, Bradley
Javon Freeman Liberty, Valpo
Tyreke Key, Indiana State
Tulio Da Silva, Missouri State
Cameron Krutwig, Loyola

Second team

A.J. Green, Northern Iowa
Jordan Barnes, Indiana State
Tremell Murphy, Drake
Elijah Childs, Bradley
Gaige Prim, Missouri State

Third team

Dedric Boyd, Illinois State
D.J. Wilkins, Drake
Lucas Williamson, Loyola
Ryan Fazekas, Valpo
Deandre Williams , Evansville
'
Again, there are some really nice players around the league who didn't make these lists, and I was quite conservative in most cases about projecting impact from newcomers ... for example, Loyola and Missouri State have deep classes that could produce more impact newcomers, I left off Kingsby from Bradley, Cunliffe from Evansville, Robinson from Valpo, Fisher from Illinois State, etc.

Hopefully teams stay healthy and what appears to be an upgrade in individual talent leads to multiple bids.

[ValleyFAN]

Colorado State Transfer Pg Anthony Bonner has decided to step away from basketball and will not be with the Bears this season. Coach Dana Ford said there is no hard feelings between parties. Anthony decided that he simply did not love playing the game anymore. Not a huge loss for the Bears but would have been nice to have the experience, but good depth remains.

Coach Dana Ford said that the primary Pg minutes will go to:
Tyrik Dixon (MTSU Transfer)
Ford Cooper (Freshmen)
John Hall (Nevada transfer, big physical versatile type)

Expect Dixon to take much of the minutes early, with Hall playing other spots on the floor. Cooper is an unknown this point as a freshmen.

[BEARZ77]

While I hate losing Bonner because he was a proven high level shooter, I had a feeling a few veterans might reassess their roles with the Bears. We have a number of junior/senior transfers who I'm sure are expecting significant minutes, and the reality is, a couple will end up disappointed. Word is that the two most impressive Bears to date are juco Prim and freshman Mosley , and freshman Ford Cooper will also press for duty. Mosley may still have some eligibility issues, although nothing has been indicated, but he is really good , and Prim is just a beast according to one of the assistants. The competition for playing time at the 2/3 spots will be intense for the Bears and guys like Ridder and West will also compete for time at the 4 spot with DaSilva . I still expect at least one freshman to rs , maybe 2 , which would lessen some of the minutes crunch. With both
walk-ons Owens and Brown serviceable as #12/13 on the roster, you might see freshmen Black and Freeman rs. But gotta about 6 weeks for all that to work itself out.

Ford has assembled a good roster, but a big challenge is how to utilize them all and keep players happy and engaged. We aren't huge but we're pretty long. It'll be fun and interesting to see what the roster and rotations end up being for the coming year.

Early thoughts would be:

PG Dixon 6'1, Cooper 6'3, Hall 6'7, Brown 6'2
SG Cook 6'5 , Mosley 6'5,Hall, 6'7, Black 6'3, Owens 6'4
SF West 6'8, Hall 6'7, Ridder 6'8, Freeman 6'6
PF DaSilva 6'8, Ridder 6'8, Mohammed 6'5
C Prim 6'9, DaSilva 6'8, Scott 6'11

[tribecalledquest]

When Bonner committed to MSU the thread talked about how great a shooter he is, what a great get, etc. Now when he leaves it's "not a big loss." I love offseason MVC basketball.

[Adunk33]

The Birds return just 3 from last years team who played (Copeland, Idowu, Chastain). They have 6 guys who were with the team last year as RS (G-Boyd,F-Ndiaye, F-Fisher III, G-Donnelly, G/F Hillsman, F- Bruninga), four of which have D1 experience. Then we added grad transfer Ricky Torres, who was hurt last year at Wichita State, and 4 freshmen- two of which are ready to play.

All of this to say is, there is experience built in this team, but just not much of it together in game action. Going to a few practices and watching a game over in Italy, I think even non-Redbird fans will see the massive difference between this team and last years. Specifically, less mental errors, higher energy, and higher effort. Will this translate to wins? Who knows, but it seems the team the last two years really lacked that competitive fire. That won't be an issue with this team.

Muller mentioned from the Italy trip that the breakout player was senior, Zach Copeland. Muller also feels the team has "legitimate depth, if we can stay healthy." Depth was surely an issue the past two seasons as well.

I expect at least two redshirts out of the group with freshmen forward Harouna Sissoko and PWO guard Malcolm Miller.

