MVC transfers and players lost

[Tommy]

I'd say with all the players entering the transfer portal from the MVC, it's setting up to make BU the next dominant team of the conference if not for Indiana St. landing Tobias "TJ" Howard. Drats for that Lansing character and his recruitment skills!

[braves16]

ISUred big man going to Tulsa.

https://twitter.com/chief_rey/status/1245020240767062024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1245020240767062024&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fs9e.github.io%2Fiframe%2Ftwitter.min.html%231245020240767062024

[Da Coach]

I'd say with all the players entering the transfer portal from the MVC, it's setting up to make BU the next dominant team of the conference if not for Indiana St. landing Tobias "TJ" Howard. Drats for that Lansing character and his recruitment skills!

Tommy, you are cruel.
For the record, T.J. Howard seems to be a poor-mans replacement for Jordan Barnes, so I don't see how makes them much "better". Indiana State really needs inside players. They basically have one big man returning- Tre Williams, who played fairly well for a freshman this past season. He is listed at 6'7", but I think he is not quite that big, and he doesn't give them much offense (7.2 ppg). He also averaged only 4 rpg, which is low for a post players who played 25 minutes/game. Former Bradley recruit Jake Laravia is listed at 6'8" and was impressive for a freshman, but he is not really an inside player. They have a couple 2020 recruits that won't make much of an impact, IMO- 6'6" juco forward Kailex Stephens, who averaged only 8.0 ppg and 5.7 rpg and incoming freshman Nick Hittle, a 6'10" center from a small high school who did not have any other D1 offers, and should probably redshirt, though he will likely be pressed into action because of their lack of big men.

I have looked over the '20-'21 rosters of all the schools and researched a bit about all the new incoming players. From what I see, it looks like the MVC will again have 3 tiers- Evansville, Illinois State, Indiana State, and SIU will probably be picked as the bottom 4. Drake, Missouri State, and Valpo will be in the 2nd tier, and Loyola, UNI, and Bradley will probably be picked as the top 3 again.
What does everyone else think?

[Da Coach]

ISUred big man going to Tulsa.
https://twitter.com/chief_rey/status...20240767062024

I wish him luck. Idowu's skills will have to improve for him to become a factor at Tulsa, but it is a good school with a great basketball tradition and recent success in the American Athletic Conference under Frank Haith. This past season, Tulsa finished tied with Houston and Cincinnati for 1st place in the conference, but with their NET of 78 they would have been an NIT team. They lost to Memphis in the quarterfinals of the AAC Tournament before it was cancelled.

But what I'd be curious to know is how and why did Idowu decide to transfer to Tulsa so quickly? He entered the NCAA transfer portal last Friday PM (March 27). And now, less than 4 days later, he has already been convinced to transfer to Tulsa. I can't find that Tulsa was ever involved in recruiting him out of high school or prep school, so he probably wouldn't have ever met their coach Frank Haith or known much about the school or their basketball program. And we are in a strict NCAA recruiting "Dead Period" right now which does not allow for any visits, player evaluation, or face to face contact between coaches and recruits. So how did Tulsa head coach Frank Haith know who Idowu was or whether he wanted to offer him, and how did Idowu know anything about the University of Tulsa, their coach, or their program?

[bradleyfan124]

I wish him luck. Idowu's skills will have to improve for him to become a factor at Tulsa, but it is a good school with a great basketball tradition and recent success in the American Athletic Conference under Frank Haith. This past season, Tulsa finished tied with Houston and Cincinnati for 1st place in the conference, but with their NET of 78 they would have been an NIT team. They lost to Memphis in the quarterfinals of the AAC Tournament before it was cancelled.

But what I'd be curious to know is how and why did Idowu decide to transfer to Tulsa so quickly? He entered the NCAA transfer portal last Friday PM (March 27). And now, less than 4 days later, he has already been convinced to transfer to Tulsa. I can't find that Tulsa was ever involved in recruiting him out of high school or prep school, so he probably wouldn't have ever met their coach Frank Haith or known much about the school or their basketball program. And we are in a strict NCAA recruiting "Dead Period" right now which does not allow for any visits, player evaluation, or face to face contact between coaches and recruits. So how did Tulsa head coach Frank Haith know who Idowu was or whether he wanted to offer him, and how did Idowu know anything about the University of Tulsa, their coach, or their program?

He attended the Bill Self school for recruitment

[Tommy]

Tommy, you are cruel.

He'll probably come to Carver and scorch us for 30 now!

I have looked over the '20-'21 rosters of all the schools and researched a bit about all the new incoming players. From what I see, it looks like the MVC will again have 3 tiers- Evansville, Illinois State, Indiana State, and SIU will probably be picked as the bottom 4. Drake, Missouri State, and Valpo will be in the 2nd tier, and Loyola, UNI, and Bradley will probably be picked as the top 3 again.
What does everyone else think?

