Missouri Valley Conference 2004-05 Recap
by Neal Heston
Most everyone thought the Missouri Valley Conference’s (MVC) success last season – two teams going to the NCAA Tournament and another two in the NIT – couldn’t be topped in the 2004-05 campaign. Well, topped it was, as three teams went dancing this season while another two qualified for the NIT.
It sounds amusing to say, but Creighton was arguably the biggest surprise in the conference this season. This silly writer had the Bluejays finishing sixth – one spot behind Drake – in the preseason. Fortunes didn’t look well, even toward February, but Dana Altman got his squad hot at the right time to win its last seven MVC games en route to clinching the MVC’s automatic NCAA bid. Success in the NCAA Tournament was just one shot away, but the ‘Jays came just short in their effort to upset No. 7 seed West Virginia.
Wichita State dominated the MVC for the first half, but suffered a serious slump in February that not only cost them a conference championship, but an opportunity to reach the NCAA Tournament as well. Southern Illinois, to no surprise, captured its fourth consecutive regular season crown. On a bad note, though, the Salukis struggled as the No. 1 seed in the MVC Tournament again, losing to SMS in the semifinals.
Duking it out for fourth place was UNI and SMS. Both teams went through a small slump – SMS in the beginning of the season, UNI during mid-season. Both recovered though, and UNI survived to capture fourth place by one game. SMS got its revenge in the conference tournament, upsetting the No. 4 Panthers, but for the second consecutive year, the Bears couldn’t pull out a victory in the championship game.
All five of those teams participated in the postseason. Southern Illinois earned its fourth consecutive NCAA bid, UNI its second in a row, and Creighton punched its ticket to the dance after a one-year absence. Wichita State struggled toward the end of the season, but recovered in time to make a nice run through the NIT, which ended at Vanderbilt in the second round. SMS’ tough roster was finally recognized with an NIT berth as well.
Hoopville Postseason Awards
All-Conference Team
Nate Funk, Creighton
2nd in MVC scoring (17.8 PPG), 2nd in MVC 3-point field goal percentage
Ben Jacobson, Northern Iowa
MVC scoring leader (17.9 PPG), Led MVC in 3-point field goals
Darren Brooks, Southern Illinois
15 points per game
Lorenzo Gordon, Illinois State
4th in MVC scoring (16.3 PPG)
Marcellus Sommerville, Bradley
3rd in MVC scoring (17.5 PPG), 3rd in MVC rebounds (7.5 RPG)
MVP: Nate Funk, Creighton
Newcomer of the Year: Lorenzo Gordon, Illinois State
Coach of the Year: Dana Altman, Creighton
If you read my preseason picks, I mentioned that Dana Altman deserved Coach of the Year if the Bluejays made any run at the postseason. Well, here it is. Brody Deren, Joe Dabbert, Michael Lindeman and Mike Grimes all departed, leaving many holes. But Altman had this team playing with a lot of heart and effort all season, and that gets my vote as MVC Coach of the Year. (He should make a nice run at it next season too with a strong lineup returning.)
Recapping the MVC
Southern Illinois (27-8, 15-3 MVC)
Southern Illinois yet again wasn’t the majority’s favorite entering the season, but the Salukis didn’t let that stop them from capturing a fourth consecutive conference title. After losing a close contest at Wichita State in late January and then getting stomped at SMS, SIU recovered to win 11 of its final 12 regular season games before losing to SMS in the conference tournament. Offense wasn’t a strong point, but the Salukis put together a successful campaign from two aspects a lot of Valley teams struggled with: defense and free throws. SIU was tops in the MVC in both, allowing just over 60 points per game and connecting on nearly 75 percent of its free throws.
First-year head coach Chris Lowery did a good job of leading his team through a mild January slump (if you can call a two-game losing streak a slump). For coaching his team to a fourth straight MVC title, he earned Valley honors for Coach of the Year.
SMS proved to be a thorn again, as they knocked off the heavily-favored Salukis in the MVC Tournament semifinals for the second consecutive year. This defeat stung a little more than last year though, after SMS rallied from a double-digit deficit during the second half. After the disappointing MVC finish, SIU became the lone Valley squad to survive its first round game in the NCAA Tourney. St. Mary’s offense couldn’t muster anything in a 65-56 first-round Saluki win, but Oklahoma State used a second half rally to keep SIU out of the Sweet 16.
