Redshirting has become dangerous in this era of grad transfers as well. If a kid turns into a strong player, it sucks that he can move to a power 5 school for year 5 without having to sit out a year. I’d rather have him play for SIU basketball 4 full seasons even if the freshman year is going to be limited minutes.
With all the newcomers, it may be a rough start. But i think by mid-season, they're going to start looking like a team. Conference play will be tough, but maybe by tournament time, they will look good.
The past few years, i have hoped for an NIT bid. Maybe i'm a Kool-Aid drinker, but i hope for that again this year.
With all the newcomers, it may be a rough start. But i think by mid-season, they're going to start looking like a team. Conference play will be tough, but maybe by tournament time, they will look good.
The past few years, i have hoped for an NIT bid. Maybe i'm a Kool-Aid drinker, but i hope for that again this year.
Rough starts and NCAA/NIT bids don't really go hand in hand for midmajors. You've got to do some damage in the nonconference or you're almost certainly going to be shut out. See: Barry Hinson era.
Kind of fun to expect a team to improve and exceed expectations though
Drake is the model for outperforming expectations with a first year head coach. They took advantage of a generally easy schedule early and developed quick enough to get a share of the MVC regular season.
Slow time of year, so posting this ... Redbirds focusing heavily on defense and rebooting the culture this offseason.
Several MVC teams are doing foreign trips this month (let's see if it helps them more than it helped Southern last year). Evansville went 3-0 in its games and one of the Aces' many newcomers, forward DeAndre Williams, averaged more than 24 ppg on the trip. On the down side for Evansville, both of their top two assistant coaches recently left the program (Lickliter for health reasons and Graves took a job at Xavier).
UNI, Valpo and Illinois State are also doing trips.
Loyola already had one bad injury in the backcourt (Cooper Kaifes out for the year); now one of their key recruits, JUCO guard Keith Clemons, will miss a good chunk of the non-conference.
https://twitter.com/NickSchultz_7/status/1186311313615654912
Drake's Tremell Murphy, an all-MVC candidate, will be back well in time for MVC play. Five-game suspension for the accidental shooting incident.
May screw up Drake's non-con record, which doesn't help anyone in The Valley. Best case is Drake finds out they can win without this kid.
May screw up Drake's non-con record, which doesn't help anyone in The Valley. Best case is Drake finds out they can win without this kid.
Murphy will miss their game at Cincinnati, but the other four games he’ll be suspended for are very winnable home games.
