2022 MVC Recruiting Classes

by **BEARZ77** » July 7th, 2022, 9:18 am

Over at Busting Brackets in their Fan Sided pub, Father Harry Schroeder a long time and ardent follower and supporter of both the MVC and OVC conferences has ranked this years mbb recruiting classes. The thing I like about it is it's one of the few rankings that looks at the entire scope of today's recruiting classes , HS, Prep, Juco, and Transfers . It's subjective, but by someone who closely follows the Valley and has extensive knowledge of the teams and coaches. Not surprising to me, the two teams needing the most replacements for transfers and grads , Missouri State and Murray State are the top rated classes; but this wasn't a case of just numbers , as both programs probably had the higher rated freshmen and transfers as well. Anyway , here's the ranking :

1 Missouri State
2 Murray State
3 SIU
4 Belmont
5 Illinois State
6 Indiana State
7 Evansville
8 Drake
9 Bradley
10 Illinois Chicago
11 Valpo
12 UNI

I will say I think while Bradley didn't have as large or perhaps as highly regarded a class as those in the top spots, I do think they addressed needs in the back court , and if those pan out , had a solid class . Obviously teams with more returning talent were less active , but I do think if it bears out , suggests some real interesting games as the year unfolds. Nice to see newcomers like Belmont and Murray State among the best, and it's a timely SIU class if they are gonna make a move .

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by **BuBrave2006** » July 7th, 2022, 9:37 am

BEARZ77 wrote:I will say I think while Bradley didn't have as large or perhaps as highly regarded a class as those in the top spots, I do think they addressed needs in the back court , and if those pan out , had a solid class .

If Bradley is able to put a guard on the all conference teams, any guard...Ville, Pop, Hickman, Deen...any of them, then we are going to be a problem. We've got plenty of frontcourt depth and if we can get consistent production from some guards, whether it be Pop or Deen coming in, Hickman/Zek making a big jump, and/or Ville finally being healthy again and bouncing back, we could be scary.

Lot of "ifs" in there, but excitement and reason for optimism in Peoria for sure coming into this season.

by **jsaluki080** » July 7th, 2022, 9:46 am

Seeing this makes me worry about UNI.
A strong UNI is good for the MVC.
panther fans, please tell me how this ranking is inaccurate, irrelevant, or something.

by **Adunk33** » July 7th, 2022, 10:06 am

BEARZ77 wrote:Over at Busting Brackets in their Fan Sided pub, Father Harry Schroeder a long time and ardent follower and supporter of both the MVC and OVC conferences has ranked this years mbb recruiting classes. The thing I like about it is it's one of the few rankings that looks at the entire scope of today's recruiting classes , HS, Prep, Juco, and Transfers . It's subjective, but by someone who closely follows the Valley and has extensive knowledge of the teams and coaches. Not surprising to me, the two teams needing the most replacements for transfers and grads , Missouri State and Murray State are the top rated classes; but this wasn't a case of just numbers , as both programs probably had the higher rated freshmen and transfers as well. Anyway , here's the ranking :

1 Missouri State
2 Murray State
3 SIU
4 Belmont
5 Illinois State
6 Indiana State
7 Evansville
8 Drake
9 Bradley
10 Illinois Chicago
11 Valpo
12 UNI

I will say I think while Bradley didn't have as large or perhaps as highly regarded a class as those in the top spots, I do think they addressed needs in the back court , and if those pan out , had a solid class . Obviously teams with more returning talent were less active , but I do think if it bears out , suggests some real interesting games as the year unfolds. Nice to see newcomers like Belmont and Murray State among the best, and it's a timely SIU class if they are gonna make a move .

Here's the link so we can give Harry the credit (and hopefully clicks) that he's due.
https://bustingbrackets.com/2022/07/07/missouri-valley-basketball-ranking-incoming-2022-recruiting-classes/

I was surprised ILST was ranked so high. I'm obviously biased and a homer, but I do see a lot of potential in the guys Pedon has brought in. No Jucos. No freshman. The entire team has D1 experience. I think Seneca Knight by way of San Jose State > A cup of coffee at LSU > BYU is going to surprise a lot of people. for the 22-23 season, the team still lacks a "traditional" post player but they've got a lot of versatile dudes. Most of the "guards" can play 1/2. Most of the "wings" can play 2-4. Most "forwards" can play 4/5 and some can play 3.

The way Pedon is building a team suggests to me that he isn't interested in being the basement of the league. Let's see if he can bring it together for a viable on-court product. Early reports are good. But they are VERY early.

