MVC basketball coaches reconsider time-honored redshirting tactics

The Missouri Valley Conference is a place where redshirts are honored and experience valued as the way to level the playing field. From Randal Falker to Ron Baker to Matt Bohannon, success stories are celebrated at almost every school.

The strategy, however, is no longer an ucomplicated way to produce a veteran roster.

MVC coaches are evaluating their affection for redshirts, in part because the tactic works too well. The NCAA’s graduate transfer rule, instituted in 2006 and gaining in popularity, means schools can lose the prized fifth season of eligibility to another school.

“It’s hunting season,” Southern Illinois coach Barry Hinson said. “We know for a fact there are calls being made right now on fifth-year guys.”

For players, the freedom to transfer and play immediately is a reward for academic progress and gives them an option to escape a bad situation or upgrade to a big-name program. For coaches who lose a player, it’s spring free agency that can wreck a roster. It can also clear a path for coaches to push out a fifth-year senior who no longer fits in the plan.

The MVC is hit hard by transfers in recent seasons, losing talents such as Reggie Lynch (Illinois State), Jordan Caroline (SIU), Rayvonte Rice (Drake), Marcus Marshall (Missouri State) and Bola Olaniyan to other programs, several in higher-profile conferences. Olaniyan is the one in that group who redshirted in 2012-13 at Southern Illinois and graduated to earn the right to transfer without eligibility restrictions.

Olaniyan, who transferred to Alabama, represents the nightmare scenario for an MVC coach. After four seasons of development, one solely in practice, another program benefits with the fifth season. After starting 26 games and averaging 7.8 points and 8.8 rebounds as a Saluki last season, he is a role player at Alabama. He averages 2.4 points and 4.7 rebounds and averages 12.5 minutes a game.

Hinson is a long-time proponent of redshirting. Second-leading scorer Armon Fletcher and Austin Weiher are redshirt sophomores at SIU. Guard Brendon Gooch is redshirted this season.

“I like to redshirt as many freshmen as you’re able,” Hinson said. “In this day and age, loyalty kind of goes out the window.”

Those fears are not unique to Hinson.

“You’d love to develop them,” Loyola coach Porter Moser said. “But, it’s scary now. I lean against it, unless it’s a medical redshirt. That’s sad to say.”

The graduate transfer rule — and transfers in general — grows as a topic among coaches each off-season. Coaches who lose players complain; coaches who fill a spot with a transfer celebrate.

The number of graduate transfers remains small. In October, the NCAA released a study that found 1.5 percent of men’s basketball players are graduate transfers. In all sports, according to the NCAA, the number tripled in men’s sports from 2011-2015 and nearly doubled for women.

Northern Iowa is another MVC program which relies on redshirting and coach Ben Jacobson isn’t inclined to change a strategy that produced NCAA Tournament teams in 2009, 2010, 2015 and 2016. Athletes such as Seth Tuttle and Johnny Moran played as freshmen. More typical for the Panthers are players such as Klint Carlson and Bennett Koch, both of whom redshirted. Seven current Panthers redshirted and an eighth (Tanner Lohaus) is sitting out this season.

“That has forced us to think about it a little bit differently,” Jacobson said. “We’ve continued to redshirt guys at every opportunity. It has been one of the reasons … we’ve been able to have success year after year.”

MVC teams can benefit from transfers.

In recent seasons, Loyola landed Milton Doyle from Kansas and Mislav Brzoja transferred to Evansville from Villanova. Northern Iowa’s Wes Washpun played one season at Tennessee. Anton Grady used the graduate transfer rule to help Wichita State’s depth at center and fulfill his desire to play in the NCAA Tournament after a stay at Cleveland State.

Wichita State’s success under coach Gregg Marshall allows it to work as a buyer in the transfer market. When a player leaves WSU, it’s usually to chase more playing time at a junior college or lower-level program. The NCAA transfer market provided players such as Grady, Gabe Blair and Conner Frankamp.

Marshall is also fan of redshirting, always at the decision of the player, and that hasn’t changed. Last season, he said Markis McDuffie considered the possibility before opting to play and earning MVC Freshman of the Year honors.

“I’ve always tried to think long-term and it’s just a fact that great majority of players are better at 22 or 23 than they are 17, 18,” Marshall said. “I do see how the fifth-year thing could be a factor to folks, but I still am a proponent of it.”

This story was originally published January 20, 2017 at 6:25 PM with the headline "MVC basketball coaches reconsider time-honored redshirting tactics."