Portal Shopping – Part Three

Not Major Overhauls

(St. Louis, MO) – All eleven Missouri Valley Conference teams have been actively portal shopping. Three went shopping with relatively few holes to fill and three are complete rebuilds. The final five in our portal shopping series, fell somewhere in between and are not major overhauls.

During Part One we looked at the relatively stable, Bradley, Illinois State and Northern Iowa clubs. Part Two tried to keep up with the complete remakes of the rosters at Drake, Murray State and Valparaiso.

Belmont, Evansville, Illinois Chicago, Indiana State and Southern Illinois return more players than those teams we last studied, but not as many as those we covered in Part One.

Second Year for Three Coaches

Illinois Chicago, Indiana State and Southern Illinois begin the second seasons under their current head coaches. UIC’s Rob Ehsan, Indiana State’s Matthew Graves and SIU’s Scott Nagy are each enjoying their first full offseasons with the complete opportunity to build their rosters and further establish their program’s culture.

While their signings have been significant, those three teams took somewhat different approaches to their portal purchases.

Ehsan has landed seven Division 1 transfers, Graves signed just one and Nagy picked up three. On the surface that seems like ‘advantage UIC’. The Flames didn’t find a big post presence, but five of Ehsan’s signees are 6’6 or bigger. Among those ‘tweeners’ are double-digit scorers Ante Beljan (Little Rock) and Binghampton’s Chris Walker.

Northeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year Abdul Momoh is competent scorer and rebounder. BYU transfer Elijah Crawford may be the Flames’ proverbial ‘diamond in the rough’. The 6’2 guard was a four-star recruit recruit coming out of high school and a top-200 player nationally.

Towson transfer Mekhi Lowery is a 6’6 wing with great upside.

SIU’s three D1 transfers have something of proven track records. Valpo transfer Isaiah Stafford missed all of last season with an injury, but two seasons ago, the 6’2 guard was the Beacons’ leading scorer (16.9 ppg) and is a dangerous offensive player. Jacksonville State transfer Quel’Ron House was very solid for the Gamecocks and the 6’ point guard was 2024’s fourth rated Kentucky prep player.

Nagy’s signing of Saint Louis’ 6’11 Max Pikaar is intriguing. The Netherlands native prepped at highly rated Sunrise Christian Academy and was a 3.77 star recruit last season. During limited action sitting behind Robbie Avila, Pikaar flashed some of his great potential.

Junior college transfer Caden Hawkins is the son of former Saluki great Shane Hawkins and provides guard depth and a veteran presence.

Indiana State went a very different direction. Graves nabbed just one D1 signing, but that one signing was significant. Florida A&M transfer Sterling Young was the SWAC Player of the Year while averaging 17 points-per-game. Graves picked up one of the nation’s top junior college players from one of the country’s top juco programs. Panola Junior College’s Enel St. Bernard is a 6’5 wing.

NAIA all-American Ian Scott averaged over 18 points and eight rebounds for Grace College. D2 star Zyair Greene is a 6’2 guard that averaged 19 points for Georgia College. Another D2 all-conference performer is Truman State transfer Xavier Hall. The 6’ guard was also the Great Lakes Valley Conference all-defensive team member.

Belmont and Evansville – Significant Returners

While both Belmont and Evansville sustained some heavy losses, they each have several valuable returners. Thus, these aren’t rebuilt rosters.

Belmont’s Casey Alexander begins his seventh season with the Bruins by signing two Division 1 players. The two guards join a team that lost guards Carter Whitt, Brody Peebles and Isaiah Walker. Eastern Washington transfer Nic McClain is a double-digit (10.6 ppg) scorer that rebounds (3.6 per game) and handles the ball (3.8 per contest).

Isaiah West started his collegiate career at Vanderbilt, moved to Samford and now returns to Nashville to play for the Bruins. The Springfield, Tennessee native was his State’s seventh rated player during his 2023 senior season.

Evansville lost all-conference type players in Tayshawn Comer and Gabriel Pozzato, but coach David Ragland went to work signing four D1 players. Three of them possess ‘power conference’ experience. Alex Hemenway sat out last season at Vanderbilt after playing 95 games for Clemson. The 6’3 guard is a career .421 three-point-shooter.

Pitt transfer Marlon Barns Jr was Ohio’s  fifth rated high school player (2023). After redshirting his first season, Barns played eight games last year. The 6’6 wing is could be a game-changing talent.

Chicago native (Whitney Young) and Saint Louis transfer A.J. Casey provides a physical 6’8 frontcourt presence. He played two seasons at Miami. Double-digit scoring guard Keishon Porter is a veteran guard and a proven three-point shooter.

EvanMiya.com ranks UIC as the Valley’s second, most effective team in portal shopping. Murray State is that site’s top rated portal shopping team.

There are roster spots left to fill on several Valley rosters and we’ll stay on top of those signings.

Do Good