Last month, we started our Sales Pitch series by ranking the schools in the ACC based on the quality of their enticements for men’s basketball recruits and then moved on to the Big East, where we examined whether anyone in the league can close the recruiting gap on Villanova. We followed that up with the Big Ten, and the biggest first tier we’ve seen of any conference so far, and the Pac-12, where UCLA and Arizona are keeping the rest of the league at arm’s length. We continued with the SEC, where everyone continues to chase Kentucky on the recruiting trail, and then looked at the Memphis vs. Houston battle at the top of the American. We wrapped up the top seven leagues with the Big 12 — Kansas was the consensus No. 1, but how can Texas and the rest close the gap?
This week, we cast a wide net over the rest of college basketball. We look at the Atlantic 10 and Mountain West teams that have been the most successful in recent years, while also taking a peek at where Gonzaga might stack up on a national scale. We also dig a little deeper into how Loyola Chicago has remained in the national conversation the last several years, and look at the battle at the top of the Ohio Valley between Belmont and Murray State.
As a reminder, ESPN spoke with a wide variety of anonymous coaches across college basketball’s top seven leagues (as rated by KenPom and other relevant metrics systems), as well as nationally relevant programs beyond those conferences, for our Sales Pitch feature. Over an eight-week period, we ranked the programs in order of which have the best sales pitches for recruits and transfers.
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WCC | Mountain West | Atlantic 10 | Missouri Valley | Ohio Valley
Gonzaga the king of the WCC, and a national heavyweight
It would be unfair to do a West Coast Conference tier ranking, given that Gonzaga is far and away the best recruiting program in the league. The Bulldogs are one of the most successful programs in the sport over the last two decades, they’re coming off a title game appearance and they are beginning to compete with the best programs nationally for five-star recruits.
Mark Few and his staff had long owned the international market, while also bringing in talented transfers. But the Zags have landed four five-star prospects in the last two recruiting classes, including projected top-five pick Jalen Suggs and No. 1 incoming freshman Chet Holmgren.
“They’re a high-major, blueblood-type program,” one WCC coach said. “They have intense fan support. They’re the main show in town, with amazing history, deep NCAA tournament runs. And now, they’re starting to get pros into the league. What makes them special is they’ve turned up the heat and been able to get blue-chip recruits and top-10 transfers in any given class. It’s the best of the best. Best transfers, plus top-20, top-10 high school recruits. They’re officially blueblood status in terms of recruiting right now.”
One coach in the league who has spent time at Power 5 programs pointed out that Gonzaga would likely be right behind UCLA and Arizona when it comes to the Pac-12 tiers. Given that the Bruins are a clear blueblood program and Arizona is a top-10 job in the sport, that’s pretty good company for the Zags.
“They have everything. There’s nothing stopping them,” he said. “Just in general, they have an incredibly intense, fun atmosphere. They get loud. It’s not this huge arena. It fits 6,000, but it feels much bigger. It gets crazy loud, it’s intimidating to a lot of players. They’re the hottest ticket in town. There’s no pro sports team nearby. The location isn’t an issue. They don’t recruit. They don’t even recruit Seattle often. It’s an international brand.”
Gonzaga has won at least 30 games in each of the last five seasons, reaching the national championship game on two occasions. The Bulldogs are likely to enter next season as the preseason No. 1 team in the country, they’re bringing in the No. 2 recruiting class and they’re going to have arguably the best returning college player in Drew Timme and the best incoming college player in Holmgren.
It’s not slowing down anytime soon in Spokane.
“Mark plays his guys and lets them perform at a high level,” a WCC coach said. “Look at the productivity of his star players. [Joel] Ayayi is looking great in the draft process right now, he was their fourth or fifth guy. If you know you’re a draft pick, it’s a great situation. Think about it from a blue-chippers’ perspective. They obviously play a hard schedule outside the league, but in the league, they’re dominating. You want to protect yourself and you know you’re going to get numbers. But I don’t know what the switch was for them in recruiting. Maybe they just started shooting for the stars.”
While Gonzaga rightfully gets most of the attention as a high-major-caliber program in the WCC, BYU can make a strong case as well. The Cougars have won 44 games in two seasons under Mark Pope and went to the NCAA tournament eight times under Dave Rose. The program quietly has a ton of history, reaching three Elite Eights and seven Sweet 16s.
They also have a 19,000-seat home arena and have recruited transfers as well as anyone in the region of the country over the last few years.