The wildcard of the group is going to be Taylor Bruninga who showed that he could be something special during his freshmen season (17-18 season). During conference play, he got a concussion and never seemed to get right after that. He was sidelined with a foot injury all last season and had surgery six months ago to repair it. He is expected to begin easing into full contact in two weeks, but they aren't going to rush anything. Who knows what to expect from him.

If I had to suggest a starting line up and the bench to start the season it'd be (Not including Bruninga)
Torres, Copeland, Chastain, Fisher, Idowu. Off the bench would be Boyd, Hillsman, Reeves, N'Diaye, Horne, Donnelly, Beard.
RS: Miller, Sissoko.


I could see Boyd, Hillsman, Reeves, and Horne all as starters at some point. I think at this point the only set starters are Copeland and Fisher, though I would pencil in Chas, too.

[Kyle@MOState]

When Bonner committed to MSU the thread talked about how great a shooter he is, what a great get, etc. Now when he leaves it's "not a big loss." I love offseason MVC basketball.

At the time, he was a great get. If he were on the team this year, he was going to most likely play significant minutes, but I honestly don't believe he was going to be a starter. May have been the first guy off the bench, so it definitely does hurt the depth, but he probably wasn't going to get as many minutes as we thought when he first transferred. Younger guys may have even cut in to that time more as the season goes on.

[BEARZ77]

When Bonner committed to MSU the thread talked about how great a shooter he is, what a great get, etc. Now when he leaves it's "not a big loss." I love offseason MVC basketball.

As I stated " While I hate losing Bonner because he was a proven high level shooter ", it's also a case of adding a couple top level freshmen in Mosley and Ford since he first committed that makes the loss of Bonner not as big a deal. I still wish he was on the roster because he was a proven 40% plus 3 point guy, but my guess is he decided the amount of work required w/o assurances of pt was just not worth it to him anymore. I remain a little nervous until we hear for sure everyone is eligible, but if so, we remain very deep at the 1-4 positions across the board.

[tribecalledquest]

When Bonner committed to MSU the thread talked about how great a shooter he is, what a great get, etc. Now when he leaves it's "not a big loss." I love offseason MVC basketball.

As I stated " While I hate losing Bonner because he was a proven high level shooter ", it's also a case of adding a couple top level freshmen in Mosley and Ford since he first committed that makes the loss of Bonner not as big a deal. I still wish he was on the roster because he was a proven 40% plus 3 point guy, but my guess is he decided the amount of work required w/o assurances of pt was just not worth it to him anymore. I remain a little nervous until we hear for sure everyone is eligible, but if so, we remain very deep at the 1-4 positions across the board.

If those two freshmen come in and were going to play more minutes over Bonner and that made him decide to retire then Mo State will be a Top 25 type team.

[BEARZ77]

When Bonner committed to MSU the thread talked about how great a shooter he is, what a great get, etc. Now when he leaves it's "not a big loss." I love offseason MVC basketball.

As I stated " While I hate losing Bonner because he was a proven high level shooter ", it's also a case of adding a couple top level freshmen in Mosley and Ford since he first committed that makes the loss of Bonner not as big a deal. I still wish he was on the roster because he was a proven 40% plus 3 point guy, but my guess is he decided the amount of work required w/o assurances of pt was just not worth it to him anymore. I remain a little nervous until we hear for sure everyone is eligible, but if so, we remain very deep at the 1-4 positions across the board.

If those two freshmen come in and were going to play more minutes over Bonner and that made him decide to retire then Mo State will be a Top 25 type team.

Not sure what point you're trying to make. As I've said, Bonner would have provided a very valuable experienced proven perimeter shooter, but at the same time , let's be real, he was just a part time starter on a mediocre Colorado State team last year. For two of the higher ranked freshmen coming into the league to have pushed him for playing time isn't that big of a stretch. He wasn't a point guard which Ford is, although he could play it some, so Ford getting minutes there is understandable. And at shooting guard, Cook and Mosley both go 6'5 to his 6'2 . Cook averaged 13 ppg last year and Mosley is just really versatile and efficient
offensively. I don't think any of that makes us a top 25 team, but it does suggest minutes were going to be a competitive situation . Both Cook and Mosley can play on the wing as well, but there you have West, Hall and Ridder all competing as well. Again, doesn't say anything other than none of those guys including Bonner has a sure grip on their spot in the rotation. Grad transfers are usually looking for a level of certainty; not easily had on this roster this year.