I agree with your assessment of the Valley with two possible minor changes:

1. I was really impressed with Valpo's improvement over the year and their coach impresses me, so I have a feeling they may sneak into the top tier. That being said, they lost 2 pretty good shooters this year, so that remains to be seen, but as long as Liberty-Freeman is around I've got to think they are going to be a threat.
2. Missouri State could easily tank. They've potentially lost some real talent in the transfer portal and I've never been impressed with Dana Ford's coaching ability. I could see them falling in with the bottom group pretty easily.

[Da Coach]

I agree with your assessment of the Valley with two possible minor changes:

1. I was really impressed with Valpo's improvement over the year and their coach impresses me, so I have a feeling they may sneak into the top tier. That being said, they lost 2 pretty good shooters this year, so that remains to be seen, but as long as Liberty-Freeman is around I've got to think they are going to be a threat.
2. Missouri State could easily tank. They've potentially lost some real talent in the transfer portal and I've never been impressed with Dana Ford's coaching ability. I could see them falling in with the bottom group pretty easily.

OK, that's true, but here was my logic for the 3 teams I predicted for the middle tier.....
Drake was lousy down the stretch, losing 7 of their last 10 games, and fading from contention and into 8th place and the Thursday play-in games. But because of Liam Robbins, Roman Penn, D.J. Wilkins, their other guards, the return of Tremell Murphy, and DeVries' coaching ability, I personally think they will be in the middle tier and not as weak as the four lowest tier teams.

And I put Valpo and Missouri State in that middle tier because they still have some decent talent. But it's all just an educated guess.
I can't see Valpo contending. They were 9-9 last season, and I think they are about a 9-9 team again. Their strongest point was their perimeter shooting (mainly departed seniors Fazekas & Kizer who were their 2 most consistent 3-point shooters), which allowed Freeman-Liberty to avoid double-teams and do his thing. Without the outside threat, IMO they will struggle much more to score.
And Missouri State could drop into the bottom tier, but my logic was that I believe their talent is better than the others I put in the 3rd tier (ILSU, INSU, UE, & SIU).

I'd like to know what everyone else thinks about next year.

[Da Coach]

Then again, my opinion could change depending on further changes of personnel.

2 of the potential starters for Missouri State next year just entered the transfer portal, and intend to transfer from Missouri State.
Junior Tyrik Dixon, who was the starting point guard for their first 17 games until he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury, has decided to leave. And Ford Cooper, a freshman point guard who saw a lot more playing time after Dixon's injury but was never much of an offensive threat, has also entered the transfer portal.
Neither of these transfers are completely devastating for Dana Ford, but it does mean that 9 of the top 11 players from last year's team are now gone. The only 2 players of significance returning next season now are senior-to-be Gaige Prim and sophomore-to-be Isaiah Mosley. Dana Ford can't afford to lose any more kids, and he really needs to hit a home run with his late recruiting, or they will indeed be a bottom dwelling team next year.
This season started out with a trickle of transfers for MVC teams, but it has turned into a flood.

Here is the latest list of MVC players leaving (transfers in bold)-
Bradley- Koch Bar, Darrell Brown, Nate Kennell, (Freshmen Stephan Gabriel and Sean Houpt transferred)
Drake- Anthony Murphy, Brady Ernst, (Redshirt Juniors Samm Jones and Antonio Pilipovic transferred as grad-transfers)
Evansville- K.J. Riley, (freshman Marcus Henderson transferred, redshirt-juniors Artur Labinowicz and John Hall transferred)
Illinois State- Zach Copeland, Ricky Torres, Jaycee Hillsman (Sophomore Rey Idowu transferred, redshirt-junior Matt Chastain and redshirt-sophomore Taylor Bruninga will end their basketball careers due to injuries)
Indiana State- Jordan Barnes, Bronson Kessinger, Christian Williams, (Redshirt Sophomore Tyeshon Martin transferred, and junior center Christopher Agbo transferred)
Loyola- Bruno Skokna, Jake Baughman
Missouri State- Keandre Cook, Tulio Da Silva, Lamont West, Ross Owens, and Kabir Mohammad, (Redshirt Junior Josh Hall transferred as grad-transfer, Freshman Tyem Freeman transferred, junior Tyrik Dixon transferred, freshman Ford Cooper transferred)
Northern Iowa- Spencer Haldeman, Isaiah Brown, Luke McDonnell, Justin Dahl, Lincoln Conrey, (RS Senior Shandon Goldman transferred to Tennessee Tech as grad-transfer)
SIU- Ronnie Suggs, Barret Benson, Eric McGill, (Redshirt juniors Aaron Cook and Brendan Gooch will transfer as a grad-transfers, junior Harwin Francois is also transferring, and redshirt freshman Karrington Davis is transferring; Stevan Jeremic was reported to be transferring, but not confirmed)
Valparaiso- John Kizer, Ryan Fazekas

