Wichita State notes: Coaches hope MVC basketball race is more inclusive in 2016-17

No Missouri Valley Conference coach will say Wichita State’s reign is over. The Shockers will start the 2016-17 season as men’s basketball favorites.

However, you might detect hope from MVC coaches in last week’s conference call. Perhaps WSU – 51-3 in MVC regular-season games the past three seasons – isn’t quite so dominant. Perhaps a 14-4 record wins the conference, instead of the 18-0, 17-1, 16-2 standards set by the Shockers.

“Everybody is going to breathe a sigh of relief not to see (Ron) Baker, (Fred) VanVleet, (Northern Iowa’s Wes) Washpun,” Indiana State coach Greg Lansing said. “You’re still going to have Wichita. All of these top people lost guys. There’s positions available. There’s a lot of newness in this league.”

Perhaps that makes for a race that is more suspenseful in February.

In 2014, WSU won by six games over Indiana State. The 2015 race went down to the final day with the Shockers (17-1) finishing one game ahead of Northern Iowa (16-2). Third-place Illinois State and Indiana State sat five games back of UNI. Last season, WSU went 16-2 and finished four games ahead of Illinois State and Evansville.

Baker, VanVleet and Washpun aren’t the only departed heavyweights. Evansville must replace All-MVC center Egidijus Mockevicius and All-MVC guard D.J. Balentine, plus starter Adam Wing and MVC Sixth-Man-of-the-Year Mislav Brzoja. UNI also lost guards Matt Bohannon and Paul Jesperson. Southern Illinois must continue its rebuild without All-MVC guard Anthony Beane.

In all, nine of the 10 All-MVC picks are gone, as are seven of the top 10 scorers and four of the top five in assists.

“I guarantee you every team in this league is looking and saying ‘OK, we’ve got a chance to make a jump here and let’s be the team to do it,’ ” Illinois State coach Dan Muller said.

Loyola coach Porter Moser is confident players will fill in for departed stars, perhaps more quickly than expected.

“I think there are a lot of capable players in this league that are going to have breakout years,” he said. “The coaches know, that with the level of recruiting that the Valley is doing … we’re going to be talking about these players two years from now.”

Indiana State guard Brenton Scott, a sophomore, is the lone All-MVC (second team) selection back. Illinois State’s Paris Lee and MiKyle McIntosh, Missouri State’s Dequon Miller, UNI’s Jeremy Morgan and Drake’s Reed Timmer are back after earning honorable mention.

“We have a lot of young guys who need to step up across the league for our league to have the type of success we all want,” Muller said. “We all know that those non-conference games are where you set your RPI as a league.”

Growing up — Wichita State’s Markis McDuffie, last season’s MVC Freshman of the Year, is one of those young players who will need to produce against a tough non-conference schedule.

Shockers assistant coach Greg Heiar sees good signs after a month of summer practice.

“He’s a lot better ball-handler than he was last year,” Heiar said. “He’s becoming a better playmaker and decision-maker with the ball in his hands.”

McDuffie, who turned 18 in September, is WSU’s top returning scorer (7.4 points).

“He’s doing a tremendous job, so far, of just showing growth in his maturity and leadership,” Heiar said. “It’s showing up in how he carries himself on the court, his court demeanor. How he handles his teammates. How he’s more vocal and more of a leader.”

Bear on hold — Freshman guard Greg Williams is one of the MVC’s top newcomers. Missouri State coach Paul Lusk can’t wait to get him healthy and on campus.

Williams, from Virginia, played with a hernia as a senior in high school, according to the Springfield News-Leader and suffered complications and an infection which are keeping him off the court. Before his senior year, a ruptured appendix also turned into an infection.

“We fully expect him to be here and be ready to go in the fall,” Lusk said. “The biggest thing with him right now is getting him fully recovered.”

Worth noting — Shockers sprinter Deja Young won the 200-meter dash at the U.S. Paralympic Trials in Charlotte, N.C. Young finished with a time of 25.52 seconds. … WSU third baseman Alec Bohm led the Coastal Plain League with seven home runs in 24 games entering the weekend. He was hitting .258 with 25 RBIs.

This story was originally published July 2, 2016 at 2:36 PM with the headline "Wichita State notes: Coaches hope MVC basketball race is more inclusive in 2016-17."