Missouri Valley Basketball: Contenders hit with injury issues before season

Missouri Valley Basketball contenders Northern Iowa and Drake received bad news on the health front as star players are not yet healthy enough to play.

News from the Iowa contingent of Missouri Valley Basketball teams was not good this week. Preseason media days are supposed to be about how excited coaches are to get the season started and how much better the team looks compared to last year.

At this week’s media days at Northern Iowa and Drake the news wasn’t very good.

Northern Iowa center Austin Phyfe will not be back in a Panther uniform until Christmas or maybe ever. The 6’9 preseason Valley third-team selection continues to battle health issues. After struggling last season with ‘long term covid effects’ he developed blood clots in his lungs.

His healing progress has been slow, but steady and the grad student has felt better, but in June surgery was performed at Mayo Clinic to remove some of those clots. He has continued to feel symptomatically better and has resumed jogging and other physical activities.

He has been on blood thinners to continue the process of recovery, but as of Monday’s press conference has not been cleared to play basketball due to blood clot complications and treatments. He will be reevaluated around Christmas.

The great news is that doctors believe his long-term health will be largely unaffected, the sad news is that his basketball career is at least on hold. During Monday’s press conference he said it could be a lot worse.

"“I’m feeling great and my heart & lung function have greatly improved,” said Phyfe. “Not cleared since I am still on those blood thinners. Clearing out some of those clots that are in my lungs and legs. That timeline is unsure. You never know what is going to happen in a month, two months or three months. I could react better to that medicine.”"

Due to being on the blood thinners, doctors are concerned with the possibility of internal bleeding occurring in the contact sport of basketball. Phyfe will be at practice and helping his young teammates understand the collegiate game.

From a basketball standpoint, this leaves UNI without a proven interior presence. This hinders the Panther offense, but is very damaging on the defensive end. Head coach Ben Jacobson has veterans James Betz and Cole Henry, freshman Chase Courbat and sophomore Derek Krogmann to fill those gaps and believes those unproven players can fit the bill. That theory will be tested early and often as the Panthers have a very difficult non-conference schedule.

Sophomore Guards Bowen Born (second team) and Nate Heise will have to embrace larger offensive and leadership roles for the Panthers to be successful.

Roman Penn currently hurt at Drake

Meanwhile, at Drake, the news isn’t great concerning all-league guard Roman Penn. The 6’1 grad student has battled foot injuries and isn’t currently practicing with the team. Head coach Darian DeVries says his team has several players working their way back from injury and he has just ten players at practice.

Penn played most of last season with a broken foot and one source tells BustingBrackets.com that Penn will likely not be available for the season opener and looks to be a ‘week-by-week’ evaluation.

While coach DeVries wasn’t sounding the alarms in Des Moines this week, the loss of Penn would be a significant blow. His ability to command the floor and the flow of a game is critical to the Bulldog offense. DeVries believes Penn will return, but the question is how soon and how healthy will he be?

Drake is the Valley’s preseason pick to win the conference and Penn and sophomore Tucker DeVries are a part of the league’s preseason all-conference team. Without their point guard, the Bulldog offense could find itself a bit out of rhythm.

How long Penn is out could greatly affect the team’s chances to build a non-conference resume and with two conference games in early December, it could slow their start in league play.

Drake has a large number of effective guards, but none have been primarily point guards during their collegiate careers.