Busting Brackets
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Missouri Valley Basketball: 5 key questions for opening night of 2021-22 season

By Harry Schroeder

Northern Iowa guard A.J. Green takes the ball up court during a NCAA Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball game on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019, at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa.190105 Uni S Illinois 016 Jpg
Northern Iowa guard A.J. Green takes the ball up court during a NCAA Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball game on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019, at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa.190105 Uni S Illinois 016 Jpg /
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Bradley Braves head coach Brian Wardle Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
Bradley Braves head coach Brian Wardle Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports /

Jump starting with transfers

Bradley’s season was derailed by injuries and suspensions. After winning two-straight Arch Madness titles, the Braves fell to 12-16 and just 6-12 in league play. Coach Brian Wardle had built the Bradley program one brick at a time, but now was a time for some changes.

Enter transfers Mikey Howell (UC San Diego), Terry Roberts (Florida Southwestern) and Melevy Leons (Mineral Area Community College). All three should be in Wardle’s eight-man rotation and will probably start. An influx of that much veteran talent is uniqe to one team and uniqe for Wardle, who had built his teams one class at a time.

Solid returners Ja’Shon Henry and Rienk Mast are back. Center Ari Boya missed most of last season with an injury, but much of this season’s success will depend on how the newcomers fair in Missouri Valley play.

Howell and Roberts are both experienced and adept passers. They will get their teammates involved and both can score on their own. Leons was the junior college player of the year and averaged nearly a double-double (points and rebounds) at MAC.

Bradley will be more relevant in the Valley race than most people think.

After last year’s 15-10 season, Indiana State parted ways with long-time head coach Greg Lansing. Enter Josh Schertz. A dominator of Division 2 basketball at Lincoln Memorial, Schertz is taking up the challenge of D1 competition.

To ease the transition, Schertz brought three of his former players along with him. Xavier Bledson, Cameron Henry, and Simon Wilbar are helping current Sycamores understand Schertz and his system, but they are more than teachers, each expects to play significant roles on this year’s team.

ISU returns proven players in all-conference guard Tyreke Key (nursing and injury), Cooper Neese and Julian Larry. Kailex Stephens missed last season and much is expected of him.

During the Sycamore exhibition win, Bledson scored 15 points, grabbed six rebounds, and handed out nine assists. He appears to be ready to contribute. As of this writing, Wilbar is nursing a hand injury and Henry has been out of the lineup with what is rumored to be a team violation suspension.

The Sycamores open at Green Bay and Bradley travels to South Dakota State. Burning question number five asks, can transfers lead these two long-standing Valley programs to better days?