Missouri Valley Overview

The Missouri Valley Conference is the second oldest D-1 conference in America behind only the mighty Big Ten who they happen to share some of their area with.  The MVC does not cover near as much overall territory but until recently was a powerhouse in men’s basketball.  You see when this league began all of those years ago the initial members included Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa State and their Hawkeye brothers from Iowa.  Yes, there was some cross-pollination of the Big 10 and Big 8 for a minute but there was also one other Iowa University in the original six in the MVC.  Yes, the Drake Bulldogs were there at the beginning of this great league and are still here.  They have seen many teams come and go but foremost of these were the schools from the Sooner State.  As a matter of fact the Cowboys from Oklahoma State won a national title while playing before those Big 8 bastards scooped up both them and the Sooners as football became king in the Midwest.  The reason why many of the MVC teams were jumping ship was quite obvious as these were not football schools but the hits just kept a coming as the MVC grabbed some schools from some major Midwest cities to compete here.  Foremost was the Bearcats of Cincinnati but almost every school from a big city got a shot here.  Louisville, Saint Louis, Detroit, Memphis and even Houston got a shot to play in this league.  Most of these teams matriculated on down the road but a few stayed back including Tulsa and Wichita State who have been solid representatives from Oklahoma and Kansas.  The Valley, as it is known, is now one of the best mid-majors in the country but it wants to get back to the top of the heap.  It is so competitive that it will be hard to get more than two teams into the Big Dance.  Creighton from Omaha Nebraska replaced the Cornhuskers and Bradley got the Chicago area covered as these two programs have become mainstays in this league.  Obviously, five teams will not make a conference so the powers to be in the MVC grabbed some programs from the lower divisions to fill out their league.  Now, these are not your average NAIA or D-2 schools but powerhouses such as NIT runnerup Southern Illinois.  The State Universities from both Indiana and Illinois jumped aboard as well and just this last summer the crème de la crème of lower division schools jumped aboard as the Purple Eagles of Evansville will be joining the Valley.  This now nine team league is not trying to pretend these programs are as elite as some that have left but they will argue they deserve more respect than what they have been getting recently.  This is not a one team league no matter how much those talking heads affiliated with those big new conferences try to convince you.  Almost every season since those big dogs left you can make an argument for teams that get overlooked by the selection committee from this league.  This makes the out of conference games all that more important and many of the contenders in the Valley have loaded up with big time opponents.  After all, it would be a crime against humanity if only one team got in again from the MVC. 

The favorite going in are the Bradley Braves who have a plethora of talent and experience for Coach Chuck Orsborn to choose from.  He will not be rotating out superstar senior point guard Gene Melchiorre nor fellow senior stud forward Chet ‘the Jet’ Walker.  Both of these Braves have a chance to be All-Americans and are as good as anyone at their position in the MVC and possibly the Midwest.  Orsborne will rotate everywhere else but when you have platoons like Joe Allen and Joe Strawder at center or Bob Carney and Lavern Tart at two guard you are in pretty good hands.  And not to mention superstar forward Paul Unruh who will be coming back after missing some games last year to play next to the Jet once again.  And all of these guys are seniors.  There is more talent coming as junior Roger Phegley and sophomores Hersey Hawkins and Mitchell ‘JJ’ Anderson showed last year they can help.  Phegley is a 6’7 long-range bomber who was huge off the bench.  Hawkins is ready to step up and play a big role and with his outside shooting the kid will play somewhere.  Anderson was dynamite is his first year after moving up from JV when Unruh missed some games.  He gives Orsborne some flexibility up front but as you can see the Braves are deep on every level.  The only weakness this team might have is a lack of a true aircraft carrier in the middle but with the ‘best little man’ in the game according to none other then Adolph Rupp running this team, the Braves are in good hands.  Unless something strange happens in Peoria the Braves should are a good bet at winning the Valley and making the BD! 

The most likely team to challenge the Braves would most likely come from Kansas.  The Wichita State Shockers feature one of the most talented and beefiest front lines in the country.  Coach Ralph Miller has at his disposal a group of big men who can rotate in including seniors Gene Wiley and Nate Bowman plus junior Bob Elmore and sophomores Antoine Carr and Cliff Levingston.  Carr and Levingston have the most talent and will eventually get the most minutes but this group is not going to get pushed around by anyone including Kansas, Kentucky or Oklahoma State, all who are on their schedule.  The Shockers also have a stud in the making at small forward in Xavier McDaniel and seniors Dave Stallworth and Cleo Littleton are a pair of smooth shooting scorers on the wing.  The key to this team’s success will be the backcourt as extremely underrated and athletic point guard Warren Armstrong will be counted on to lead this team to glory.  It he can run Coach Miller’s offense as he wants it and this team plays just a little D then the team from Wichita might just shock some of those big dogs they have on their schedule.  Even if they don’t, this team will have one heck of a resume when it comes to picking teams in March. 

