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A school of thought starts circulating that this is the time of the season that college basketball teams that took summer trips begin running on fumes.

The response of several Missouri Valley Conference coaches: "Oh, really?"

Creighton was one of the five Valley schools that took a foreign excursion, which the NCAA allows once every four seasons. The Bluejays played four games in the Bahamas and had 10 days of practice to precede their departure.

Two players — Doug McDermott and Gregory Echenique — also had busy summers competing for national teams. McDermott spent about a month with the U.S. under-19 squad, while Echenique was gone almost two months while playing with Venezuela in an Olympic qualifying tournament.

"Those two guys probably concerned me a little bit more than the team in general," Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. "We played four days and we had 10 practices, but it's not very taxing.

"The reality of it is that it's more relaxing than taxing. I think the positives of that trip far outweigh any negatives, and I haven't seen any signs of fatigue with our group."

Drake played four games in Australia in August, returning about two weeks before the start of school.

"We were really careful with how we treated that trip, and we made sure that there was plenty of fun time on the trip," Drake coach Mark Phelps said. "Then, we didn't do as much in the fall, as far as your allowable eight hours per week, on the heels of the trip.

"I don't think it's had an effect, but it's a good question. That just puts another worried thought in my mind."

Mono sidelines Simons

Phelps' main worry right now is how his Bulldogs will play without Ben Simons, who is out indefinitely with mononucleosis. Simons, the Valley's sixth-leading scorer with a 16.1 average, missed last Saturday's game against Missouri State.

The Bears hammered Drake 57-39.

Phelps said it's uncertain his 6-foot-8 junior forward will return.

"With mono, the main concern is with the spleen," Phelps said. "He's getting checked to make sure the spleen is shrinking back to the size, and he's making progress. But, shoot, we had a young man who had mono earlier in the fall, and he was out for months.

"It's one of those viruses that can have different effects on different guys. Ben's doing everything he can do right now. It's a big loss but a lot of teams have losses like this and you just have to have other guys step up."

Players of the week

Overall: Wichita State center Garrett Stutz. The senior from Kansas City, Mo., averaged 24.5 points and 13.0 rebounds in the Shockers' two wins. He had double-doubles in both games, boosting his season's total to nine.

Newcomer: Northern Iowa forward Seth Tuttle. The freshman from Sheffield, Iowa, averaged 11.0 points and 6.0 rebounds and shot 66.7 percent in helping the Panthers win two games. Tuttle leads the Valley in field-goal percentage (.659).

Stat of the week

Creighton (8), Missouri State (8) and Wichita State (7) have posted at least seven true road wins this season. The only teams from the six power conferences with six or more road wins to start this week were Baylor (7) and Syracuse (6).

Quote of the week

"I think the league is as good as in 2007, but we're definitely not at the point we were in '06, when we got four teams in and two made the Sweet Sixteen." — Southern Illinois coach Chris Lowery, on how this season's Valley compares to its last two big seasons.

— Steven Pivovar

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