Southern Illinois hires Scott Nagy

[So iLL 24]

News coming soon about a PG

[SalukiWorld]

Elijah Elliott PG from UTRGV, averaged 16.6 PPG but with meh shooting %
https://x.com/e2shifty/status/179842738 ... 8wqRSA0LoA

[So iLL 24]

News coming soon about a PG

I hope this notice, which included the positon of the player, was early enough and to everyone's approval.

[siudawgs]

SIU needed a starting-caliber PG and Elliott should fit that bill. The question is how he transitions from volume shooter/scorer on a bad team to a cog on a team with many more pieces around him that expects to win.

Possible starters: Elijah Elliott, Ali Dibba, Kennard Davis, Davion Sykes, Jarrett Hensley

And then your bench would be led by Mayo, Steffe (Texas Tech transfer/shooter) and Moreno (6-10 JUCO center), with Sheridan Sharp as the backup PG and Bey potentially in the mix if he can make some strides. Plus two freshman bigs available as needed. Still one open scholarship if they want to use it.

With anticipated good coaching factored in, this could be an MVC contender.

[BCPanther]

I'm ready to slot SIU into the preseason top tier with Bradley, UNI and Murray.

Illinois State just on the outside of that group looking in for me.

Bradley
UNI
Murray
Southern Illinois

Illinois State
Belmont

UIC
Missouri State
Indiana State

Drake

Evansville
Valpo

Of course it's June 5th so who the hell actually knows...

[SalukiWorld]

I think coaching is gonna matter a lot this year which should be a good sign for SIU with Nagy if he can get the team gelling together. I’m probably higher on UIC than most, they’ve had a great portal.

[bleach]

To me it is mostly a wild guess but how can you have SIU with a new coach and a new roster as a favorite and MO State with a new coach and a new roster near the bottom? Same with Drake. Everything is unproven and untested.

[BCPanther]

To me it is mostly a wild guess but how can you have SIU with a new coach and a new roster as a favorite and MO State with a new coach and a new roster near the bottom? Same with Drake. Everything is unproven and untested.

This. This is the reason.

Other than Drake who doesn't appear to have done as well in the portal.

[TylerDurden]

To be fair, Nagy has a track record of competing for conference titles at every stop. In his last 13 years, he has won six regular season titles, been to five NCAA tournaments and two NITs. In that time, his worst league finishes were 4th (once), 5th (once) and 6th (once). Will that translate to the Valley? I don't know, but with full disclosure, I'm an admitted Nagy Stan.

It's why I would rate SIU a bit higher than some of the others with new rosters and coaches. I'm not convinced they're a top-three-type team, but I don't expect a play-in finish either.

I think Cuonzo is better suited for a mid-major job and will have the Bears competitive this season. They won't be at the bottom of the league and probably are battling SIU in that 5-6-7 range.

I think McCollum might surprise a bit at Drake, but that probably means something in the 8-9 range this year. Could be better if the guys he brought with him are legit.

There are a lot of unknowns, to be sure.

[siudawgs]

To be fair, Nagy has a track record of competing for conference titles at every stop. In his last 13 years, he has won six regular season titles, been to five NCAA tournaments and two NITs. In that time, his worst league finishes were 4th (once), 5th (once) and 6th (once). Will that translate to the Valley? I don't know, but with full disclosure, I'm an admitted Nagy Stan.

It's why I would rate SIU a bit higher than some of the others with new rosters and coaches. I'm not convinced they're a top-three-type team, but I don't expect a play-in finish either.

I think Cuonzo is better suited for a mid-major job and will have the Bears competitive this season. They won't be at the bottom of the league and probably are battling SIU in that 5-6-7 range.

I think McCollum might surprise a bit at Drake, but that probably means something in the 8-9 range this year. Could be better if the guys he brought with him are legit.

There are a lot of unknowns, to be sure.

Nagy having Steve Hawkins, a longtime DI head coach who also has coached in NCAA tournaments, on staff as an assistant gives me further confidence that SIU will not be outcoached too often in this era. Talk about an experienced 1-2 punch ...