Busting Brackets
Fansided

Missouri Valley Basketball: 4 emerging trends early in league play

By Harry Schroeder

Nov 12, 2021; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Indiana State Sycamores head coach Josh Schertz gives a thumbs down during the first half against the Purdue Boilermakers at Mackey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 12, 2021; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Indiana State Sycamores head coach Josh Schertz gives a thumbs down during the first half against the Purdue Boilermakers at Mackey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 5
Next
Missouri Valley Basketball SIU Edwardsville Cougars head coach Bryan Mullins Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Missouri Valley Basketball SIU Edwardsville Cougars head coach Bryan Mullins Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /

Latest updates for Missouri Valley Basketball

Southern Illinois is the latest team to go on covid pause, so their Sunday contest with Loyola Chicago was canceled and their upcoming game with Drake has already been called off. Several teams had missing players during Sunday’s games.

Breaking News: Illinois State has pushed pause on their program and can’t compete this week against Loyola Chicago. 

When the league office wisely chose to change its forfeiture policy on games affected by the coronavirus, it opened the door to rescheduling games. If teams are deemed to have eight eligible players and at least one official coach, they are expected to play their scheduled games.

While SIU is the Valley’s most impacted team, others are feeling the negative effects of the now, 20-month pandemic. Indiana State was without three starters during their home win Sunday. Valparaiso was missing starting center Thomas Kithier.

Ambiguity about covid rules are making life difficult for coaches and players. Valpo coach Matt Lottich told PaulOren of the Northwest Indiana Times some things need to be figured out.

"“Process is entirely out of our control. CDC changed a lot of stuff and the University has their own policies…this has all happened while the University is basically shutdown (for holiday break). There’s some things they need to talk about.”"

I’ve been told that ‘false positive’ tests have recently been a factor in some players not being able to participate in games. This ever-evolving story is difficult for coaches and programs.

Earlier in the season, Northern Iowa’s Austin Phyfe was missing time due to some long-term effects of having contracted the virus months ago. I don’t know the reason, but the Panther center played just four minutes on Sunday.

UNI’s Trae Berhow returned to the Panther lineup Sunday. The team’s fourth-leading scorer and leading rebounder missed UNI’s two most recent games with a ‘non-covid’ sickness. Flu ran through the Panther program and they dropped two, two-point decisions at the Diamond Head Classic.

Bradley’s Ja’Shon Henry continues to miss time due to a ‘head injury’ and Drake and Missouri State each received players back from injuries. Sunday’s game between the two teams featured the first game back for Drake’s Roman Penn and the second game back for Missouri State’s Demarcus Sharp.