By Mark Bennett
Four of the five members of the Preseason
All-Missouri Valley Conference Team are guards.
Even the one exception -- Creighton's 6-foot-7
forward Kyle Korver -- plays the perimeter and hit 51 3-pointers
last season.
That's only fitting, said Bradley Coach Jim
Molinari.
"I think college basketball is a guard
game," Molinari said at last month's MVC Tipoff Luncheon
at St. Louis. "If you look at the teams that do well in
our league, they all have tremendous guards."
Indeed, Creighton won the 2000-01 MVC regular-season
title with a guard-driven attack that has produced three straight
NCAA Tournament berths. And Indiana State made its second straight
Big Dance appearance, led by backcourt ace Michael Menser and
guard-forward Matt Renn.
But while the top players in the Missouri
Valley could again be the guards, the difference between a middle-of-the-pack
finish and a championship could depend on the assistance they
get from their frontcourts.
At Southern Illinois, Preseason All-MVC first-teamer
Kent Williams and Marcus Belcher return to the backcourt, but
inside they'll have massive Virginia Tech transfer Rolan Roberts
alongside returning forward Jermaine Dearman. Illinois State,
already loaded with four returning starters including 2001 MVC
Player of the Year Tarise Bryson, added two junior-college transfers
inside. Southwest Missouri State's punch will likely come from
senior forwards Mike Wallace and Scott Brakebill. Evansville
has 6-foot-10, 245-pound sophomore center Dan Lytle. Creighton
lost guards Ryan Sears and Ben Walker, but has Korver, Terrell
Taylor and some transfers in the frontcourt -- 6-8 Brody Deren
from Northwestern and 6-7 juco product Austin Collier.
And Indiana State could have one of the most
experienced frontcourt duos in 6-9 senior center Terence Avery
and 6-8 power forward Djibril Kante, joining Kelyn Block and
some other young returnees and new faces.
Southern Illinois Coach Bruce Weber likes
his own inside players, but thinks the Sycamore pair could also
alter the outcomes of some MVC games this season.
"If you have a force like that, somebody
who can make a difference -- not only the backbone of your defense,
but somebody who can block some shots, rebound, start your offense
-- it can make a big difference in our league," Weber said.
He's hoping Roberts does just that. The 6-foot-6,
240-pounder scored 1,1,69 points and grabbed 544 rebounds in
three seasons at Virginia Tech before transferring to Southern
Illinois. "He's kind of a freak of nature," Weber said.
"He can go through the dunk drill just so easily.
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| Tribune-Star/Joseph
C. Garza |
| Hot hands: Indiana State
forward Djibril Kante shoots over a University of Indianapolis
defender during last weekend's exhibition. |
"With him, Dearman and Sylvester Willis
[a 6-6, 225-pound sophomore], we feel pretty good about our inside
guys," Weber added. "Now we've got to find a way to
blend them in with the others."
That blending process will be the trick for
several teams. Creighton and Indiana State have newcomers trying
to fill the voids left by Walker, Sears, Menser and Renn this
season. Illinois State and SMS went through that process last
season, with varied results. The Redbirds finished second in
the conference at 21-9 overall and 12-6 in the MVC, with Bryson
leading the way. The Bears struggled at 13-16 and 8-10.
Bryson, Korver, Williams and Block were joined
on the Preseason All-MVC team by 2001 Freshman of the Year Luke
McDonald of Drake, another guard.
With Bryson's return, Illinois State has been
mentioned by several national publications as a possible NCAA
Tournament team this season. The newcomers inside could help
the returnees. Often the pivot duties fell to 6-4 forward Shedrick
Ford, who also returns. Now he's added 6-9 shot-blocker Baboucarr
Bojang and 6-7 second-team juco All-American Casey Reid.
"The dimension we were missing last year,
I guess, was some post scoring," Redbirds Coach Tom Richardson
said. "Sometimes Shedrick Ford inside at 6-foot-4 just couldn't
get it done against the likes of [former Bradley center Jeff]
Rabey and some other guys in the league that he had to play against.
With the addition of the new guys -- we have good guard play
-- that gives us a that dimension and hopefully we'll be able
to use that."
Wallace became a significant scoring and rebounding
threat in his first season at SMS last year. He and Brakebill
both averaged a little more than 12 points per game. "When
[Wallace] was able to get the ball in a scoring position, he
was pretty tough to stop," Weber said.
And Evansville, coming off a disappointing
14-16 season, has Lytle back and 6-6 Illinois-Chicago transfer
Ian Hanavan, a steady rebounder, is now eligible to play.
Sycamore Coach Royce Waltman agreed with Molinari's
contention that the Valley and college basketball are guard-oriented.
But, he added, "The big guys in our league are probably
a little bit better than people realize."
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