Last season saw quite a bit of disparity in the Missouri Valley Conference for women’s basketball. The top three teams, Northern Iowa, Missouri State and Drake, all had at least 14 conference wins and routinely blew out their opponents. On the other end of the spectrum, the three worst teams in the conference, Evansville, Bradley and Wichita State, each had fewer than five conference wins. This season will be a bit different, though. The top teams in the conference lost their top scorers while the bottom-feeders feature veteran casts, implying that there will be more parity. Now, The Scout’s predictions for the women’s MVC season, beginning with who we think ends the season on top.
- Drake
Remember when we said that the top teams in the conference lost their top scorers? Well, that wasn’t totally true when it comes to Drake. Actually, that’s a complete lie – Drake returns their top three leading scorers from last season, including senior Lizzy Wendell, who averaged nearly 20 points per game game. She’s going to continue to dominate the conference, and with a dominant and experienced supporting cast, there should be nothing to stop Drake en route to a MVC championship.
- Northern Iowa
The Panthers are a young team; there are nine underclassmen on the roster and only four juniors and seniors. However, those seniors are pretty talented. Senior Madison Weekly led the team in scoring last year, so she will likely be an improved player this year and terrorize the rest of the conference. While UNI won’t be the biggest team, they’ll hit their open shots. Though it may be a gamble betting on such a young team to be a title contender, the Panthers showed last year that they’re a force to be reckoned with after winning the conference. They’ll come very close to repeating.
- Missouri State
Unlike UNI, Missouri State has an older, experienced roster which allows them to be a little more confident since they know the ropes of the MVC better than most. The Bears are also big, boasting three players 6’3” or taller. They should dominate the boards and the post this season, leading to easier scoring opportunities. Missouri State lacks a lot of outside shooting, so that will be a weakness for them when they get down in games. However, if they get in control early, which they normally should, they’ll be tough to take down.
- Wichita State
Yes, the Shockers sat at the bottom of the MVC last year, but this is going to be a completely different season. This team is stacked with upperclassmen who played regularly last season. The top eight scorers return to this team, and they enter a conference season that is totally wide open. If Wichita State plays up to its potential, they’ll be one of the deepest and most lethal teams in the conference. They’re going to have issues rebounding and shooting the long ball, but retaining the same core of experienced players is a good sign for its future.
- Southern Illinois
Southern Illinois was a solid team last year because of Dyana Pierre, a dynamic player who averaged a double-double last season with 13.2 points and 12.3 rebounds per game. Unfortunately for the Salukis, Pierre is gone, and her absence will draw defenders to their returning leading scorer, Rishonda Napier. Southern Illinois will also have to rely on a younger group to play a lot of meaningful minutes this year. If they learn quickly, they have a shot to be better, but it’s unlikely they will be able to consistently beat more talented teams.
- Indiana State
The good news for the Sycamores is that they return two of their best scorers from last year in Ashley Taia and Rhagan Smith, both forwards who dominate the post and earn easy baskets. The bad news is that they don’t have much of a defensive presence. The women were below .500 in the conference last year, and they shouldn’t be expected to finish any better this year because of their defense. Though they may be able to pass and score well, defense will ultimately be their downfall.
- Bradley
Bradley is in an interesting situation; they are introducing a new head coach, Andrea Gorski, who has a lot of passion for the program considering she is a Bradley alum. The Braves also return most of last year’s core unit who played regular minutes. However, this team was bad last year. The Braves struggled to score and often got off to poor starts, forcing them to play from behind and shoot the ball, which isn’t the team’s strong suit. It’ll be difficult to predict how they’ll turn out this year. They have some talent, but they need to execute on the court. Past performance does not induce much optimism.
- Illinois State
This is going to be a trying year for the Redbirds. Illinois State lost their top three leading scorers to graduation, so they’re going to have to scramble to find new ways to score. Their options are somewhat limited because they are going to be small in the post with smaller forwards on their team. Illinois State will have to rely on outside shooting, and they are not a good outside shooting team. The Redbirds are young, so there is going to be a learning curve this season.
- Loyola
Loyola is another team that is going to need to find some scoring from unexpected players. The Ramblers lost Taylor Manuel, Taylor Johnson and Nieka Wheeler, who were the only three that averaged double digits for the team last season. Now, they’re looking at a roster consisting of only one senior and four juniors with a majority of the team being freshmen and sophomores. It seems like it’s a transition year for the team from the heart of Chicago as they hope for their younger women to gain some useful experience.
- Evansville
Evansville had as tough a season as you can have last year. The Purple Aces went 3-28 and only won one conference game. It’s hard to be worse than they were last year, so there’s room for a little improvement this year but not enough to finish higher than the bottom of the barrel. One of the positives for Evansville is that Sara Dickey, their leading scorer last year, is returning for her senior year. She averaged nearly 16 points per game during the 2015-16 season. Dickey might be good enough to steal a few games in conference if she can get a little help, but don’t expect that to happen too often.