“They have a rabid fan base, they have their own TV network, and they have a high-major-type football program so they have all the resources you need,” one coach said. “They have an international brand as it relates to [the LDS] religion, which I think is really important. That makes them a draw all over the world. It’s another place where they get transfers. They got the kid from Arizona (Alex Barcello), he transferred there, bigger opportunity to play a bigger role. They have sold-out crowds, they play a tough nonconference schedule.
“I consider them a high-major job, unequivocally. They provide opportunities at a high level. Those two, Gonzaga and BYU, are high-major jobs and you can’t tell me otherwise. The support, the facilities, the all-in nature of the athletic departments. It’s tough to have in your league.”
San Diego State atop the Mountain West
The Mountain West hasn’t produced more than two NCAA tournament teams in a season since 2015, but it’s been represented inside the top 25 the last three seasons and should have a handful of teams competing to hear their names on Selection Sunday next season.
From a recruiting — and job — perspective, three programs are clearly at the top: San Diego State, UNLV and New Mexico. Within that top tier, however, one program has separated itself over the last few seasons due to continuity, stability and on-court success. San Diego State didn’t miss a beat after Steve Fisher departed, and the Aztecs have reached the NCAA tournament eight of the last 12 seasons, and were in line for a 2-seed in the dance in 2020.
“They have support, resources, tradition. Players in the pros. Championship pedigree in the league. It all kind of goes together,” one longtime Mountain West coach said. “They’ve had recent success, both on the floor and guys in the NBA. Kawhi [Leonard] is a top-five player in the world. Malachi Flynn, Jalen McDaniels. The city is great, but also, there’s no NBA team. There’s San Diego State and the Padres. That’s it. They have the best atmosphere in the league. It used to be [New Mexico’s] The Pit. Now [the Aztecs’ atmosphere] is the best by far. Not even touchable right now. They’re not recruiting against the league very often. They know where their bread is buttered. They recruit California, maybe Vegas.”
San Diego State hasn’t landed as many five-star prospects as UNLV over the last decade, but the Aztecs are consistently in the mix for high-major players on the West Coast and have landed a slew of consensus four-star prospects. That might be the Aztecs’ biggest challenge, too. Their competition isn’t within the league — it’s the Pac-12.
“They’re not going to get USC or UCLA kids from Southern California. They don’t recruit against the Mountain West very often. It’s Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Arizona State,” one coach said. “Those five-star kids, high four-star kids, they don’t get a lot of them.”
Purely from a historical and brand standpoint, UNLV has plenty of advantages as a recruiting power. The Runnin’ Rebels have won a national championship, they’ve been to four Final Fours and have one of the top five winning percentages of all time. They also have had plenty of success on the recruiting trail, landing a string of five-star prospects from 2011-2014 and producing the No. 1 pick in the 2013 NBA draft in Anthony Bennett.
“For recruiting high school kids, it’s the best job in the league,” one coach said. “It’s a national brand, it’s a name. You can go into a gym in New York with a UNLV logo across the shirt, nobody wonders where it is. Nobody else in the league has that brand.”
“They charter everywhere. They have the Mendenhall Center, great facilities. … it’s all there for them,” another coach added. “There’s things they have that Power 5 schools don’t have.”
UNLV hasn’t had the recent success of San Diego State, however, and that has set the Runnin’ Rebels back. They haven’t been to the NCAA tournament since 2013 and are going on their fifth head coach since 2015 if you count Todd Simon’s stint as the interim.
“Stability, first and foremost, [is their biggest challenge],” one coach said. “Then they haven’t won. That goes together. And as of five, six years ago, the [NHL] Golden Knights didn’t exist. The Las Vegas Raiders were the Oakland Raiders. Everything has changed out there. You get off the plane in like, 2014, those teams were loaded and all you saw was UNLV. People wearing UNLV basketball shirts. It’s not what it used to be. And they did a great job of keeping Vegas kids in Vegas. But now Findlay Prep is closed. Anthony Bennett, Khem Birch, Christian Wood, other guys all came from there.”
New Mexico might have taken a back seat to San Diego State and UNLV from a resources and on-court perspective the last few years, but the Lobos are still a clear-cut top-three program in the league.