Scoring leader – Darren Brooks, 15 PPG
Rebounding leader – Brooks, 5.2 RPG
Players leaving: Darren Brooks, Stetson Hairston, LaMar Owen, Joshua Warren
Reasons to look forward to next season: Lowery will definitely get my vote for Coach of the Year if the Salukis hoist the conference crown for a fifth consecutive time. Three of the team’s top four scorers won’t return for the 2005-06 campaign, and Creighton, Northern Iowa and SMS should be even stronger than this season. I certainly won’t be surprised when SIU still competes for a high finish and another berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Wichita State (22-10, 12-6 MVC)
This one really hurt. Wichita State was favored by most to capture the conference crown this season, and until the calendar turned to February, it looked as if that was going to happen. After a 9-0 start to the season, the Shockers entered February at the top of the Valley with a 9-1 conference mark and 16-2 overall record. Creighton slipped by WSU twice during the month, and Bradley, Miami (Ohio) and Southern Illinois each also took a bite.
With Northern Iowa visiting on the regular season’s final night, Wichita State still had an opportunity to keep its case for an at-large NCAA berth with a win. It looked as if WSU was well on its way, but Northern Iowa made a 10-point comeback in the final three minutes and Ben Jacobson capped the rally with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. Another loss to red-hot Creighton in the MVC Tournament semifinals sealed WSU’s NIT fate.
To the Shockers’ credit, the team didn’t lay down after the disappointing finish as they made a strong run through the NIT. Vanderbilt ended WSU’s season in the second round of the NIT on a last second layup.
Scoring leader – Randy Burns, 12.1 PPG
Rebounding leader – Jamar Howard, 5.8 RPG
Players leaving: Jamar Howard, Randy Burns, Rob Kampman, Adam Liberty
Reasons to look forward to next season: There is bad news and worse news. The bad news first: Creighton, Northern Iowa and SMS will return extremely tough rosters next season. The worse news: WSU’s top scorer (Burns) and rebounder (Howard) will graduate. Add in Rob Kampman and Adam Liberty, and the Shockers will lose 33.4 points per game and 15.9 rebounds per contest in the 2005-06 campaign. It will be tough to compete for a title, let alone an upper half finish with that kind of talent departing.
Creighton (23-11, 11-7 MVC)
No team in the Valley was hotter than Creighton toward the end of the season. The Bluejays sat at 7-7 in league play, but won their final eight games to capture the MVC’s automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. Nate Funk was a huge contributor to this team, and it’s safe to say that the Bluejays would have finished sixth or seventh in the conference without him as the leader. The junior shot a couple game-winners, including a buzzer-beater at Northern Iowa, and he finished second in the league in scoring.
Creighton stormed through the MVC Tournament easily, winning its three contests by an average of 15 points – excellent against a conference that sent five teams to the postseason. Elite Eight qualifier West Virginia stopped the Bluejays in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, surviving a 63-61 contest.
Scoring leader – Nate Funk, 17.8 PPG
Rebounding leader – Funk, 5.1 RPG
Players leaving: Kellen Miliner, Tyler McKinney
Reasons to look forward to next season: This team should definitely expect to be somewhere near the top next season. Losing Miliner and McKinney will certainly hurt, but the majority of the roster returns (Funk, Johnny Mathies, Dane Watts, Jimmy Motz, Anthony Tolliver, and Jeffrey Day). A first- or second-place finish is certain.
Northern Iowa (21-11, 11-7 MVC)
With both of the major inside men graduating last year, few expected the Panthers to be in the running for an NCAA Tourney berth in 2004-05. But thanks to the leadership of Ben Jacobson and the roles of sophomore forward Grant Stout and freshman center Eric Coleman, UNI was able to make its second consecutive appearance in the Dance. What made UNI’s postseason appearance even more remarkable was the fact that the Panthers didn’t claim the MVC regular season crown or the conference tournament title. That feat hadn’t been accomplished since SMS did it in 1999, and in its 98-year history, the MVC has sent only four at-large teams to the NCAA Tournament.
February could have been an extremely sickening month for this team, as the Panthers were involved in four one-point contests. But UNI went 3-1 in those games, rallying to win at Illinois State and Wichita State and staving off a Drake rally at home. The lone loss was an 83-82 setback at Creighton.
The NCAA Tournament didn’t appear to be in Northern Iowa’s future after an 80-72 loss at the hands of SMS in the quarterfinals of the MVC Tournament. With all of the other bubble teams in the conference advancing to the semifinals, it appeared as if the Panthers would be the first team in school history to win 20 games and not qualify for the Big Dance.
