Did you hear the one about the mid-major college basketball coach who grew bitter and jaded because of the rapidly changing state of college athletics?
No, you didn’t.
Because by throwing up his hands about the transfer portal, the constant conference realignment and the wild, wild west that is the name, image and likeness era, that guy has punched his one-way ticket to irrelevancy.
He’s out of touch, and if not already so, soon to be out of work.
You can adapt or become obsolete in modern college sports, and what’s true for coaches is even more so the case for conferences that are unwilling to take their ball and go home as the biggest, richest leagues continue to pull away from the rest of the pack.
One look at Arch Madness, which tipped off Thursday afternoon at Enterprise Center, proves the Missouri Valley Conference isn’t just finding ways to survive in season No. 117. It’s finding ways to thrive.
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Arch Madness this year features two of the nation’s most intriguing and likable NCAA Tournament bubble teams.
No. 1 seed Indiana State is experiencing its biggest bump since Larry Bird suited up for the Sycamores. Bespectacled center Robbie Avila has become a national sensation for his unique look and stellar play.
They’re calling him “Cream Abdul-Jabbar†and “Larry Nerd,†and he loves it. The Wall Street Journal even featured him in this week’s sports coverage. His coach, Josh Schertz, is going to be one of the darlings of this upcoming offseason’s coaching carousel chatter; Josh, leaving isn’t always the best move.
Their team is the antidote to the horrid offense that ails so much of college hoops. The Sycamores run beautiful sets, leading the nation in effective field goal percentage while shooting better than 62 percent from 2-point range and draining more than 38 percent of their 3s.
No. 2 seed Drake features a coach-son combo many wrongly assumed would be poached by bigger conferences by now. Darian DeVries is a heck of a coach.
His son, Tucker DeVries, is a heck of a player, one good enough to be the league’s back-to-back player of the year. The DeVries duo has stayed put and the Bulldogs and their conference continue to benefit. Drake beat Indiana State once this season and could again if the two meet in Sunday’s championship.
That outcome would help build the case for both making the NCAA Tournament. If both get there, they should. It would mark the second time since the pandemic-squashed NCAA Tournament of 2020 that two Valley teams got in.
Both Indiana State (No. 30) and Drake (No. 48) can be found in the top-50 of the NCAA’s NET rankings, ahead of teams like Texas A&M (SEC), Virginia (ACC), Iowa and Ohio State (Big Ten).
No. 3 seed Bradley checks in at No. 60 in the NET, ahead of the likes of Oregon (Pac-12), UCF (Big 12) and Big East staples Xavier, Seton Hall and Butler.
Announced Wednesday night in ºüÀêÊÓƵ, the league’s all-conference honors underscored how a mid-major conference must compete. You don’t hear about it much, but that dastardly transfer portal works both ways.
First-team forward Darnell Brodie jumped to Drake from Seton Hall. First-team guard Xavier Johnson stars at Southern Illinois after transferring from George Mason. First-team guard Duke Deen of Bradley transferred from Troy. Newcomer of the year Ryan Conwell arrived at Indiana State via South Florida.
The Valley is getting as much if not more from the portal as it loses.
How tough is this league?
Ask Murray State.
Racers coach Steve Prohm’s team got bounced in Thursday afternoon’s opener by Missouri State as Bears coach Dana Ford fights to keep his job. The Racers have gone from dominating the Ohio Valley Conference to losing 20 games in their second MVC season.
The Valley, as the conference tagline suggests, runs deep. Long term, Murray State will be fine. It’s too proud of a program to settle for not competing in its new conference home. Adding the proud hoops program to a proud hoops league was a major win.
How smart do recent departures look for leaving the Valley?
Not very.
Ask recent defection Loyola, whose 14-3 Atlantic 10 record entering Saturday’s regular-season finale against La Salle doesn’t have the Ramblers anywhere close to the NCAA Tournament bubble. For those keeping score, MVC teams went 5-2 against A-10 teams this season.
Or, better yet, ask Wichita State. The Shockers’ post-MVC career has aged nearly as poorly as ex-coach Gregg Marshall’s reputation. Wichita State, which is about to put the finishing touches on a losing regular season, is about to miss its third consecutive NCAA Tournament. Its only trip since 2018 is a First Four loss. The Shockers had been on a run of six straight when they sought allegedly greener pastures. Whoops.
The Valley isn’t gloating. It moved on from Marshall and his massive ego long ago. Coaches, like players and programs themselves, come and go. And? The basketball-loving league continues to adapt and evolve.
Look past the handwringing and pearl clutching about the current state of college sports and you will see that a mid-major with the right approach can still offer plenty of sizzle. A nationally relevant, nationally televised tournament taking place right here in downtown ºüÀêÊÓƵ is a great example.