The Creighton Blue Jays are the only team in the league that has a front line anything near the size and physical ability of the Shockers.  Heck, the Blue Jays might even be more talented on the post but that will depend on how much improvement their second year seven-footer has made.  Kansas might have the Stilt but the Blue Jays have a similar big man they are counting on that might have similar potential in sophomore Benoit Benjamin.  Really!  The seven foot 250 pounder from Monroe Louisiana has all of the skills one would need to become the next great big man in the Midwest.  He is already the best shot blocker in the league and definitely has quite a nice little baby hook around the basket.  The only question is his toughness and desire so far he has been better than advertised though he did not get a truckload of boards.   You see Benjamin is playing next to the rebounding machine himself in senior Paul Silas.  If he had half of the heart and attitude as Silas, Benjamin would be All-World.  The senior is only 6’7 but grabs every board near him but his main project is to turn his sidekick into a next level talent.  After all there is a changing of guard at the coach in Omaha and Silas knows as much about how to play this game as anyone on the sidelines.  Fellow senior Bob Portman will play the three next to the two studs and gives the Blue Jays an incredible front line.  The back court is not as talented but senior Ed Cole and junior Ralph Bobik are not exactly chopped liver either.  Cole can flat score but is not all that athletic and Bobik is a 6’7 point guard who is a matchup nightmare.  What this team needs is some shooters from the wing who can hit the bombs and keep things loose in the paint for those stud big guys to do their dirty work.  Dana Altman is taking over a good team with several solid supporting players who will play their role well but outside shooting will decide the Blue Jays season.  After all, no team in this league is as dominant underneath as the Blue Jays.  But will that get them promised-land of the Big Dance? 

The next best team in the league is a tossup between the likes of Southern Illinois, Drake and Tulsa but all have some weaknesses that could get in the way of them achieving their goals.  The Salukis, surprisingly, might be the best of the group especially if you were only considering the backcourt.  Led by seniors Walt Frazier, who seriously can do anything on the court he wants to do.  That is if he can bounce back from missing almost all of last season.  Chico Vaughn and Dick Garrett plus clutch junior Mike Glenn got all of the reps last year and gained valuable experience but none are close to the QB from Georgia on the talent scale.  Clyde, as he is being dubbed, is a 6’4 stud whose presence has turned this program into a defensive juggernaut.  He is the best defensive guard in the Midwest and might be the best point guard as well.  Of course, all of these can’t play together (though Coach Jack Hartman will undoubtedly try to get them on the court together) and the front line has no depth so arguably the most important player on this team (and maybe in the league outside of Terre Haute) even with the great Frazier around is junior center Joe C. Meriweather.  Joe C goes 6’10 and can score and board and block a shot but starting next to him will be 6’4 senior Seymour Bryson and nobody else on the roster is above 6’7 which is a huge problem in this league.  Meriweather is gifted on both ends but a bit inconsistent and he cannot do it alone (Hartman swears help is coming with his freshman class of recruits) but if he steps up and becomes the elite center he has the potential to be, the Salukis could surprise. 

This league is famous for being a stepping stone for coaches who start here on their way to bigger things and the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes have the biggest two.  Nolan Richardson and Bill Self have become big time coaches but new coach Tubby Smith might be the best of the bunch.  Smith inherits a solid all-around team with scorers, defenders, rebounders and shooters galore but a lack of a superstar and a dominant big man might be their Achilles heel.  Richardson is preaching his 60 minutes of hell in Arkansas and Self has taken over the JV team in Kansas as he waits in the wings as Phog Allen gets one more shot with the Stilt to win the whole enchilada.  They have built quite a program here but Smith is the perfect guy to take this program to the next level.  He preaches the three and the Golden Hurricane is loaded with wing players who love to shoot from long-range.  Senior Bobby ‘Bingo’ Smith is the best of this bunch and this JC transfer (there are plenty of juco kids here) showed in one year here he is the man.  The fans love his ability to hit clutch shots as this marksmen (he did not get that name after a dog) will fill it up on a nightly basis.  Fellow senior Jim ‘Country’ King and junior Willie Biles form a solid back court with Biles having the potential of being a breakout star with his offensive arsenal.  King is Mr. Solid and the team captain but the key to the team will be junior Dana Lewis in the post.  This 6’10 240 pounder came all the way from Newark New Jersey to play in Tulsa and can flat dominate the paint.  Lewis was a high school All-American and actually played for Oral Roberts for a year but did not like the limitations of that school and transferred down the street to the Hurricanes when Self left for Golden Hurricanes job.  He was terrific last year and if he continues to improve this team has a chance. 