The selection committee respected UNI’s close losses to Cincinnati, Iowa, Southern Illinois and Creighton, and much to the dismay of several ESPN analysts, sent the No. 11 seed Panthers to Oklahoma City to face No. 6 Wisconsin. Wisconsin grabbed an early double-digit lead against UNI, but similar to last year’s thriller with Georgia Tech, the Panthers rallied. The big bucket wasn’t there in the end for the Panthers, and Wisconsin survived to eventually face Bucknell in the second round.
Scoring leader – Ben Jacobson, 17.9 PPG
Rebounding leader – Grant Stout, 7.7 RPG
Players leaving: Chris Foster, Pete Schmit, Jon Godfread
Reasons to look forward to next season: UNI and Creighton will duke it out for the conference title next season. Chris Foster’s departure will hurt, as he could get the job done from the bench or starter role. But they return the conference’s leading scorer in Ben Jacobson, as well as Erik Crawford, Grant Stout and Eric Coleman. The only question mark rests with the untested bench, where Schmit and Godfread played huge roles.
Southwest Missouri State (19-13, 10-8 MVC)
This season could have been a big disappointment, but the Bears kept their heads up high after a dismal 1-6 start in league play. Finishing the conference slate two games out of second place after that type of start, then coming one game away from the NCAA Tournament showed the real strength of this squad. During the rough league start, the Bears came close to tasting victory several times: losing by one point at Illinois State, two points against Wichita State, five at Northern Iowa, one at Southern Illinois and then letting a 14-point lead in the second half fade away against Northern Iowa in a 63-52 defeat.
With two contests slated against Creighton and another against Southern Illinois, the future looked bleak for the Bears. Seven consecutive wins where SMS won by an average of 12.3 points put the Bears back in the mix with an 8-6 league mark. The Bears even won their three contests against Creighton and Southern Illinois in that stretch by a mean of 10.
SMS didn’t have any big names leading the league in scoring, but the Bears did have the most depth out of any roster in the MVC. Nine players were on the floor at least 18 minutes per game, and seven of those scored seven points or more per contest. That helped SMS wear down its opponents and nearly punch its first ticket to the Dance since 1999. Just like Wichita State, the Bears ran into a red-hot Creighton squad in the MVC Tournament. Had it not been for the Bluejays, SMS would have danced for the first time in six years.
Scoring leader – Tamarr Maclin, 10.9 PPG
Rebounding leader – Maclin, 7.9 RPG
Players leaving: Tamarr Maclin, Trevyor Fisher, Anthony Shavies
Reasons to look forward to next season: Depth. Maclin, the team’s leading scorer won’t return, but he only scored 10.9 points per contest. Seven of the other nine players who ate up most of the minutes will return. A definite top-half finish is in this team’s future next season, and if the Bears can get the ball to bounce their way early on – maybe even a conference title.
Illinois State (17-13, 8-10 MVC)
The Redbirds sat at third place in the MVC with an 8-4 league mark as the calendar turned to February. Six consecutive conference losses and a blowout defeat at the hands of Creighton in the MVC Tournament completed a miserable end to the season.
Despite the sluggish ending, Illinois State saw several bright spots in the 2004-05 campaign. Lorenzo Gordon was the brightest of them all, as he led the conference in scoring until he too hit a mild slump. The junior transfer finished fourth in the Valley with 16.3 points per game. Senior Trey Guidry also contributed 13.9 points per game to finish eighth in the league.
Scoring leader – Lorenzo Gordon, 16.3 PPG
Rebounding leader – Gordon, 6.5 RPG
Players leaving: Gregg Alexander, Vince Greene, Trey Guidry, Lorenzo Gordon (dismissed for academic reasons)
Reasons to look forward to next season: Losing Alexander, Guidry and Greene would be tough enough, especially in this conference, but things got worse after the season. In late May, Gordon was dismissed from the school for academic reasons. That’s too many points to lose (top four scorers). If the Redbirds are able to duplicate this season next year, kudos.
Drake (13-16, 7-11 MVC)
Dr. Tom certainly is bringing more respect to a Drake program that hasn’t been very good for more than a decade. In one or two seasons, this will be one of the top teams in the MVC. Sure, the team still appears to be in the “puppy” stage right now after going 1-10 against the top five teams in the Valley this season, but a lot of those losses were decided in the final seconds – or at the buzzer (two losses to Southern Illinois by a combined seven points, a three-point loss to Creighton, a win over Northern Iowa and a one-point loss at Northern Iowa).
If the Bulldogs had a few more balls bounce their way throughout the MVC season, Drake would have finished third or fourth in the Valley this season. Another good sign for the ‘Dogs heading into next season is the five-game winning streak Drake put together toward the end of the ’04-05 campaign, the longest winning streak for the program since the 1980s.
