Missouri Valley Basketball: Drake, Bradley lead latest power rankings

One third of the way through the season and one game into the Missouri Valley Conference league schedule we have fresh power rankings. While Bradley remains our top ranked team, virtually every other spot has moved. 

We’ve crunched the numbers, watched the games and talked to the coaches and players. How does it all shake out just before the holiday season?

The Missouri Valley Conference is ranked tenth in the all-powerful national evaluation tool (NET) and eleventh among the thirty-one Division 1 leagues in both the kenpom.com and barttorvik.com rankings. Pouring through the various rankings, measurements and geeky numbers is an interesting journey, and obviously all twelve Valley teams have played one conference contest. 

Ironically, during the league’s ‘opening day’ of conference play, four of the games were won by the visiting team. That is a huge ‘power rankings’ shifting piece of information. 

The Valley began the season without 15 of last year’s sixteen all-conference players, so who is shining during the early part of the season? Newcomers are the league’s top four scorers and top three rebounders. 

Missouri State’s Dez White (18.9 ppg), Drake’s Bennett Stirtz (18.8), Samage Teel of Indiana State (17.2) and Evansville freshman Gabriel Pozzatto (15.8) are the league’s top scorers. Stirtz also leads the MVC handing out six assists per game. Teel’s 4.9 assist average is the Valley’s third best. 

Illinois Chicago’s Sasa Ciani is the conference’s only double-digit rebounder (10.4 per game). He is followed by Missouri State’s Jalen Hampton (8.3) and Michael Osei-Bonsu (7.7). 

Five new head coaches lead Valley teams, and first year leader Ben McCollum has led Drake to an 8-0 record and boasts of the league’s best scoring defense (57.8 points per game). 

There appears to be three, distinct tiers within our Missouri Valley Conference updated power rankings.