Maury John might be coaching the team that surprises everybody as they have as much experience as anyone and almost as much talent.  Led by arguably the most underrated guard in the country in Senior Willie McCarter, the Bulldogs play an upbeat style that this terrific guard has under control at all times. This team will score often.  A solid front line featuring more seniors in Bob Netolicky, Red Murrell, Willie Wise and  McCoy McLemore can hang with just about anybody.  Those last three are all junior college kids who traded off time last year while getting their feet wet at the D-1 level but they showed they can play and John will rely on them and probably more Juco kids to keep this program competitive.  These JC dependent schools usually take a minute to blend together so this team will rely on McCarter even more than usual.  If last year was any indicator the Bulldogs started slow but made a nice run in the conference tourney and then won a game in the NIT.  Their schedule does not have any big time opponents to worry about so they should have a good record.   They do need some punch on the wings and if they get that these Bulldogs will growl.  John is a terrific coach who knows how to win big games so if this team finds some talent to complement this terrific group of upperclassmen led by a great guard then the sky is the limit in Des Moines. 

The final three teams have an uphill battle to get to the top of the Valley but man do they have some individual talent.  Leading the way is the incredible junior Larry Bird for the Indiana State Sycamores.  Bird has a chance of being a special talent and could be the most complete player in the country as this six nine forward can shoot like Maravich, board like Hayes and pass like Magic.  Bird will put up some gawdy numbers as John Longfellow does not have much more talent on his roster but of course the whole world wants a piece of the Bird man so the Sycamores will be playing a ridiculous schedule.  A trip to Boston early on will set the table for this team as the Sycs will play some dang good opponents including Bill Russell and San Francsico in Beantown.  This could help at committee time if they don’t win the MVC tourney as if they are even that close then Bird will have went beyond expectations (which are sky high) and carried this team to a place they really don’t belong and this Hick from French Lick will be player of the year not only in the MVC but nationally as well.  The Sycamores do have other talent on the team but most of this is carryover from the lower level days and Coach John Longfellow needs to find a supporting cast for his superstar.  Seniors Duane Klueh, Jerry Newsom and Butch Wade will battle juniors DeCarsta Webster, George Pillow and Rick Willaims for playing time up front.  Webster is the only one with any real size at 7’1 and he will block a shot but his offense is non-existent.  Of course with Bird around you do not need much more offense.  The back court is led by senior Dick Atha and junior Carl Nicks after he returns from Florida after a skip year.  Sophomore wing John Williams might be able to give Bird some relief on offense as he came on strong the last half after being called up from JV.  But in Terre Haute there is only one person that matters and that is the Bird.  He is the word. 

Illinois State has a similar player in junior Doug Collins though of course he does not get near the hype.  Legendary Detroit prep Coach Will Robinson had surrounded his sharpshooting guard with much more talent but after a down year the administration decided to move on from the first African-American Coach in D-1.  New Coach Bob Donewald, a Bobby Knight apprentice, takes over with a decent roster and superb wing in Collins who can flat light it up from Chicago on a given night.  A couple of 6’11 bigs will rotate at center though neither is exactly Benjamin in talent.  6’5 point guard Ron Jones should get more attention but with the 6’6 Collins next to him this is a huge backcourt.  The rest of the team is not as big as 6’1 senior Fred Marberry is the starting four for now (he can leap to the moon) and 6’6 Bill Lewis starts next to him at forward.  This will be a weakness.  The Redbirds will win some games in the MVC and out as they have nowhere near the out of conference schedule as some of the other Valley teams.  But will Donewald get this team to play defense as he was taught and more importantly will this team accept their new coach?  Robinson is staying around town as a recruiter for the NFL (really) but he should have got another year with these players he recruited. 

Last but hopefully not least is newby Evansville.  Legendary Coach Arad McCutcheon has built a program in D-2 that is akin to the Kentucky and UCLA juggernauts winning numerous national titles.  This first year will test this program in the MVC but there is some talent left including senior two-way stud Jerry Sloan to be able to compete.  Fellow seniors Willie Humes and Ed Smallwood and superior junior point guard Don Buse offer ample support as this experienced (but small) roster knows how to play McCutchan’s lock down defense.  The Purple Eagles showed last year in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference they can compete at this level as they almost won the league title.  They would not have been able to play in the Big Dance anyway as a first year D-1 team but this year they can.  That will be a heck of a lot harder to win the MVC then the MCC as that V as in the Big Valley (sorry Heath and Audrey, I had to go there) means something in the Midwest.  They may not win the Valley this year but they will have many fans in Indiana rooting for them. 

The Valley per usual will be a competitive and fun conference to watch and will indeed make an impact on the national basketball scene.  How much is yet to be seen but this legendary conference is here to stay and has as many national titles as the Big East!  This league wants to earn back their respect and reputation that they once had back before everybody was in a league.  This powerhouse league has fallen a bit into Mid-Major status but that does not mean they do not have great programs and superb players.  It just means they don’t have as many as they used to but for this year the Valley has as many potential superstars as any league in the country.  Now if the rest of the world realizes just how good the Valley is.  Again!