Valley Freshmen

[tornado]

it's early but some of the MVC freshmen are having an impact but only a handful (in red) are playing more than 15 minutes per game and having big impact

BU: Elijah Childs 7.4 ppg/6.4 rpg, Ryan Stipanovich 3.8 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 62.5% on 3-pt shots
Drake: Jalen Gibbs 2 ppg, Noah Thomas 4.8 ppg/1.5 rpg, Samm Jones 0 ppg, Connor Gholson 0 ppg, Antonio Pilipovic 0 ppg (Will Halfon, Nick Girardi are not on their roster)
Evansville: Noah Frederking 2.5 ppg/0.5 rpg, Evan Kuhlman 0 ppg, John Hall 1 ppg
Illinois State: Elijah Clarance 0 ppg, Taylor Bruninga 5.5 ppg/1.0 rpg, Isaac Gassman 2.0 ppg/2.0 rpg, Luke Litwiller 0 ppg
Indiana State: Tyreke Key 9.5 ppg/3.5 rpg, Clayton Hughes 1.5 ppg, Daniel Hunermann 0.7 ppg, Matt Deady 0 ppg, Ethan Claycomb 0 ppg
Loyola: Lucas Williamson 4.8 ppg/1.3 rpg, Christian Negron 2.0 ppg/1.0 rpg, Cameron Krutwig 8.5 ppg/5.3 rpg
Missouri State: Mustafa Lawrence 2.5 ppg/1.0 rpg, Greg Williams 0 ppg, Darian Scott 0 ppg
UNI: Austin Phyfe 1.0 ppg/0 rpg, Tywhon Pickford 9.5 ppg/10.0 rpg, Tanner Lohaus 1.3 ppg/2.0 rpg
SIU: Brendon Gooch 1.5 ppg/3.5 rpg
Valparaiso: Parker Hazen 2.5 ppg/1.8 rpg, Mileek McMillan 5.3 ppg/2.5 rpg, Marten Linssen 2.0 ppg/3.5 rpg

[YATittle]

Good information. Thanks for keeping us informed.

[tornado]

As I said- it's early and some guys are still injured...
plus the level of competition each has faced is different....

For example - Bradley's & ISU's games have all been quite competitive - and no garbage time, while Evansville & Valpo's strength of schedule is very soft so far...

..and UNI's last 3 games were huge blowout, stat-padding wins against extremely low level opponents (Alcorn State, D-III Wartburg, Chicago State)...in which players logged 30+ minutes even tho they were up 30-40 points over hapless opponents who were playing their scrubs. The Chicago State box score is weird - with Chicago State playing only 2 players more than 20 minutes because they were behind by 40 - while UNI's starters were on the floor 30+ minutes. If Bradley had 3 or 4 of those games, then I suspect Childs would be averaging 20/15 and Stipo might be at 20 ppg

and none of Loyola's 4 opponents had beaten a single DI opponent thru Sunday - except Samford had eked out a win over winless Alabama A&M
SIU's gonna get their wake-up call tonight after two reasonably close calls over weak opponents

[Da Coach]

And Valparaiso has a pretty record so far at 4-0, but they have played possibly the weakest schedule of any MVC team. Their wins have been against D3 North Park, NAIA Trinity Christian, SIUE, and Southeastern Louisiana.
And their next game is against a bad Samford team, so they will almost certainly go to 5-0. Then they start gradually playing better opponents.

[tornado]

Just a followup on the MVC freshmen...
as always we have some really talented new freshmen in the league, but probably just a few less than in recent years...

Here are the ones making the most impact so far - and the frontrunners for the MVC ALL Freshmen Team

Tywhon Pickford (UNI) 10.9 ppg, 11.0 rpg
Tyreke Key (InSU) 9.2 ppg, 3.7 rpg
Elijah Childs 8.1 ppg, 7.3 rpg
Cameron Krutwig (Loyola) 7.9 ppg, 6.3 rpg
Taylor Bruninga (ISU) 5.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg)
Lucas Williamson (Loyola) 5.3 ppg, 1.9 rpg
Mileek McMillan (Valpo) 4.6 ppg, 2.0 rpg
Noah Thomas (Drake) 4.2 ppg, 1.6 rpg
Ryan Stipanovich 3.3 ppg, 2.0 rpg

a couple teams have played some really weak opponents like 50-pt blowouts of Coe College and 40+pt blowouts of Trinity, North Park or Eureka - giving a ton of garbage time that some stat padding might have taken place...so time will tell..........

