ST. LOUIS – The Missouri State Bears picked up 30 of a possible 40 first-place votes and were announced as the preseason favorite to win the Missouri Valley Conference men’s basketball title this season, according the league’s preseason poll of coaches, media and communications professionals released here Tuesday (Oct. 24).
It marks the first time since joining the MVC in 1990-91 the Bears have been picked to win The Valley title. The Bears received 381 points in the poll just ahead of UNI (337) which also picked up eight first-place votes, Loyola (321) with one first-place vote, and defending champion Illinois State (256) which was picked fourth and snagged the final first-place vote.
Rounding out the poll were Southern Illinois (226), Valparaiso (214), Bradley (182), Indiana State (116), Evansville (88) and Drake (79) in the 10-team league.
Likewise, MSU senior forward Alize Johnson (Williamsport, Pa.), the only returning first-team All-MVC selection from last season, has been named as the MVC Preseason Player of the Year.
Johnson is the first MSU player since Kyle Weems in 2011-12 to earn the preseason honor. He is one of six preseason first-team picks, along with Loyola’s tandem of Donte Ingram and Aundre Jackson, Indiana State’s Brenton Scott, Northern Iowa’s Bennett Koch and Drake’s Reed Timmer.
Johnson was the 2017 Newcomer of the Year in the Missouri Valley Conference and attended a pre-draft workout with the Boston Celtics in April. In 2016-17, Johnson also earned All-MVC first-team and NABC All-District honors while being named to the MVC All-Tournament Team. He was a two-time Valley Player of the Week and six-time Valley Newcomer of the Week in his first campaign in Springfield.
He led the conference in rebounding at 10.6 per game last season, which ranked 11th nationally. He also led MSU in scoring at 14.8 points per game while producing 17 double-doubles -– the 15th-most in the nation — and 21 double-figure rebounding games. He also finished with the second-highest season rebounding total of Missouri State’s Division I era (351) while converting 48.8 percent of his field goals and 39 percent of his 3-point attempts.
Last week, Johnson was announced as one of 20 nominees for the 2018 Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award.
The Bears return four starters for coach Paul Lusk’s seventh season at the helm. His club is coming off a 17-win campaign that included a run to the MVC Tournament semifinals last March.
The Bears will conduct a free, public scrimmage this Saturday at 10 a.m. before hosting Southwest Baptist at JQH Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. in their only remaining preseason exhibition game. MSU opens the regular season on Friday, Nov. 10 at Western Kentucky before its home opener on November 15 against Southern University.
— MSU Athletics —