On paper, I think he nailed the top 5, especially having Mo State 1. You can't bring in 20 kids all with P5 experience and not be rated number 1 in the recruiting rankings in the league.

by **siudawgs** » July 7th, 2022, 10:53 am

Seems like a pretty reasonable ranking to me. A little surprised Drake couldn't land one more impact guy (maybe a big?) that maybe could have taken them from a top-75 type team to top 50 ... maybe they'll still get there, we shall see. And yeah, Northern Iowa did not bring in much experience to fill holes left by transfers/graduations, so I can see them being at or near the bottom of these rankings.

As for the Salukis, I think Mullins and Co. did a nice job filling most of the roster needs ... in a perfect world, they would have added a proven, big-time scorer (as it stands, Newton is the best scorer among the recruits, and he probably slots in to be a third scorer behind Domask and Jones), but I do like fortifying the PG spot with Xavier Johnson and the added post depth with Clarence Rupert. The DII wing transfer, AJ Ferguson, could be an underrated add, especially defensively, but not sure how much time he'll get this season with a lot of experience on the squad.

by **BCPanther** » July 7th, 2022, 11:15 am

jsaluki080 wrote:Seeing this makes me worry about UNI.
A strong UNI is good for the MVC.
panther fans, please tell me how this ranking is inaccurate, irrelevant, or something.

The best player in our class last year, Michael Duax, redshirted and probably starts from day 1 and it's really unclear how he's treating that in his rankings. Trey Campbell is way underrated because everybody assumed he was going to play football, he was either the best or second best basketball player in Iowa.

Looking ahead, we've got the kid that's probably going to win Mr Basketball in Michigan next year already committed.

We're never going to look great in these rankings because we're not going to play the 'take every P6 transfer' game. There's no reason for any concern.

by **tribecalledquest** » July 7th, 2022, 2:49 pm

jsaluki080 wrote:Seeing this makes me worry about UNI.
A strong UNI is good for the MVC.
panther fans, please tell me how this ranking is inaccurate, irrelevant, or something.

It is irrelevant - regardless of where teams rank.

by **DUBulldog** » July 7th, 2022, 2:50 pm

Not sure I'd rate SIU quite that high. Newton is a nice get, but not a lot else.

I'm okay with Drake being rated that low, they didn't have many spots to fill, so it was a small class.

If you count guys who redshirted last season, Drake has several more "newcomers"

by **siudawgs** » July 7th, 2022, 3:19 pm

DUBulldog wrote:Not sure I'd rate SIU quite that high. Newton is a nice get, but not a lot else.

I'm okay with Drake being rated that low, they didn't have many spots to fill, so it was a small class.

If you count guys who redshirted last season, Drake has several more "newcomers"

SIU potentially got three starters this spring (Johnson, Newton, Rupert). Not sure if Rupert will start or not, but three potential starters plus a promising freshman 7-footer (Hornecker) and likely useful reserve (Ferguson) is a pretty good class IMO (though I suppose you could argue three potential starters from the class reflects more on the caliber of returnees outside of Jones and Domask).

Re: the Drake redshirts, which one(s) do you anticipate getting the most time next season?

by **DUBulldog** » July 7th, 2022, 6:02 pm

siudawgs wrote:
DUBulldog wrote:Not sure I'd rate SIU quite that high. Newton is a nice get, but not a lot else.

I'm okay with Drake being rated that low, they didn't have many spots to fill, so it was a small class.

If you count guys who redshirted last season, Drake has several more "newcomers"

SIU potentially got three starters this spring (Johnson, Newton, Rupert). Not sure if Rupert will start or not, but three potential starters plus a promising freshman 7-footer (Hornecker) and likely useful reserve (Ferguson) is a pretty good class IMO (though I suppose you could argue three potential starters from the class reflects more on the caliber of returnees outside of Jones and Domask).

Re: the Drake redshirts, which one(s) do you anticipate getting the most time next season?

I would guess Issa Samake and Bryseson Burns. Samake is 6'8" with a 7'5" wingspan and is a great athlete. He was really raw coming in, made huge strides toward the end of 2020-21 season and then needed knee surgery just before last season began. He'll give Drake the rim protector they didn't have last season. Burns is 6'5", long, athletic, has guard skills and can shoot the 3. He played limited minutes in 2020-21, then redshirted last season. Like Samake, his upside is enormous, but he has yet to show that he can do these things consistently.