[Da Coach]

Evansville's 6'7" forward John Hall has entered his name into the NCAA Transfer Portal and will leave Evansville. He is a redshirt junior having sat out his freshman season, and he should be eligible to transfer as a grad-transfer and be eligible immediately at another school.
This past season, he started 25 of their 32 games, and averaged 6.0 ppg and 3.2 rpg. He is the 3rd Evansville player to announce he is leaving before his eligibility expires. Hall seemed to have pretty good games against Bradley. In the two games this past season he scored 12 & 9 points.
John Hall bio- https://gopurpleaces.com/sports/mens...john-hall/4928

[Da Coach]

Valparaiso's Javon Freeman-Liberty announced today on Twitter that he was declaring for the 2020 NBA Draft-

https://www.nwitimes.com/sports/valparaisos-javon-freeman-liberty-declares-for-2020-nba-draft/article_bdae9bed-8d18-5f8f-8e0e-5ba79c3f82c7.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1

This does not prevent him from pulling out and returning to Valparaiso, which is likely what will happen.
NCAA rules allow players to declare for the draft and attend individual team workouts as well as the NBA Draft Combine while maintaining collegiate eligibility, as long as they do not sign with an agent.
Here is his announcment-

https://twitter.com/AintuJavon/status/1245471019462205440

[Fetz86]

Message seems pretty sincere, but given the date I just assumed it was a joke at first.

[Tommy]

He's a great player, but I don't think there's any chance he gets drafted high enough to warrant him leaving early. That being said, anywhere he gets drafted gives him the opportunity to make more than most of us will ever make as a salary, so I'm probably wrong as usual. Either way, I wish him good luck. He's a really talented and fun player to watch and from all accounts, an extremely classy and upstanding young man.

[Gustig]

Are other teams suffering from losses like we are too? Or are they finding ways to mitigate them?

[Da Coach]

Are other teams suffering from losses like we are too? Or are they finding ways to mitigate them?

Most of the MVC teams have had players who intend to transfer. Only Loyola and Valparaiso have not had a player enter the transfer portal yet.
Here is the latest list of players who are graduating and and transferring (transfers in bold)-
Bradley- Koch Bar, Darrell Brown, Nate Kennell, (Freshmen Stephan Gabriel and Sean Houpt transferred)
Drake- Anthony Murphy, Brady Ernst, (Redshirt Juniors Samm Jones and Antonio Pilipovic transferred as grad-transfers)
Evansville- K.J. Riley, (freshman Marcus Henderson transferred, redshirt-juniors Artur Labinowicz and John Hall transferred)
Illinois State- Zach Copeland, Ricky Torres, Jaycee Hillsman (Sophomore Rey Idowu transferred, redshirt-junior Matt Chastain and redshirt-sophomore Taylor Bruninga will end their basketball careers due to injuries)
Indiana State- Jordan Barnes, Bronson Kessinger, Christian Williams, (Redshirt Sophomore Tyeshon Martin transferred, and junior center Christopher Agbo transferred)
Loyola- Bruno Skokna, Jake Baughman
Missouri State- Keandre Cook, Tulio Da Silva, Lamont West, Ross Owens, and Kabir Mohammad, (Redshirt Junior Josh Hall transferred as grad-transfer, Freshman Tyem Freeman transferred, junior Tyrik Dixon transferred, freshman Ford Cooper transferred)
Northern Iowa- Spencer Haldeman, Isaiah Brown, Luke McDonnell, Justin Dahl, Lincoln Conrey, (RS Senior Shandon Goldman transferred to Tennessee Tech as grad-transfer)
SIU- Ronnie Suggs, Barret Benson, Eric McGill, (Redshirt juniors Aaron Cook and Brendan Gooch will transfer as a grad-transfers, junior Harwin Francois is also transferring, and redshirt freshman Karrington Davis is transferring; Stevan Jeremic was reported to be transferring, but not confirmed)
Valparaiso- John Kizer, Ryan Fazekas (Javon Freeman-Liberty has declared for the NBA Draft, but will likley return)

[Tommy]

Seems like being a player's coach isn't working out for Dan Muller over the last couple of years. They're draining players like an over-sized funnel down in Bloomington, and it makes me feel kinda bad for them. Wait, no it doesn't!