“You have an off-the-charts ‘care factor’ in their community and tradition. When the Pit is rocking, it’s one of the top environments in the country. When they’re good — and even when they’re not good — they have great fan support. It’s as good as anywhere. Right there that’s a huge advantage,” one MWC coach said. “They’ve got great facilities. They’ve got tradition. That in and of itself, the tradition, the care in the community is what makes it such a great job.”
They haven’t been to the NCAA tournament since 2014 and have only been to the dance five times since 1999. It cratered last season with a last-place Mountain West finish, followed by the hiring of Richard Pitino to replace Paul Weir. The school also doesn’t have the same type of advantage when it comes to the local talent base as San Diego State or UNLV.
“They decided to be ‘Last Chance U’ for a few years, took every knucklehead, then they kind of flipped it and went after high schoolers and it just didn’t work out,” one coach said. “You don’t have as much talent right in your backyard. You still have to find the pockets in terms of where you want to recruit. Based on where you are geographically, you do have a good footprint in the west. California, Nevada, Arizona. They’ve always been successful there that way. It’s also a great landing spot for transfers.”
“A lot of [what UNM has lacked] is recent success,” another coach added. “When [Steve] Alford left that place and Craig Neal took over, they were toe-to-toe with San Diego State in titles. Since then, San Diego State has won five or six titles. New Mexico hasn’t won any.”
There’s a clear tier drop-off after the top three, with Nevada, Boise State and Colorado State making up the middle of the pack for most coaches in the league.
Nevada had consistent success in the WAC under Trent Johnson and Mark Fox, but struggled under David Carter after moving to the Mountain West. Eric Musselman took over and went to three NCAA tournaments in four seasons, including a Sweet 16 run in 2018. Steve Alford was hired to replace Musselman, and has had two solid seasons, with optimism entering the 2021-22 campaign.
Both Musselman and Alford attempted to build the program in a similar fashion — via the transfer portal. Musselman reloaded every spring with transfers, and Alford is having success dipping into high-major conferences with guys he has a prior relationship from his days at UCLA.
“You have to go with older guys who have been around,” one coach said of Nevada’s recent recruiting strategy. “Grant Sherfield was recruited by Alford to UCLA, he would’ve gone to UCLA if Alford wasn’t fired. Alford gets Nevada, Sherfield goes there. Will Baker, a five-star kid recruited by Alford at UCLA. He goes to Texas, then goes to Nevada. Everyone is judged on March. To get to March, you have to have a team that can win early and has the maturity to deal with the travel in the Mountain West.”
“They had had a really good run under Trent Johnson and Mark Fox. They have great tradition there. They have fan support, the Lawlor Center. Obviously Musselman took it to a whole other level with the transfers. But you’ve got a community and a university who really, really support basketball,” one head coach in the league said. “It’s important there. It’s been seen as a destination spot for high-level transfers. But I also think they have an ability to recruit high-level high school kids there. They’ve got name cachet. They’ve been good, they’ve been to the tournament multiple times. And they have a really good fan base.”
Colorado State and Boise State have a similar recruiting reputation within the league, both in terms of location and because the Rams and Broncos need to get creative to attract talent to the programs.
“Both Boise and Colorado State are in really cool cities, cool college towns. It’s a college community. In Boise, all you see is Boise State signs. Drive into Fort Collins, it’s all Colorado State,” one MWC assistant said. “Most of the people in those cities went to that school. They’re both growing cities.”
“Fort Collins has more of a college town vibe than Boise. Obviously San Diego is nice, but Fort Collins and Boise are the coolest towns in the league,” another coach said. “Fort Collins is one of the best college towns in the country. It’s a huge selling point for them. The arena is older but has a lot of charm. It’s a really good home court. You can see Colorado State is committed to being good. Boise has a lot of the same things going for it.”
Both programs also face the same big issue: Neither city produces much talent on a consistent basis, meaning both Boise State and Colorado State have to recruit elsewhere every year. In recent years, Leon Rice and Niko Medved have approached it in different ways. Boise State has opted to go the transfer route, going after veterans who can help the Broncos win right away. Colorado State has dipped into other regions, primarily the Midwest and Texas, for high school prospects.
“The biggest challenge for Colorado State and Boise State is the lack of a recruiting base,” one coach said. “Sure, you can recruit Colorado, in Denver there’s a few players. But there’s not a lot of talent. And the problem is if you drive five hours from Colorado State or Boise State, you’re in the middle of nowhere. So you’re always on an airplane recruiting. You’ve got a beautiful place to sell, but you always have to go out of area to bring in the majority of prospects. So you have to be really mindful of where you spend your time and resources.”
