• Welcome to BradleyFans.com! Visitors are welcome, but we encourage you to sign up and register as a member. It's free and takes only a few seconds. Just click on the link to Register at the top right of the page, and follow instructions. If you have any problems or questions, click on the link at the bottom right of the page to Contact Us.

Valley Super-Sophs

LittleBrave

LittleBrave

Active member
Trying to take some of the bite out of some bitterness I've read on some of our boards lately, let's think about next season (though we're a few months away) and look ahead to Valley sophomores who will make an impact on their teams.

Who will be the 5 Valley sophomores (not easy since there were quite a few good freshmen last year) who will make the most impact?
Feel free to comment from a statistical viewpoint or other aspect of their game you think will improve to better their team.

My thoughts:

(No particular ranking)

1) Seth Van Deest (DU) - will need to improve on banging inside for positioning to rebound - will score double-digits most games.

2) Colt Ryan (EU) - how good can this kid get? I think his 3-pt. % will go up - only about 36% last year. Will be the heart and soul of the Aces.

3) Marc Sonnen (UNI) - will step in as the go-to 3-point specialist in place of Ali. He does a lot of intangibles well, like most Panthers.

4) Demetric Williams (WSU) - lot of pressure on him - maybe more than any other PG in the Valley. He will grow up quickly and become a solid all-around PG for the Shox. His play may dictate whether they become Valley-champs or not.

5) Dyricus-Simms Edwards (BU) - many BU fans were in awe of some of the things DSE did last season. His defense will improve and will step up and make big shots when the team needs him to.

Considered: Jackie Carmichael (ISU-red) - has a developed body already; ability to crash the boards will get him some easy deuces - needs to work on short jumper, but doesn't have Dinma around where other teams focused on stopping him.
 
Carmichael is the best sophomore in the MVC. He may be the best big in the MVC, although Lawson and Stutz will be up there with him.
 
It'll be interesting to which part of DSE's game improves over the offseason. He'll certainly present problems for the opposition at any position.

I agree that Carmichael might be the best of the group. He'll certainly get much more playing time compared to last year. We'll see how he handles the load. There just aren't that many athletic big men in the Valley.
 
Carmichael might be the best player in our league, even as a Sophomore. I would expect his game to continue to expand.

I think the next is DSE. He is flat out a basketball player and isnt in the least fearful. I can not wait to see his game also evolve.

Van Deest is my third with Sonnen forth.

Williams is the x factor, if he comes in handles the ball and does not get turned over WSU is going to be very difficult to defeat. His development might be the most important to any Valley school.

Ryan is a nice player but, well he shoots a lot, to get what he gets and overall regardless of his game to game performance it just isnt going to effect the conference much.
 
LittleBrave said:
1) Seth Van Deest (DU) - will need to improve on banging inside for positioning to rebound - will score double-digits most games.
Click to expand...

Just as an FYI....Van Deest has grown an inch since last season and is now 6-11, and he looks much thicker in the upper body. The Drake website is listing him at 238 pounds now....I think he was about 215 last season. Still has great footwork, and is getting stronger.
 
BradleyBrave said:
Carmichael is the best sophomore in the MVC. He may be the best big in the MVC, although Lawson and Stutz will be up there with him.
Click to expand...

I will have to see more of him to bestow such accolades on him this early, and IMO he is not even in the converstion of best big man in the MVC, yet.
He had a couple nice games, but was MIA in many others, like-
He had 0 points and 1 rebound against Morehead State
3 points and 0 rebounds against Dayton
5 points 1 rebound at UNI
2 points 1 rebound at Creighton
He had 20 games with 6 points or less- for the best young big man in the MVC, where was the offense?
He had 10 games with 2 rebounds or less! and 17 games with 3 rebounds or less.

His season totals of 6.8 ppg and 4.1 rpg are very David Collins-esque.
BB, I think you may be dekluded by the game he played at Bradley (one of the best games he had all year) when he scored 12 and had 7 rebounds. But he was very inconsistent. Let's see how well he does without Dinma around, and with a weaker perimeter team.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/players/88746
 
I don't believe that Carmichael is the best player in the league, let alone sophomore. He has no offensive moves, just power moves, which will only take him so far. Watch his footwork on defense...all he seems to do is try to block shots which puts him in bad position on a regular basis. Let's remember, there is a reason the high-majors passed on him.

