Valley 1st & 2nd teams (2/3 season mark)

[LittleBrave]

Who is on your 1st and 2nd All-Valley teams? (after 12 league games)

My thoughts:

1st Team:
1) McDermott (CU)
2) Carmichael (ISU)
3) Ryan (UE)
4) Odum (ISU-blue)
5) Lemon Jr. (BU)
----
2nd Team:
Downing (MSU)
James (UNI)
Simms-Edwards (BU)
Early (WSU)
Gibbs or Echenique (CU)

Next 2:
Arop (ISU-blue)
Jackson (SIU)

[BuAlum03]

Pretty fair list IMO. Think DSE will be defensive POY?

[LittleBrave]

Pretty fair list IMO. Think DSE will be defensive POY?

If season ended today - Absolutely.

I expected DSE to play better than last, but not as consistently well as he has played.

[Da Coach]

One thing I notice this year is how few freshmen and sophomore kids appear among the leaders in all the categories.

So, I'll ask--
Who do you think are the best sophomores in the league? (There are none who appear to be All-MVC caliber players, but I'd say Tuttle and Mitchell of UNI who rank as the highest scoring sophomores in the MVC at 17th and 18th)

Who are the contenders for Freshman of the Year?
The top scorers among freshmen are Marcus Marshall of MSU who ranks 21st, and Anthony Beane of SIU who is 22nd. Austin Chatman of Creighton, D.J. Balentine of UE, Gavin Thurman of MSU, and Joey King of Drake are the other top freshmen, but none have had great consistency.

The best newcomers are all jucos and transfers. IMO, this is turning out to be possibly the worst back to back years for the overall quality of freshman recruits in the Valley, and could bode poorly for the future of the MVC.

[tornado]

I have thought the same thing - when this current crop of juniors & seniors is gpme - the Valley will drop off unless some pretty good jucos come in and fill spots...

one thing I noted the other nite was how totally different Ryan Sawvell is...
seriously - the kid looked like the MVC POY last year as a freshman - especially against us...
now he's nothing more than a deep sub and emergency big man when everyone else fouls out...

[Nacho]

Obvious bias, but I'd throw Tyler Brown's name in the hat for 2nd team. 4th leading scorer in the league at 16 ppg.

Johnny Hill could be considered one of the better sophomores in the league, but since none if his stats jump off the page, he probably wouldn't get consideration. He is a protypical stat stuffer. Last night 9 points (on only 1shot), 7 assists, 7 rebounds, 0 turnovers...

[tornado]

IF ISU can rally to finish above 5th Tyler will get votes...

[Future Walk-On]

Edit

[DoubleJayAlum]

Who are the contenders for Freshman of the Year?
The top scorers among freshmen are Marcus Marshall of MSU who ranks 21st, and Anthony Beane of SIU who is 22nd. Austin Chatman of Creighton, D.J. Balentine of UE, Gavin Thurman of MSU, and Joey King of Drake are the other top freshmen, but none have had great consistency.

The best newcomers are all jucos and transfers. IMO, this is turning out to be possibly the worst back to back years for the overall quality of freshman recruits in the Valley, and could bode poorly for the future of the MVC.

Austin Chatman is a sophomore, not a freshman.

I think that the reason you aren't seeing more freshman excel has more to do with the quality of the people ahead of them than anything else. It is hard for freshman to get significant playing time outside of SIU and MSU this year.

[Da Coach]

Austin Chatman is a sophomore, not a freshman.

I think that the reason you aren't seeing more freshman excel has more to do with the quality of the people ahead of them than anything else. It is hard for freshman to get significant playing time outside of SIU and MSU this year.

Sorry, I got Chatman wrong. Thanks for the correction. He is one of the better sophs.

Yes, that issue is always an issue that freshmen face. I know Creighton has a couple good freshmen that we haven't seen much of, but it is not as if every team in the Valley is so loaded with top quality upperclass players that there shouldn't be a couple freshmen playing more minutes, starting, or in the top 20 players in most categories. In almost every year in the past 20+ years there have been quality freshmen that play a lot and even start for teams in the MVC. This year, we don't have that. IMO, the quality of freshmen is as weak as any year in memory. I do suspect a couple will develop and emerge as stars eventually.

Who would you say are the best freshmen?

[LittleBrave]

These are just mine (if they actually mattered)...not who I think will be chosen (consideration also given to their team's place in the standings)

1st Team:
1) McDermott (CU)
2) Carmichael (ISU)
3) Ryan (UE)
4) Early (WSU)
5) Lemon Jr. (BU)
----
2nd Team:
Odum (ISU-blue)
Gibbs (CU)
Brown (ISU-red)
James (UNI)
Downing (MSU)

Next 2:
Simms-Edwards (BU)
Sonnen (UNI)
**If records for BU and UNI flip-flopped, DSE over James; Downing eeks out last spot for 2nd team, but last 5/6 games has tailed off.

Other possibilities (2nd team):
Armstead (WSU)
Echenique (CU)
Koch (UNI)
Arop (ISU-blue)
Simons (DU)
Jackson (SIU)

[tornado]

Chatman - like a lot of underclassmen - has seen his stats drop off some here late in the season...especially since his good game against Bradley.....
and it's one of the reasons why Creighton is faltering...
In the past 4 games, 3 of which were Creighton losses, he just 8-23 overall, scoring under his average (6.5ppg) while averaging only 1.7 assist but even more turnovers.

He is one of the better sophs.

Kinda ironic....
Chatman's averaging 8 ppg as a sophomore - but then so did Jordan Prosser & even Will Egolf was right there, as well - and oddly people said a lot different things about them...

[Da Coach]

Here were the preseason picks for All-MVC

Doug McDermott - Preseason Player of the Year
Jackie Carmichael
Colt Ryan
Jake Odum
Ben Simons

Honorable Mention All Conference include...
Gregory Echenique
Anthony James
Carl Hall
Seth Tuttle

http://mvc-sports.com/mbasketball/news/2012-13/6210/creighton-picked-to-win-mvc-basketball-title/

[LittleBrave]

After Downing's performance tonight, I think DSE is slightly ahead of him if DSE can put in another solid performance tomorrow night.
But I believe they will put Armstead ahead of Dyricus due to their 1st place record, or even if they finish 2nd place.
I don't see who DSE would overtake in my list of 2nd teamers, as CU and WSU will get 2 apiece, and UNI might get a couple, though James is only one who has shown consistency to the degree that Ricque has.

[Old Coach]

Lemon Jr. should be a first teamer.