Another intriguing program in the league is Utah State but the consensus was that the Aggies are a tier down from a recruiting and job perspective.
They struggled after moving from the WAC to the Mountain West, before Craig Smith took over and led the program to three 20-win seasons and two NCAA tournament appearances (it would have been three if not for the pandemic) during his time in Logan. Can Utah State remain a consistent factor in the top-third of the league? It won’t be easy for Ryan Odom, who arrived from UMBC after Smith departed for Utah.
“They were getting beat so bad when they got in the league. Then they became near the top of the league with Craig Smith. But they had two pros [Sam Merrill and Neemias Queta). Their crowd is second to San Diego State as of today. They’re one of the hardest places to play because their crowds are awesome,” one coach said. “It’s a hard recruiting base. Utah kids have BYU and Utah, in either order, then Utah State. They’re third in the pecking order. So you have to recruit internationally, you have to do well with evaluations. I thought Craig did well with them. Their starting five was kind of a hodgepodge.”
The one program coaches in the league think could move up a tier with more consistent on-court success is Fresno State. The Bulldogs went to the NCAA tournament in 2016 under Rodney Terry, but that was their lone tourney appearance since Jerry Tarkanian went back-to-back in 2000 and 2001.
“They have a great recruiting base around them, they have a little bit of tradition to sell,” one MWC coach said. “It feels like they can get the right mix of transfers, JUCOs, the right high school kids. They’re close enough to a really, really good pool of talent.”
“They’re the other school that could get it going, they just haven’t had the support,” another coach added.
VCU and Dayton form A-10’s top tier
For several years, the Atlantic 10 was garnering three or more bids to the NCAA tournament on a regular basis. That’s changed a bit over the last three seasons — with the caveat that the league would have had a 1-seed and Final Four contender in 2020 with Dayton.
The top of the league shuffles considerably on an annual basis, but there’s a good chance to have four or five teams in the mix for an NCAA tournament berth next season. Purely on the recruiting trail, however, there is certainly a top tier according to coaches in the league.
VCU and Dayton have been consistently successful both on and off the court over the last decade, and they’re also recruiting that way. Of course, the Rams had the Final Four run in 2011, but they also have been to the NCAA tournament in seven of nine seasons since moving to the Atlantic 10. They’ve landed six ESPN 100 prospects since the Final Four run, although the last one came in 2016 under Will Wade.
“They have probably the nicest facilities out of anybody in the league, from player housing to practice facility to weight facility to player lounge and catered meals for guys,” one A-10 coach said. “Their arena, it’s not massive like Dayton’s, but they still fill it up and it’s loud and energetic. They have a lot going for them. It’s also not the hardest place to get to, so for recruits from different areas in this region, it’s easy to drive to, they can bring guys on unofficial [visits]. They can attract high-level kids who want to get down there for an early visit. Right now I think VCU is the best job in the league.”
Dayton is right there with the Rams at the top of the recruiting pecking order, and much of that has to do with the Flyers’ arena and fan base. It helped them get to the NCAA tournament in each of Archie Miller’s final four seasons at Dayton, and also had them ranked in the top five nationally under Anthony Grant in 2020. They’re bringing in ESPN 100 forward DaRon Holmes next season, landed former top-50 prospect Elijah Weaver as a transfer from USC last summer, and hit the portal in a big way this spring.
“The Dayton community is so supportive of the program. They sell out almost every single game, their arena is unbelievable,” one coach said. “I don’t think the rest of their facilities really wow you, but when you sell out and you’re in Dayton and everybody knows you and gives that type of support, it really pays dividends in recruiting.
“I don’t think they suffer due to location. Dayton has had some kids from this region. When they had Obi [Toppin] and they were very, very good, it brought them back to kind of being able to recruit wherever they want to. They have the pitch of, ‘You’re going to be in Dayton but you’re going to be able to play closer to home.’ They also haven’t done it a ton. They recruit heavily in Ohio, but I think they also have the ability to recruit the Mid-Atlantic.”
For the coaches we polled, VCU’s overall facilities and commitment gives the Rams a slight edge over Dayton as the premier recruiting spot in the league.