I don't want to say he isn't good, but he needs work to take things to "star" level. He is a nice player and I would have LOVED to see him at BU, but he is a raw talent with a lot of potential at this point, nothing more. If he makes some big strides this off-season, I may change my mind.
 
Carmichael was one of the rare freshmen bigs to get plenty of time on the floor. I expect to see him improve over last year and will no doubt cause trouble for more then a few teams. On the other hand if Van Deest has grown and gained muscle I'd have to give him the nod over Carmichael.
 
Da Coach said:
I will have to see more of him to bestow such accolades on him this early, and IMO he is not even in the converstion of best big man in the MVC, yet.
He had a couple nice games, but was MIA in many others, like-
He had 0 points and 1 rebound against Morehead State
3 points and 0 rebounds against Dayton
5 points 1 rebound at UNI
2 points 1 rebound at Creighton
He had 20 games with 6 points or less- for the best young big man in the MVC, where was the offense?
He had 10 games with 2 rebounds or less! and 17 games with 3 rebounds or less.

His season totals of 6.8 ppg and 4.1 rpg are very David Collins-esque.
BB, I think you may be dekluded by the game he played at Bradley (one of the best games he had all year) when he scored 12 and had 7 rebounds. But he was very inconsistent. Let's see how well he does without Dinma around, and with a weaker perimeter team.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/players/88746
Click to expand...

Eyeball test and that includes his physical abilities Carmichael is the best Sophomore in this conference and if his game evolves he will be right towards the top in best players in this conference.

Pure basketball skill DSE is the best "basketball" player of the Sophs. Van Deest if he is growing both in height and size might be the best NBA potential of the Sophs. He is very skilled feet wise for a young bigman.
 
Da Coach said:
I will have to see more of him to bestow such accolades on him this early, and IMO he is not even in the converstion of best big man in the MVC, yet.
He had a couple nice games, but was MIA in many others, like-
He had 0 points and 1 rebound against Morehead State
3 points and 0 rebounds against Dayton
5 points 1 rebound at UNI
2 points 1 rebound at Creighton
He had 20 games with 6 points or less- for the best young big man in the MVC, where was the offense?
He had 10 games with 2 rebounds or less! and 17 games with 3 rebounds or less.

His season totals of 6.8 ppg and 4.1 rpg are very David Collins-esque.
BB, I think you may be dekluded by the game he played at Bradley (one of the best games he had all year) when he scored 12 and had 7 rebounds. But he was very inconsistent. Let's see how well he does without Dinma around, and with a weaker perimeter team.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/players/88746
Click to expand...

Carmichael looked good when he played us, and I thought he was good, but it's pretty hard to argue with those numbers. Based on his averages last year and how much weaker ILSU's team is I think expectations should probably be tempered for Carmichael.
 
amckillip said:
Carmichael looked good when he played us, and I thought he was good, but it's pretty hard to argue with those numbers. Based on his averages last year and how much weaker ILSU's team is I think expectations should probably be tempered for Carmichael.
Click to expand...

Another factor that made Carmichael look good at times is that he played a lot of minutes as ISUs backup center, and therefore went against a lot of backup post players on ISUs schedule.
This year he will be against mostly 1st string centers, and it will make a difference.
 
saluki762 said:
My Salukis may finish in last but Gene Teague should be on this list.
Click to expand...

It was just my opinion not to include GT on the list.
I thought others would have put him on theirs.

He could be a dominant big in the Valley, but everyone will be keying in on him this season. If Fay has a good season, maybe that will ease the pressure on Teague. I think Van Deest is a little ahead though - maybe because he played more than Teague from the get-go, and has good touch from a little farther away from the basket. The best of both worlds is to have Van Deest in Teague's body.

I was thinking more about contenders - which SIU likely will not be one next season. I had to include Colt from EU (Freshman POY) just because he's the heart and soul of the team and had such an impressive freshman season.
I think a lot of us are biased because Simms-Edwards is a Brave and we've seen amazing things from him already. I think he's a game-changer, and will help us this season, and will be our star guard 2 years after. We have a few outstanding senior guards heading into next season, which may overshadow DSE, but he will be a big key.
 
Indiana State, Illinois State, SIU, and UNI have a lot of minutes to replace - perhaps the four teams with the most to replace in the MVC -- nearly 45%, 50%, 42%, and 40%, respectively....and each and loses 3 starters...
Drake and Creighton are right behind in the 30-35% range...
Bradley lost one starter, and only a little over 20% of their minutes lost...
so I will take super-seniors over super-sophs just about any time......
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top