[tornado]

Indiana State appears to have added a new player - a freshman Tyeshon Martin

http://www.gosycamores.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4820

I would assume he is a walk-on
He hasn't played yet - so perhaps he's planning to redshirt

[Da Coach]

Indiana State appears to have added a new player - a freshman Tyeshon Martin

http://www.gosycamores.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4820

I would assume he is a walk-on
He hasn't played yet - so perhaps he's planning to redshirt

One other interesting change. Indiana State senior center Brandon Murphy now has a different name on the back of his jersey than he has always had before. His jersey now reads "Blackmon-Murphy".
His bio says his birth name was "Brandon James Murphy-Blackmon", but for all 4 years at Indiana State, he has always been listed on their roster as Brandon Murphy.
This season is the first I have seen him wear the "Blackmon-Murphy" name on his jersey. Interestingly, the announcers for the ESPN broadcast have referred to him only as Brandon Murphy, and have not used the "Blackmon-Murphy" name he has on his jersey.

[tornado]

I don't want to be hard on Taylor Bruninga - but there were a lot of people who claimed he was better than - or at least as good as Alec Peters
and could step right in at DI and contribute like Alec...

And I know it's early - so surely he can & will improve, but

Alec Peters' stats at a freshman: 12.7 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 49% FG shooting, 38.3% 3-pt shooting, 1.4 apg
Taylor Bruninga's stats currently: 5.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 32% FG shooting, 29.6% 3-pt shooting, 0.8 apg

[Chico]

I don't want to be hard on Taylor Bruninga - but there were a lot of people who claimed he was better than - or at least as good as Alec Peters
and could step right in at DI and contribute like Alec...

And I know it's early - so surely he can & will improve, but

Alec Peters' stats at a freshman: 12.7 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 49% FG shooting, 38.3% 3-pt shooting, 1.4 apg
Taylor Bruninga's stats currently: 5.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 32% FG shooting, 29.6% 3-pt shooting, 0.8 apg

Get over it T. He went to ISU.

[tornado]

just offering a dose of reality - it's what we do...

and anyway - the guy I really wanted is the guy who went to Valpo

[wily coyote]

Get over it T. He went to ISU.

I know Taylor very well and I think he would have looked very good in a BU uniform. I'm not sure he'll have the career that Alex had but I do think it's possible. I just wish we would have had a place for him.

[tornado]

...MVC freshmen who are scoring over 5.0 ppg- appears to be only 5 of them

Tywhon Pickford (UNI) 10.1 ppg, 11.1 rpg in 32.5 minutes per game
Tyreke Key (InSU) 9.4 ppg, 3.4 rpg in 26.7 minutes per game
Elijah Childs 8.9 ppg, 7.5 rpg in 18.4 minutes per game
Cameron Krutwig (Loyola) 7.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg in 21.9 minutes per game
Lucas Williamson (Loyola) 5.3 ppg, 1.9 rpg in 19.8 minutes per game

[YATittle]

Thanks for this. Is the plan to provide periodic updates?

[tornado]

here's some updated stats on the top freshmen in the MVC

Tywhon Pickford (UNI) 9.1 ppg, 10.1 rpg in 31 minutes per game
Tyreke Key (InSU) 9.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg in 27.6 minutes per game
Elijah Childs 7.9 ppg, 7.4 rpg in 18.3 minutes per game
Cameron Krutwig (Loyola) 8.3 ppg, 6.4 rpg in 23.8 minutes per game
Taylor Bruninga (ISU) 6.6 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 22.7 min per game
Lucas Williamson (Loyola) 5.5 ppg, 1.8 rpg in 19.2 minutes per game
Noah Thomas (Drake) 5.0 ppg, 1.4 rpg on 13.5 minutes per game
Noah Frederking (Evansville) 5.0 ppg, 1.3 rpg, in 18.4 min per game
Ryan Stipanovich 3.3 ppg, 63.6% on 3-pt shooting in just 9.9 min per game

[tornado]

Updated stats for the key MVC Freshmen

Tywhon Pickford (UNI) 9.0 ppg, 9.6 rpg in 29.8 minutes per game
Tyreke Key (InSU) 9.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg in 28.0 minutes per game
Elijah Childs 8.33 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 66.7% from 3-pt shooting in 18.2 minutes per game
Cameron Krutwig (Loyola) 8.25 ppg, 6.6 rpg in 24.6 minutes per game
Noah Frederking (Evansville) 6.3 ppg, 1.5 rpg, in 19.9 min per game
Lucas Williamson (Loyola) 5.9 ppg, 1.9 rpg in 20.4 minutes per game
Taylor Bruninga (ISU) 5.7 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 22.2 min per game
Noah Thomas (Drake) 5.3 ppg, 1.4 rpg on 14.3 minutes per game
Ryan Stipanovich 4.1 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 58.3% on 3-pt shooting in just 10.6 min per game