“Other than the arena, Dayton’s facilities are nothing special. They have a practice facility, but it’s just a one-court gym. It doesn’t wow you. It kind of underwhelms when you look at it,” he said. “VCU is an entire complex. Unbelievable weight room, state of the art. It really wows you going in. Their locker room, everything is right there. With Dayton, they have their arena in one location, practice facility in another location, locker room is somewhere else. It’s not all tied together. When you’re at VCU, the practice facility is on one side of the street, the arena is across the street. The apartments where the players stay is right next to all of that. It’s a one-stop shop there.”
“I think the outside perspective is that Dayton is far and away the most committed program in the league, and I don’t think that’s true. I think VCU is a monster,” another coach added. “I think they are unbelievably committed. Their practice facility is just as good as anybody’s in the country. Their arena is just OK, but the fan base makes that arena awesome. It’s an awesome atmosphere for games. In terms of their administration and the school and everything that they do, they are unbelievably committed to being good at basketball. Dayton is the same way, but if I were ranking them, VCU is the most committed.”
The preseason favorite entering next season is likely to be St. Bonaventure, which also won both the regular season and conference tournament titles this past season. But the Bonnies are down a few tiers in the recruiting pecking order, mostly due to their remote location 70 miles south of Buffalo.
“It’s not easy to get kids to want to go there,” one coach said. “The airport isn’t anywhere near campus, the campus isn’t anything special, the arena isn’t anything special. I don’t think it’s an easy place to recruit to at all.”
“In terms of evaluation and seeing kids, yeah it’s an obstacle,” another coach countered. “But you can find a lot of places that have obstacles in terms of proximity to players. Maybe it gets overblown a bit. They find kids that want to be in the gym. Being in the gym, being in a place where basketball is the No. 1 thing.”
Under Mark Schmidt, Bona has gone to three NCAA tournaments and won at least 20 games on four separate occasions. It has won double-digit conference games in each of the last seven seasons. So how do the Bonnies do it?
“Mark Schmidt is an unbelievable coach. He’s a great manipulator of the game. Manipulation isn’t usually said in a complimentary way, but he’s the best manipulator of the game I’ve ever seen. The way he orchestrates things. It’s creative and it’s really impressive,” one coach said. “They have not gotten the credit for the players they’ve gotten. They’ve had superstars that have gotten credit, but their supporting cast has not gotten the credit for how good they are. The staff has done an incredible job of sifting and finding guys that are under-recruited and then developing them.
“Because of the location, if you’re prone to city life, you’re like, that’s the worst job in America. But that doesn’t give enough credit to how committed the school is,” he continued. “They don’t have a lot of money, but they give 98% to men’s basketball. There’s an unbelievable tradition there, going back 75 years. It’s a basketball school. It’s a community that loves Bonnies basketball. You can’t go into a gas station there and not see or hear Bonnies basketball. I don’t think that happens in most places. Their fan base is awesome. The fact the community cares is a big part of their recruiting piece. That’s why they’re able to keep kids. They haven’t lost their good players. That’s impressive. It speaks to the relationships between the coaches and players and the support in the community.”
Saint Louis might seem like an odd geographic fit in the league, but the Billikens have been to four NCAA tournaments since joining the A-10 in 2005 — winning a tournament game in three of those trips. Under Travis Ford, they’ve won 23 games twice and went dancing in 2019. Some coaches in the league view the Billikens as the third-best recruiting job in the league.
“I think they’re a solid third that is not far off from the top two,” a longtime A-10 coach said. “Their commitment level is really high. They play in a beautiful arena. It’s incredible. It’s a smaller version of a pro arena. It’s really nice. Obviously St. Louis is a great city. Their practice facility is very nice and I’ve heard they’re building a new one. It’s a good situation. They’re definitely in that upper tier with VCU and Dayton. And there’s a pretty good gap between those three and the next tier.”
While the location might be outside the league’s footprint, it helps in terms of the Billikens not recruiting the same players as the rest of the Atlantic 10.
“Saint Louis does a really good job of recruiting St. Louis,” one coach said. “They get those kids and convince them they’re going to be at the top of the league. The practice facility is gorgeous, the arena is gorgeous. If it were closer to everything in the league, they could easily be right there at the top with VCU and Dayton. We’ve never been in a recruiting battle with Saint Louis, so their location helps to an extent. And the high-major schools in that region, they’re not typically winning their league.”
Richmond will have preseason expectations once again next season, and the Spiders will hope to make their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2011, when Chris Mooney guided them to the Sweet 16. It’s in a good recruiting area, has a strong academic reputation and impressive facilities.
