MVC Roster Comparison

Based on a review of the 2015-16 basketball rosters as posted by the school's web site:


Bradley:
12 players who were recruited from high schools (but one is a recruited walk-on)
2 transfers from another 4-year school
1 player recruited as a juco transfer

Drake:
12 players who were recruited from high schools (one is a walk-on)
2 transfers from another 4-year school

Evansville:
10 players who were recruited from high schools
1 transfers from another 4-year school
1 player recruited as a juco transfer

Illinois State:

9 players who were recruited from high schools
2 transfers from another 4-year school
3 player recruited as juco transfers - one is a walk-on

Indiana State:
12 players who were recruited from high schools - two are walk-ons
1 transfers from another 4-year school
3 player recruited as juco transfers

Loyola:
8 players who were recruited from high schools - one is a walk-on
2 transfers from another 4-year school
4 player recruited as juco transfers

Missouri State:
9 players who were recruited from high schools - one is a walk-on
5 player recruited as juco transfers

Northern Iowa:
13 players who were recruited from high schools - three are walk-ons
2 transfers from another 4-year school
1 player recruited as a juco transfer

Southern Illinois:
7 players who were recruited from high schools - two are walk-ons
2 transfers from another 4-year school
5 player recruited as juco transfers

Wichita State:
13 players who were recruited from high schools - two are walk-ons
3 transfers from another 4-year school - two are recruited walk-ons but scholarship-caliber
1 player recruited as a juco transfer

So - who is JUCO-U?? - without question it is a tie between SIU & Missouri State
Who is TRANSFER-U?? - Wichita State wins this one.
..but definitely Loyola & Illinois State also have a big number of kids that were recruited after they left high school.
Time will tell - but at least Bradley did not go the multi-late-juco route that Missouri State & SIU have just taken...we're doing it the right way!

But here's an odd thing - some of the teams with a lot of jucos & transfers, like Wichita & ISU, have done well - far better than some with few such jucos & transfers (like Drake).
But the schools with the most substantial player turnover - players departing in just 1-2 years (such as Bradley under Geno & SIU) are definitely the ones who have done most poorly.
So the winning formula is to build a team with mostly 4-year guys coming from high school or maybe better prep schools, and throw in an occasional transfer and juco guy when the right one comes along to fill the needs.
That's the formula that best describes the teams that have been in the upper half of the Valley - Wichita, UNI, and recently Indiana State, Evansville...
Thank you Coach Wardle for doing just that and not loading up this past spring with gobs of whatever available jucos there were....a pattern Bradley fans had been all to familiar with under Geno & his advisors..