NAIA League Breakdown: River States Conference

The River States Conference is a 13 team NAIA DII Conference that has teams from Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The River States Conference was formerly named the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, which was the oldest conference in the NAIA, before changing the name to Rivers States Conference in 2016.

2018-2019 Standings

The River States Conference was once again, a very tough league that also proved itself on the national stage. While only 3 teams (IU East, IU Kokomo, WVU Tech) qualified for the NAIA DII National Tournament, they made the best of the opportunity as all three won their first round match and moving on to the NAIA DII Sweet 16. IU East was able to pull off a second win, before falling in the NAIA DII Quarterfinals to the eventual 2019 NAIA DII National Champions Spring Arbor.

Top Players Returning

HM All-Americans

TREQUAN SPIVEY
School: IU Kokomo
Class: JR
Position: G

BISHOP SMITH
School: IU East
Class: SR
Position: G

KAYODE DABOIKU
School: Brescia
Class: SR
Position: F

Key Players Lost

1st Team All-American, River States Player of the Year

ELISAH BOONE
School: WVU Tech

Position: G

2nd Team All-American

TRENTON THOMPSON
School: Asbury
Position: F

3rd Team All-American

JAMIE JOHNSON
School: IU SOUTHEAST
Position: G

BLAKE WALSMAN
School: Cincinnati Christian
Position: F

BRANDON SHINGLES
School: WVU Tech
Position: G

New Coaches

James Long is the new Head Coach at WVU- Tech. Coach Long comes to WVU-Tech after being a staffer on the West Virginia University coaching staff in 2018-2019. He was also a player for the Mountaineers.

Joshua Lester was just announced as the new Head Coach at Cincinnati Christian University. He started the year off as the Assistant Coach, before being named to Head Coach in early September.