Three are At Bradley
(St. Louis, MO) – The wild transfer world of Division 1 college basketball has hit the Missouri Valley Conference in both positive and devastating ways. Three, potential all-league talents bolted for ‘greener pastures’ but there have been some heavyweight replacements joining the league. D1 transfers are everywhere on MVC rosters.
All-Conference guard Javon Freeman-Liberty and second teamer Liam Robbins were on the cusp of rare Valley stardom and then departed. Valparaiso’s Freeman-Liberty went ‘home’ to DePaul and Drake’s Robbins’ story was similar. He is going to play with Minnesota assistant coach (and uncle) Ed Conroy. Evansville’s DeAndre Williams’ injury-plagued career at Evansville ended when the talented wing bolted for Memphis.
Throw in Southern Illinois’s Aaron Cook and more recently UE’s Sam Cunliffe and the MVC took a gigantic power drain.
While those talented players were leaving there were uber talented and experienced players sitting out last season waiting to impact the Missouri Valley.
Here are The Valley’s Top Seven D1 Transfers
Sean East – Bradley –Massachusetts
East made 20 starts at UMass and the 6’2 guard averaged 9.3 points and amassed 153 assists for the Atlantic Ten Conference team. While the Braves lose all-league combo guard Darrell Brown, East is the perfect replacement. He can score and obviously he can dish.
Head coach Brian Wardle told Dave Eminian of the Peoria Journal Star that East can create his own offense.
“Sean is a shifty and quick left-handed guard that can play-make for others and for himself,” Wardle said. “He had a really nice productive freshman year and we are very excited to work with him in his development.”
ESPN ranked East as their 36th best D1 transfer.
Terry Nolan Junior – Bradley – George Washington
Brian Wardle landed two A-10 refugees and we believe they are the Valley’s top two incoming transfers. Nolan started 51 games during his two seasons with the Colonials and was a double-digit scorer. At 6’4 he is more a wing than a true guard and fits in to Bradley’s defensive mind set. He recorded 52 steals during his freshman season.
Wardle says Nolan and fellow transfer Kevin McAdoo have a great feel for their system and are ‘very talented, quick, fast, athletic and can guard.’
ESPN ranked Nolan, who took a team leadership role during this summer’s heightened racial tensions, as their 37th best D1 transfer.
ShanQuan Hemphill – Drake – Green Bay
ShanQuan Hemphill – greenbayphoenix.com
The only questions surrounding Hemphill are his health. This explosive athlete once high-jumped 6’11” and has been featured on #SCTop10 three times. ‘Tank’ was a double-digit scorer during his two-year, Horizon League career. He sat out one season due to injury. He was named to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament all-tournament team and was an all-Horizon player in 2018.
Head coach Darian DeVries told godrakebulldogs.com has a well balanced game.
“ShanQuan will bring value to our team in athleticism, toughness, rebounding and an ability to be a dynamic scorer at the wing,” said DeVries. “Most importantly, our fans will enjoy watching him. His competitive spirit on the court is contagious!”
Braden Norris – Loyola – Oakland
Norris is another Horizon League transfer. During his rookie season, he was named to the all-freshman squad. While averaging 13.2 points per game he also had one of the nation’s best assist-turnover ratios (2.75). He had an impressive .333 completion rate from deep and
Head coach Porter Moser told Loyolaramblers.com Norris is a complete player.
“The son of a coach, he is an ultra-competitor, with an extremely high basketball IQ,” said Moser. “He was one of the top offensive efficiency players in the country last year. Braden has deep range and a quick release. What really excites me is his tenacity on defense. He’s all about winning and fits in great with our culture.”
Randy Miller – Indiana State – UNC Central
Miller averaged 13.2 points per game during his junior season, but his senior year was cut short by injury. He made .371 from deep and prior to his senior campaign, was named to the MEAC pre-season all-conference team.
Greg Lansing says Miller and other transfers just need to be solid.
“Randy and TJ (TJ Howard) are both good basketball players with good IQ’s,” said Lansing. “You don’t bring in fifth year guys in to not have impact, so we’re counting on both of those guys.”
Kevin McAdoo – Bradley – Eastern Michigan
McAdoo averaged 8.6 points per game during his junior season. He made 19 starts and provides great depth for a Bradley team that seems poised to add a fourth year to its 20-wins-per season streak. Wardle told bradleybraves.com McAdoo brings great experience to Peoria. He is the third of Bradley’s D1 transfers expected to contribute.
“Kevin is a great playmaker who brings quickness and the ability to score the ball at the guard position,” said Wardle. “He is a young man that continues to improve every year and has two good years of experience under his belt joining our team.”
Ben Harvey – Southern Illinois – Eastern Illinois
Harvey came off the bench for Jay Spoonhour’s Panthers. The ‘super-sub’ averaged 10.2 points per game and routinely led the EIU in scoring. The 6’3 scorer gives SIU a proven scoring option. Coach Bryan Mullins says Harvey worked hard during his red-shirt season.
“He attacked every work out and attacked every weight session,” said Mullins. “He spent a year getting to know our program and our culture and is ready to contribute.”
Other Notables:
Another A-10 transfer, Sy Chatman (Illinois State-UMass) averaged 3.7 ppg for the Minutemen. Jakolby Long (SIU-Southern Utah) had two productive seasons at Southern Utah after originally signing with Iowa State. Loyola’s Damezi Anderson participated in 39 games over two seasons at Indiana. Samari Curtis was a three-star recruit coming out of high school and spent time at Nebraska. ESPN ranked this Evansville guard as their tenth best mid-season, eligible transfer.
We’re finally in November. Bradley is the first Valley team to produce a full schedule and we are closing in on the season’s beginning. These D1 transfers will be well-known names by season’s end.
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Done like only you can @Frank_Cusumano. So perfect. Respectful. Hopeful. Personal. You've always been the best. @DanRolfes, you are in our prayers still today. Thanks for sharing.
As we said the 'closed' transfer portal keeps growing. Paperwork delays and/or no regard for deadlines. Over 2K in the portal now. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that. Just saying before you think your program won't have more players leaving, give it a minute to see
BTW, despite the portal being 'closed' you'll still hear about players entering it because sometimes paperwork is slow AND all they have to do is sue to be able to enter later.
Admittedly I am no recruiting expert, but I'm seeing these reports about which coaches have been crushing the portal. We'll know who did what when we see them play, but no one has been more active than @TSUTigersMBB's @coachpenny1. 6 D1's among the 9 he's signed.