Drake again sat near the top of the Valley in steals with 239. Only Southern Illinois and SMS were higher. Lonnie Randolph ranked second in the conference with two picks per contest.
Scoring leader – Pete Eggers, 11.2 PPG
Rebounding leader – Aliou Keita, 7.1 RPG
Players leaving: Pete Eggers, Lonnie Randolph, David Bancroft, Nate Richie
Reasons to look forward to next season: The top two scorers from this season will be gone, but Klayton Korver, Aliou Keita, Chris Bryant, Chaun Brooks and Nick Grant all return for another go-around. That’s a nice nucleus to put together a successful campaign in 2005-06.
Bradley (13-15, 6-12 MVC)
This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Braves, but a 9-2 start to the season and a 2-1 jump in Valley play had Bradley fans thinking that wasn’t going to be the case. Jim Les and Co. didn’t seem as if they were ready for 2005 though, because the team went just 6-13 when January began. The never-ending slump brought the Braves back to earth and to where most predictions had them during the preseason – the bottom.
Marcellus Sommerville was a high note for this team, finishing third in the conference with 17.5 points per game. The junior also grabbed 7.5 rebounds per contest, third highest in the Valley. Three other players also averaged double digits in scoring: Tony Bennett with 11.8 points per contest, Lawrence Wright with 10.1 and Patrick O’Bryant with 10 points per game.
Scoring leader – Marcellus Sommerville, 17.5 PPG
Rebounding leader – Sommerville, 7.5 RPG
Players leaving: All should return
Reasons to look forward to next season: Marcellus Sommerville should lead this team to an upper-half finish, or at least help the Braves compete for one. Four players who combined for five MVC Newcomers of the Week also return. Barring any injuries in 2005-06, Bradley will be a dangerous team, definitely the most improved.
Evansville (11-17, 5-13 MVC)
Similar to Bradley, Evansville was rolling until the calendar turned to January. After matching the previous season’s win total on Dec. 22, the Purple Aces weren’t only the most improved team in the MVC, but the nation as well. But 13 of the final 15 contests finished in defeat, with the two victories coming against Indiana State and Bradley. The average margin of defeat in that slump was 11 points.
Lucious Wagner, Andre Burton, Matt Webster and Bradley Strickland were all strong points for the Aces in 2004-05, averaging 14.1, 11.8, 10.9 and 10.3 points per contest, respectively. Defense is definitely something that needs to be worked on before next season, as Evansville sat at the bottom of the conference after allowing 73 points per game. That left one of the Valley’s more potent offenses little margin for error.
Scoring leader – Lucious Wagner, 14.1 PPG
Rebounding leaders – Andre Burton and Matt Webster, 5.4 RPG
Players leaving: Andre Burton, Lucious Wagner
Reasons to look forward to next season: Only two seniors depart this season, but they were UE’s top two scorers. Success all depends on whether one or two bench players can adapt to the starter role – and quickly.
Indiana State (11-20, 5-13 MVC)
Ask any coach from any conference: “To be successful, you need to win on the road.”
That was a too true statement for the Sycamores this season, as Indiana State went a mere 1-16 away from home – and that one victory came on a neutral floor. At home, this was a very good team, with wins over Creighton, SMS and Wichita State. On the road – pitiful, with the Sycamores failing to score at least 60 points nine times (not including neutral sites).
David Moss and Amani Daanish were huge contributors this season as the team leaders in scoring and rebounding, respectively. Moss’ 14.9 points per contest was sixth-best in the Valley, and the junior was also eighth in the conference in rebounding with 6.5 boards per game while Daanish was sixth 6.6 RPG.
Scoring leader – David Moss, 14.9 PPG
Rebounding leaders – Amani Daanish, 6.6 RPG
Players leaving: Amani Daanish, Jerod Adler
Reasons to look forward to next season: With Daanish and Adler the only two Sycamores departing, Indiana State has a nice nucleus to work with in 2005-06. Any type of success depends on whether or not the team can play at least around .500 on the road.
Looking ahead to 2005-06
If you thought this season was competitive, just wait until next year. It’s very possible for the seventh- or eighth-place teams to finish with a winning mark. This league continues to become deep with talent. Yes, it’s a few months too early, but here is my early look on how the Valley might shape out next season:
1. Creighton
2. Northern Iowa
3. Southern Illinois
4. SMS
5. Wichita State
6. Bradley
7. Drake
8. Illinois State
9. Indiana State
10. Evansville
