Top 10 local players thrive in Missouri Valley Conference

With 16 Division I commitments and signings in the book in Illinois, there are bound to be a steal or two among those.

The best bets in the Class of 2021: DePaul Prep’s TY Johnson to Loyola and Notre Dame’s Troy D’Amico to Southern Illinois.

Johnson is a 6-3 guard with an aggressive scoring mentality and who can score from all three levels. He’s a scorer who can play both guard spots with his creativity, length and underrated athleticism.

Known for his hard-nosed, blue-collar approach, D’Amico showcased an improved and versatile skill set for a 6-7 forward over the past year. The competitive D’Amico scores around the rim, handle it as a point-forward and knock down a perimeter jumper.

Both are City/Suburban Hoops Report top 10 prospects, and it’s simply not the norm for top 10 prospects to land at Missouri Valley Conference schools. In fact, it’s quite rare. The math spells that out clearly.

Since 2008 there have been a total of 11 prospects from Illinois in the City/Suburban Hoops Report’s top 10 rankings who signed with Missouri Valley Conference schools. That’s a 13-year stretch with a possible 130 top 10 prospects available and only 11 top 10 prospects signing with a Valley school.

So there is plenty of positive proof and history on the side of a top 10 player signing with a Valley school and success following. The percentages say that virtually every top 10 player will thrive.

While the most recent top 10 prospects still need their careers to fully play out, nearly all of the others became stars and, it could be argued, performed and played better than the mid-major level they were recruited at and signed with.

Here is a list of those prospects over the past decade –– those who were top 10 City/Suburban Hoops Report prospects –– who signed with Missouri Valley Conference schools out of high school. There wasn’t a single bust among them.

Class of 2008

Kevin Dillard, Homewood-Flossmoor (Southern Illinois)
Ranking: No. 3

The Sun-Times Player of the Year was the Hoops Report’s No. 3 ranked prospect, behind Oak Park’s Iman Shumpert and Farragut’s Mike Dunnigan, so SIU snagging the H-F star was a big deal over a decade ago.

Dillard was the MVC Freshman of the Year. He averaged 12.3 points and 4.6 assists a game in two seasons in Carbondale before transferring to Dayton. Following the transfer, the 5-11 guard starred with the Flyers, averaging 18.5 points a game as a senior there.

Class of 2009

No Missouri Valley Conference signings

Class of 2010

Rayvonte Rice, Champaign Centennial (Drake)
Ranking:No. 9

The big, strong guard was an instant star at Drake. As a freshman he put up 13.8 points and 4.8 rebounds a game and then averaged 16.8 points and 5.8 rebounds as sophomore. He transferred to Illinois for his final two years and put up outstanding numbers in the Big Ten as well.

Class of 2011

No Missouri Valley Conference signings

Class of 2012

Fred Van Vleet, Rockford Auburn (Wichita State)
Ranking:No. 3

At the time Wichita State was still in the Missouri Valley Conference. Van Vleet, a NBA champ with the Toronto Raptors who just signed a four year, $85 million contract, was a two-time MVC Player of the Year and All-American. The point guard led the Shockers to a Final Four and scored 1,439 career points.

Milton Doyle, Marshall (Loyola)
Ranking:No. 4

He hit the ground running as a freshman, averaging 14.9 points a game, and never let up. As a senior he put up 15.2 points, five rebounds, 4.4 assists and nearly two steals a game while earning First Team All-Missouri Valley Conference recognition. The wiry and athletic 6-4 Doyle finished his career with 1,606 points –– eighth in school history.

Anthony Beane, Normal (Southern Illinois)
Ranking:No. 6

The athletic guard put up some big numbers with 1,917 career points, which is third most in SIU basketball history. He finished with a career average of 17.9 points a game. Beane made the All-MVC Freshman team, a second-team choice twice and first-team All-MVC selection as a senior.

Class of 2013

No Missouri Valley Conference signings

Class of 2014

Josh Cunningham, Morgan Park (Bradley)
Ranking:No. 9

He played just one season at Bradley, starting 32 games while being named to the league’s All-Freshman Team. He averaged 7.9 points and led the team in rebounds with 7.5 a game. But after just one season he transferred to Dayton where he was a two-year starter who put up 15.6 points and 13.3 points a game as a junior and senior, respectively.

Class of 2015

No Missouri Valley Conference signings

Class of 2016

No Missouri Valley Conference signings

Class of 2017

Cameron Krutwig, Jacobs (Loyola)
Ranking:No. 9

Currently a senior at Loyola, Krutwig was a key piece in Loyola’s Final Four run as a freshman. He’s already scored 1,384 points and pulled down 737 rebounds in his career with a season to play. He’s also a 5-man who has dished out a whopping 282 assists as one of the best passing big men in the country.

Krutwig is a two-time All-Missouri Valley Conference pick and a regular Player of the Year candidate.

Class of 2018

Javon Freeman-Liberty, Young (Valparaiso)
Ranking:No. 6

As a freshman he was the first player since 2011 in the Missouri Valley Conference to be named to the All-Freshman and All-Defensive Teams in the same season. He added All-Missouri Valley Conference First Team honors as a sophomore as he averaged 19 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.2 steals a game.

In just two seasons at Valpo, the 6-4 guard scored 992 points before transferring to DePaul last May.

Class of 2019

Marquise Kennedy, Brother Rice (Loyola)
Ranking:No. 3

Had made a big impression already in one season, averaging 9.2 points a game as a freshman. He was named the Missouri Valley Conferences’s Sixth Man of the Year and to the MVC All-Freshman Team.

Donovan Clay, Alton (Valparaiso)
Ranking:No. 6

A sleeper who shined as a freshman with 9.4 points and 4.6 rebounds a game while leading the team in blocks with 36. Named to the MVC All-Freshman Team a year ago and was a preseason All-MVC Second Team choice heading into this season.

Tom Welch, Naperville North (Loyola)
Ranking: No. 7

Played some minutes off the bench as a freshman as he waits for his role to expand for a loaded Ramblers team.