How deep is their Valley?

Hello! It’s Day 2 of the Field of 68’s media day week, or, as you might call it, Tuesday. The Atlantic 10 gets the star treatment today, from 9 am - Noon ET.

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Today’s Field of 68 Daily is written by Mike Miller. Follow him on X.com/Twitter @mikemillerf68.

1. Nothing’s easy in the Missouri Valley race

Where does one begin when you’re got more than three hours of interviews?

You start at the top.

Illinois State returned five of its top seven players from a 22-14 squad that also won the CBI, which includes All-League big man Chase Walker (15.2 ppg, 6.2 rpg). So it’s not surprising that the Redbirds were tabbed as the preseason pick to win the league.

Still, coach Ryan Pedon knows it’s not that simple.

“We got to put it together,” he said Monday during the Field of 68’s MVC preview show. “You wipe the slate clean. We have a lot of work ahead of us here just like anybody else. I realize we’re a trendy team right now because we have guys returning, but the reality is, there’s a lot of good teams in our league.”

Northern Iowa, Murray State, Bradley and Belmont rounded out the top five for the predicted finish.

Rob Dauster and Jeff Goodman spoke to every coach on Monday. You can watch every interview below, or scroll down to some quick takeaways.

• Belmont guard Tyler Lundblade, a former walk-on at TCU, shot an absurd 47% from deep last season. That also includes a 68.1% eFG%, a 70.9 TS% and a 131.5 ORtg. That all means coach Casey Alexander knows he can feed Lundblade the ball. “HIs confidence is at an all-time high.”

• Leon Bond and R.J. Taylor are expected to be the first players off the bench for Northern Iowa. But they’re still taking it slow from injuries suffered last season. Coach Ben Jacobsen said both could play right away if needed, but they’re not rushing either guy.

• Same goes for Drake guard Owen Larson. He tore his ACL late last season and may not be ready for the start of the season.

• Bradley coach Brian Wardle ended his Marquette career as the program’s third all-time leading scorer, and was once D-I’s youngest head coach. He’s got a young roster with a couple of veteran players. But the best thing he shared on Monday? This story about crashing his wife’s car on his way to an NBA workout with Dwyane Wade.

• Indiana State could lead the MVC in scoring with a team filled with graduate transfers and former D-II star Xavier Hall. “They are a fun bunch to coach and I’m looking forward to a great year two ahead,” said coach Matthew Graves.

• Murray State has an entirely new roster this season: 10 transfers and five freshmen. That includes two Creighton transfers, Fred King and Mason Miller, who new coach Ryan Miller knew from his time at Creighton. That’s a key aspect. “It created that foundation,” he said. “We’ve got great size, great versatility and can go very deep, too.”

• Valparaiso coach Roger Powell had to rebuild a roster with 11 new players this season. If his squad somehow wins the autobid, he’s pulling out a Michael Jackson impersonation to celebrate.

• Finally, MVC commissioner Jeff Jackson is in favor of NCAA Tournament expansion. “Does anybody think that if Drake didn’t win our tournament that they didn’t deserve a place in the [NCAA] field? And I’m not saying that they would not have been able to get into the first 68, but I certainly would go to bed at night feeling a lot more comfortable if there were eight more slots.”

2. Arizona isn’t your usual Big 12 contender

Tommy Lloyd’s won 77% of his games through four seasons at Arizona primarily because of talent, depth and experience. We’ll see if two of those three are good enough for another strong season.

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