“They just built a new practice facility. Their arena is 50-plus years old, but they had $17 million in facility upgrades a few years ago,” a longtime A-10 coach said. “Video boards, luxury suites, brought the stands closer to the court. Everything is right on top of the court now. The atmosphere improved overnight. Went from 10,000 people to 7,000. It closed things in and made it more of an intimate environment. It’s helped their recruiting. Their campus is beautiful. It feels like a country club. I think Richmond is on the uptick from a big-picture perspective in terms of who they can get involved with and who they can get.”
“It’s probably my favorite arena in the league,” another coach said. “With the new practice facility, new locker room, Richmond has become an easier job because the athletic department is putting more and more resources into the program.”
The sterling academic reputation is also the Spiders’ biggest recruiting drawback.
“They struggle getting kids into school,” one coach said. “That’s their biggest challenge.”
“The academic piece is a huge filter. It’s real,” another coach added. “They can’t take the same kids that the majority of the A-10 is taking. Enrollment is only 3,000 students. It’s a highly-selective school.”
Outside of the handful of teams expected to compete for NCAA tournament spots next season, three jobs stood out to coaches in the league: UMass, Saint Joseph’s and Rhode Island.
UMass has impressive history, including a vacated Final Four run in 1996 and three Sweet 16 appearances in the 1990s under John Calipari. That hasn’t quite carried over since Calipari left, though. The Minutemen have been to just one NCAA tournament since 1998 and haven’t won double-digit conference games since 2015.
“I think it’s a big-time job,” one coach said. “They have all the resources you need to be able to win at a high level. Beautiful facilities, state of the art. They have one of the top dining programs in the country in terms of what they’re able to get their players, their nutrition program. The practice facility is beautiful, their weight room is beautiful. UMass can be potentially, resource-wise, right near the top. And I think you can recruit anywhere — if you can get guys up there.”
Saint Joseph’s has two main things going for it: Location and tradition. The Hawks have an Elite Eight appearance under their belt from 2004, when they went 16-0 in the league and earned a 1-seed, and went to the NCAA tournament seven times under Phil Martelli. The success has waned in recent years — Martelli was fired in 2019 after posting a winning record just once in his final five seasons, and new coach Billy Lange has gone 5-25 in the league the last two years.
“They made upgrades to the arena, they built a practice facility — but I don’t think they have the money backing them to have, like, a big-time strength coach or a big-time nutrition program,” one coach said.
“Their proximity to players is tremendous. It’s got such a great tradition. It is a good school. There’s a lot of good things there,” another coach said. “They probably don’t get the glitz award and the flash and all that stuff, but that’s a good place. Billy inherited, not by his doing, but by the way the administration handled [the Martelli] situation, he inherited a really, really tough situation. He can still be very successful too.”
Rhode Island went 16 years without an NCAA tournament appearance, then went to the second round in back-to-back years in Dan Hurley’s final two seasons at the helm. Hurley and successor David Cox have recruited effectively in the last decade, landing four four-star prospects and two ESPN 100 prospects.
“I think Rhode Island is built for success. It’s a great arena. There’s a significant commitment to winning,” one coach said. “There’s a good tradition there. I think that their [location] is good, not great, but they’re certainly in a place where they can easily recruit. And I think they’ve done a good job. They’ve got a really good mix of talent. They’ve brought in quite a few transfers over the last few years, but I think that’s a really good job, a really good sales pitch.”
Loyola Chicago’s emergence pushes it to top of MVC
A few years ago, Loyola Chicago wouldn’t have really been in the mix for the best job or recruiting pitch in the Missouri Valley. But the Ramblers have been the most successful program in the league over the last four seasons, making a Final Four run in 2018, winning a share of the league title in 2019 and then making the Sweet 16 this past season.
And as a result, they’ve risen up the ranks of the league pecking order.
“They’ve done a really good job reinvesting in the program. I don’t think they were putting that type of money into the program initially. They’re rewarding them,” one longtime Valley coach said. “And now they’ve got that Butler appeal. That Butler/Belmont-type deal. It’s not a huge college, but Loyola has never really had a huge fan base and following. They just opened a new practice facility. They’ve got their culture established. The city of Chicago is an easy sell, the academics are an easy sell, and now you’ve got that tradition. For our conference, I think it’s definitely at the top of the league academically. It has that prestige image from the outside looking in.”
