Missouri Valley Conference Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2024-25

No. 9 – Evansville Purple Aces

This is the pivotal, year three of David Ragland’s time as the Evansville head coach. After five wins during his first season and seventeen last year, could this be a year where the Purple Aces can reach the middle or upper echelon of Valley teams?

UE lost its top five scorers to the transfer portal and to graduation. All-newcomer team member and leading scorer Ben Humrichous (Illinois), leading rebounder Yacine Toumi (Seton Hall) and all-freshman team member Chuckie Bailey (Nevada) left through the portal. 

Kenny Strawbridge and Antonio Thomas graduated. 

All-Bench team member and leading returning scorer and rebounder Tanner Cuff, Cam Haffner and Joshua Hughes provide stability, but Ragland had to reload in a serious way. The versatile Cuff is good with the ball in his hands (79 assists) and is a solid rebounder. At 6’10, Hughes is a threat from deep (.360). 

Butler transfer Connor Turnbull brings the needed size and experience. While the sample size is small, the 6’10 Turnbull is a career .452 shooter from deep. Junior college forward Ramondo Battle II gives Ragland a three-headed frontcourt force. Battle averaged nearly 15 points-per game at Walters State Community College. 

Ragland needed experience at the point and he found it in Eastern Kentucky transfer Tayshawn Comer. The former Atlantic Sun Conference freshman-team member is a true ‘quarterback’ (three assists per game) and is a threat from deep (37 percent from deep). 

Foreign born freshmen Gabriel Pozzato (Italy) and Kaia Berridge (New Zealand) are three-star recruits with good size. The 6’7 Pozzato was part of the NBA Global Academy and 6’4 Berridge has extensive international experience. 

Ragland believes his team is deeper than in past seasons, and one reason is the addition of 6’6 NAIA star Trent Hundley. He averaged nearly 17 points-per-game at Rio Grande. The coach’s success with Humrichous made him a believer in recruiting NAIA players. 

Ragland’s roster makeup may be the best ‘fit’ he has had during his first three years in Evansville. He is plugging players into roles that work and their skill sets and in the style Ragland wants to play. Rather than assembling a group of stars, Ragland has a uniquely blended group of players playing to their strengths.