Coach Matthew Graves and his Indiana State men's basketball team are amid summer workouts, preparing for an upcoming schedule in a Missouri Valley Conference with markedly changing personnel.
The MVC's evolution includes rival school Belmont losing coach Casey Alexander to Kansas State and star player Drew Scharnowski to Duke. Evan Bradds is the new head coach at Belmont.
Also, Valparaiso and Murray State continue to load up among others as the member schools have finalized their rosters.
"I'm not sure what the other teams look like, I haven't had a chance to see what other teams' rosters are," Graves said. "I'll actually do that at some point in July when I have a little bit of downtime, but right now just being focused on our team."
He said he's really excited about the team's potential and room for improvement. Graves said he thinks that's something the team hasn't had in the last two years.
"This team has a very high ceiling," Graves stated. "Lot of young kids, especially our bigs."
Graves said the team's bigs are young and that it'll take some time, but that they continue to work hard and develop. He said they'll make leaps and bounds throughout the season because freshmen bigs it can take a while to come along.
Aleksa Vlajic (1.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg in two games with Buffalo last season after 13.7 points per game and 8.5 rebounds per game overseas over two seasons) was the only big on campus to start summer practice last week as Alessio Calamita (8.7 ppg, 7.3 rpg) was dealing with Visa issues, but Graves said the team hoped to have him on campus this week and was looking forward to that. Graves said Vlajic is doing well.
"He's fitting in, he brings great energy and I'm excited to have him, he really shoots the ball at a high level," Graves said.
He's excited about the guards as well saying he thinks they're really good in that respect.
"Karmani Gregory is going to be a really good player for us," Graves said of the guard who averaged 15.6 points and 2.2 rebounds per game at USC Upstate last season.
He said there's a lot of really good competition at the other guard spots as well. Graves noted it'll be a fun battle to see who wins the minutes throughout the summer.
As far as other guards go, Graves said 6-foot-4 E.J. McQuillan (19.4 ppg, 4 rpg) brings a lot experience and has done a great job acclimating to how the Sycamores want to play.
"McGuire Mitchell [6-5, 11.8 ppg, 2.3 rpg] has really shot the ball well, I think Chance [Puryear] [6-7, 0.3 ppg, 0.4 rpg], our transfer from SMU, has given us great size and versatility, Duce [Paschal] [6-5, 3.7 ppg, 2.5 rpg] from Weber State is probably our best perimeter defender at this point," Graves said. "A lot of guys have made different contributions, but it'll be fun to see how they all sort themselves out."
The 6-4 Martin Kaupanger, the team's lone returnee, was an unofficial redshirt freshman last season. Graves said it's been great having Kaupanger back as he understands what the coaching staff is trying to do and how they play.
"But at the same time, he's young as well and he's continuing to grow and develop and get better," Graves added. "He's going to be fighting for minutes just like everybody else in the mix, but certainly excited and glad to have him back for year two."
As far as any challenges go, Graves said it's just getting guys on the same page. He explained there's a lot to learn with 14 new guys on the roster.
"That's been the most challenging up to this point because you have no one with corporate knowledge coming in except Martin and when you teach 4-on-0 drill or 5-on-0 drill, you have guys out there that have no idea what we're trying to get accomplished, so it just takes time and that's been the biggest challenge," Graves said.
Graves is most excited for the potential with this season's team. He emphasized the ceiling this team has and said they're just scratching the surface this summer.
"What I'm really excited about is when we finish up the summer, to see the growth that I think is going to take place in two months," Graves said.
The players have to return home for a couple of weeks in August, Graves mentioned but that he'll be really excited to get them back on campus and have a great season.
Transfer portal players include seniors Greyson Pritzl (6-4, 13.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg), Meechie White (6-1, 10.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg) and Jackson Cooper (6-7, 17.7 ppg, 7.7 rpg). Incoming freshmen include 6-10 forward Kingston Land, 6-7 guard EJ Hazelett, 6-9 forward Kade Speckman and 6-2 guard Ian Thomas.
Last season's Sycamore squad finished 11-21 overall and 4-16 in Missouri Valley Conference play. The Sycamores were eliminated in the first round of the MVC's Arch Madness tournament in St. Louis' Enterprise Center 63-62 by Valparaiso.