Porter Moser built the recent run with an experienced core of players, but supplemented the veterans with a couple of freshmen and transfers. And despite the wins, Moser and his staff — including Drew Valentine, his longtime assistant who will succeed him after Moser left for Oklahoma — didn’t stray too far from what made the Ramblers a March darling.
“They’re recruiting a certain type of kid that fits their mold,” one coach said. “They’re bringing in more of the higher-academic type of kid. They’re being smart with it. Taking those kinds of culture kids. It will be interesting with Drew in there, if he keeps the same strategy going, or if he takes a different type of kid.”
While Loyola Chicago might be the best recruiting job in the league now, the Ramblers do have competition for that top spot. Illinois State likely would have been considered the best job before Loyola’s run and the Redbirds still have a lot to sell despite zero NCAA tournament appearances since 1998 and a last-place MVC finish last season.
“They have unbelievable facilities, an unbelievable campus. They put big-time money into it,” a longtime Valley coach said. “Great fan support. But they haven’t won enough to get to the NCAA tournament. That’s the one knock on them. They went 17-1 in conference play a few years back and that wasn’t good enough to get to the NCAA tournament. They have to get over that hump. That’s their obstacle. They get kids on campus, they get families there, and it sells itself. I think they have the biggest budget in the league, them and Loyola. They’re two hours from Chicago, two hours from St. Louis, two and a half hours from Indy. But they’re the big show in town.”
Northern Iowa has a stellar reputation within the league, winning at least one NCAA tournament game three times in the last 11 years and the Panthers seem to compete for a league title every three or four years. Bradley has good facilities and a fan base, and puts money into the program. The Braves are certainly in the top one or two tiers in the league, but the one school that is beginning to stand out to some coaches in the league is Missouri State.
“I think Missouri State might be better than Bradley,” one coach said. “I think they’re moving up the charts. Their facilities are probably the best in the league. Loyola’s facility only holds two or three thousand (capacity is just under 5,000), has that small college feel to it. Missouri State holds 10,000 people. It’s got a Jumbotron, it has boxes. It’s the best arena in the league.”
Ohio Valley: Belmont or Murray State?
Belmont and Murray State have formed a two-team hegemony atop the Ohio Valley Conference for most of the last decade, and despite the OVC’s overall power (22nd in KenPom last season), we’ve included the Bruins and Racers here because of the duo’s consistent national relevance. Belmont has won at least 20 games in all nine seasons it’s been in the league, while Murray has produced three NBA veterans: Isaiah Canaan, Cameron Payne and 2020 NBA Rookie of the Year Ja Morant.
Belmont’s advantages come from its facilities, academic reputation and location in Nashville.
“It’s a high-academic school, it has top-notch facilities and they just opened a brand-new practice facility,” one longtime Ohio Valley coach said. “They’re in the heart of downtown Nashville. It’s a pretty good sell. It’s better academically than the rest of the league, it’s not even close. The other thing that helps them financially, with them being a private school, they get a lot of money. They’re also one of two teams in our league that don’t have football. They don’t have that extra expense. Belmont spends far more than the rest of the league on basketball.”
Murray State has had a couple more down years than Belmont, but the Racers’ highs have included a 16-0 Ohio Valley record in 2015 and a win over Marquette in the 2019 NCAA tournament. They’ve also had a string of coaches rise up the ranks: Mark Gottfried, Mick Cronin, Billy Kennedy and Steve Prohm.
“It’s Murray, Kentucky. There’s nothing there except the school. If you want to be a basketball player, you literally go there and — there’s no clubs or anything like that, you just get in the gym and work on your game. That’s one thing that separates Murray,” an OVC assistant said. “The other thing is those guys are celebrities in town. If a kid is going on a visit there, those guys will tweet at them, they see them on campus. I’ve recruited against them. People are going to come up to you in town, talk to you, act like they know you. But they’ve also done a hell of a job evaluating those three kids (Canaan, Payne, Morant).”
In a league that has quietly produced a long list of NBA players — 12 in the last 10 years — Belmont and Murray State are clearly atop the league from a recruiting perspective. But which one is better? Well, it’s hard.
“It’s different. It’s a different demographic,” one coach said. “They’re not going against each other for kids. Belmont is going to win on a high-academic kid. I don’t know if they really ever compete for the same kids. I’ve never gone against Belmont for a kid. Most of the league hasn’t.”