Wins over Wichita State rare commodity for most on MVC rosters

When evaluating which men’s basketball teams can challenge Wichita State, we’ll start with belief and experience.

There isn’t a lot of either on the rosters at the nine other Missouri Valley Conference schools. Conference play begins Wednesday and the two-time defending champion Shockers are the standard after going 39-2 vs. Valley competition the past two seasons.

Who knows they can handle the Shockers? Who knows they can outlast WSU over an 18-game schedule? Northern Iowa did last season, providing the Valley a memorable two-month battle.

There are 126 athletes on the other nine MVC rosters. Nineteen of them own a career win, in which they played, over Wichita State and 12 of those are from Illinois State and Northern Iowa. Rosters at Bradley, Missouri State and Loyola are winless against the Shockers and Drake has Karl Madison, who scored four points in a 2011-12 win. There are two athletes at Southern Illinois remaining from a 2012-13 win over WSU and one (Anthony Beane) who played in that game.

Five players in the MVC know what it’s like to play and win as a visitor to Koch Arena. Three of the MVC’s eight coaches (not counting first-year Brian Wardle at Bradley) are 0-fer against WSU.

That is the mental edge the Shockers built over the past two seasons, not to mention the 2012 title and the 2013 Final Four team.

After that buildup, why are we watching?

Of course, the next two months will produce interesting moments.

The Shockers (6-5) show enough vulnerability that, perhaps, MVC coaches can stitch together highlight clips from WSU’s five losses to convince their guys they can visit similar pain. UNI proved it’s possible to make it a race last season.

We’ll see. Until it happens, here are some of the top developments from non-conference play in the MVC:

Panthers up and down all over again — NCAA Tournament selection committee, set aside an extra 30 minutes and two cups of coffee to discuss Northern Iowa.

The Panthers (8-5) own the MVC’s top victories — over No. 1 North Carolina and No. 5 Iowa State. That alone makes their resume impressive. However, the Panthers did lose at home to struggling Colorado State. With five losses, they are advised to win at least 15 in MVC play.

A non-conference strength of schedule ranking No. 29, according to cbssports.com, speaks well of UNI. It played good teams and went on the road. If the Panthers can avoid bad MVC losses and split with WSU and Evansville, they should be in good shape.

As expected, Northern Iowa’s guards are leading the way. The Panthers are shooting 48.6 percent from the field and 39.8 percent from three-point range, combining for a 56.2 percent effective field-goal percentage that ranks No. 25 nationally, according to kenpom.com.

Beane back on scoring track — Southern Illinois (11-2) needs one win to equal last season’s total and three to match the total from the previous two seasons.

Coach Barry Hinson has the Salukis playing solid defense and scoring at a much-improved rate. They averaged 59.6 points last season — because they shot poorly and turned the ball over frequently — and are second in the MVC at 79.2 this season.

A soft schedule helps. SIU is 6-2 against teams ranked 201 or lower. It does own wins over Kent State and the Oakland team that pushed Michigan State to overtime last week.

The addition of point guard Mike Rodriguez allows Beane to score, which is what he does best. Beane, after shooting 42.3 percent from the field last season and 33.3 percent from three-point range, is making 47.4 and 43.2 while averaging 20.5 points. Rodriguez, a junior, averages 10.9 points and 3.7 assists.

SIU hasn’t finished with a winning MVC record since 2008. Arch Madness is better when the Salukis are relevant and Scottrade Center is crawling with maroon-clad fans. It will be fun if this revival is for real.

It’s Wes’ world — WSU’s Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker will start MVC play with a slight edge in Player of the Year consideration. Their resumes speak for themselves.

Beane can push toward that top of that list if he can keep SIU in the top three of the MVC.

Evansville guard D.J. Balentine averages 21.7 points, 5.0 assists and 3.1 rebounds. He is shooting more accurately than last season and kenpom.com ranks him No. 25 nationally for offensive rating. Center Egidijius Mockevicius averages 18.0 points, 13.8 rebounds and 2.8 blocks.

UNI guard Wes Washpun scored 21 points against North Carolina and 28 against Iowa State, totaling 19 assists and eight turnovers in the two games. He averages 15.8 points, 6.3 assists and 4.6 rebounds.

Where are the Aces? — Evansville is 11-2. Its strength of schedule ranks No. 253, which means the Aces probably need to win the MVC regular season or tournament to return to the NCAA Tournament.

Their best win is No. 59 (RPI) Cal-Irvine. Its losses are to No. 14 Providence and at No. 156 Arkansas.

Evansville’s schedule gave it precious few chances at quality wins and the Aces swung and missed.

Oh, very young — Bradley opened the season with a 54-53 win over Ball State, which seemed like an encouraging sign.

Reality hit hard for the Braves (2-11). Bradley considers itself the youngest team in the country with freshman accounting for 10 of 12 active roster spots.

Since the opener, Bradley is 0-11 vs. NCAA Division I teams.

Give it credit for facing a strong schedule, one inherited by Wardle. The Braves lost to Arizona, Virginia, Seton Hall, Boise State and TCU.

Clank go the rims — Illinois State started the season picked second in the MVC, even after center Reggie Lynch transferred to Minnesota.

Perhaps the Redbirds weren’t ready for the burden of challenging Wichita State. Or, perhaps, the Redbirds weren’t ready for a schedule that included Kentucky and Maryland and road trips to San Diego State and Saint Joseph’s.

Throw in losses to South Dakota State and UAB at home and the Redbirds are stumbling. A team that wanted to make a run at the NCAA Tournament, or at least return to the NIT, enters conference play with one win over a top-100 team (Murray State).

Shooting is a major drag on expectations. The Redbirds make 40.6 percent of their shots and 29.7 percent of their three-pointers. They rank last in the MVC from the foul line at 61.1 percent.

At the start — Wednesday’s four openers are highlighted by Indiana State’s visit to Evansville.

The Sycamores (6-6) have won four of the past five games and eight of the past 10 against Evansville.

SIU opens at Loyola and if the Salukis can win, it sets up what might be an interesting game when Northern Iowa visits SIU Arena on Jan. 2.

This story was originally published December 26, 2015 at 6:19 PM with the headline "Wins over Wichita State rare commodity for most on MVC rosters."