Busting Brackets
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Missouri Valley Basketball: Preview of 1st week of 2022-23 league play

By Harry Schroeder

DES MOINES, IA - FEBRUARY 10: Bowen Born #13 of the Northern Iowa Panthers drives the ball as Joseph Yesufu #1 of the Drake Bulldogs defends in the second half of play at Knapp Center on February 10, 2021 in Des Moines, Iowa. The Drake Bulldogs won 80-59 over the Northern Iowa Panthers. (Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images)
DES MOINES, IA - FEBRUARY 10: Bowen Born #13 of the Northern Iowa Panthers drives the ball as Joseph Yesufu #1 of the Drake Bulldogs defends in the second half of play at Knapp Center on February 10, 2021 in Des Moines, Iowa. The Drake Bulldogs won 80-59 over the Northern Iowa Panthers. (Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images) /
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ST. LOUIS, MO – MARCH 9: Garrett Sturtz #3 of the Drake Bulldogs (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO – MARCH 9: Garrett Sturtz #3 of the Drake Bulldogs (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /

Matchup of the top two teams

Drake (6-0) at Indiana State (6-1) – Wednesday 6 pm – ESPN+

Drake and Indiana State have been this season’s standard bearers. The Bulldogs (6-0) are one of 24 undefeated teams on Joey Loose’s map and Indiana State (6-1) is the league’s highest-scoring team averaging 84.9 points per game.

Preseason player of the year Tucker DeVries is the Valley’s leading individual scorer second in shooting percentage, third in three-point shooting, and fourth in free throw success. The 6’6 sophomore is grabbing six rebounds per game. He is the league’s best player and its next most likely player to be an NBA draftee.

The success of these two teams isn’t surprising. Roster stability has been the name of the game at Drake ever since DeVries’ father Darian became the head coach. Returners D.J. Wilkins, Roman Penn, Garrett Sturtz, and Darnell Brody have participated in a combined 436 games and most of them have had a hand in coach DeVries’ 101 wins in four-plus seasons.

Indiana State coach Josh Schertz is in his second season in Terre Haute and employs six returners from last season and one of his newcomers played for him at a previous coaching stop. The Sycamores know what Schertz expects and they are executing his plan.

ISU not only leads the Valley in scoring but also in assists and field goal percentage. As one of the most offensively efficient teams in the nation (19th in effective field goal percentage), the Sycamores present defensive problems for opponents.

Four Sycamores are double-digit scorers led by DePaul transfer Courvoisier McCauley’s 18.0 scoring average.