Turner wrote:I assume WSU rolls through the Valley again as they return more than anyone and had the best season ever. Indiana State will fall off minus Odum. Who's second? Missouri State? UNI?
UNI has a chance to be really good next year. Tuttle and Buss will anchor the front court and will be a difficult match-up for the majority of the Valley, and possibly a good chunk of top 50 teams. 6-9 freshman Bennett Koch needs to add some weight and step up big in the post as the Panthers have no proven depth and no real size to speak of. Bohannon, Morgan, and Jesperson (6-6 Virginia transfer) should be excellent from the wing position. Washpun and Mitchell have the talent to be top notch PGs, but I haven't seen the on court leadership as of yet.
MSU will return Marcus Marshall and Austin Ruder in the backcourt. They will be second only to WSU's VanVleet and Baker. Dorian Williams and Devon Thomas will provide good PG depth as well. Mvouika and Thurman are long and skilled wings. Neither rebounds or plays defense particularly well and that will have to improve. Chris Kendrix should be an excellent freshman wing that will push for PT. McCullough and Kirk are passable bigs. Someone from MSU is going to have to step up for MSU to push WSU.
ISUr is a dark horse. If Hawkins and McIntosh are the best two freshman in the league, then the Redbirds will have just enough talent to push WSU. I doubt that the little ISU backcourt will have enough to actually win a title, but they could be within a game or two late in the conference season.