ST. LOUIS – For the third straight season, Wichita State has been selected as the men’s basketball preseason favorite to win the Missouri Valley Conference, the league announced Tuesday as part of its annual media day festivities here.
The two-time defending MVC champions earned 42 of 43 possible first-place votes and 429 total points in the poll, as determined by league coaches, broadcasters, beat writers and communications personnel. Evansville collected 350 points to earn the No. 2 spot, followed by Northern Iowa with 336, Illinois State with 323 and Loyola with 267. Loyola received the only other first-place vote.
The second five in the poll include Indiana State in the No. 6 spot with 218 points, followed by Drake (165), Missouri State (127), Southern Illinois (101) and Bradley (49).
Paul Lusk’s Bears return five starters from last season, but have a solid crop of five newcomers that the fifth-year head coach says will make the upcoming season a fun one for his staff and for Missouri State fans.
“The league poll doesn’t matter at this point,” Lusk said. “We were picked third last year, and Loyola was picked 10th, so you never know how it’s going to play out. I do know that this (MSU team) is going to be a good group, and they’re going to work very hard.”
In addition to returning senior starters Dorrian Williams, Camyn Boone and Loomis Gerring, the Bears also bring back sophomore Chris Kendrix and junior Austin Ruder. Kendrix and Ruder combined to lead MSU in scoring each of the last five games of the 2014-15 season, in which MSU went 2-2 to close out the regular season.
Missouri State opens the 2015-16 season on Saturday, Nov. 7 against William Jewell in a 2 p.m. exhibition game at JQH Arena. The regular-season opener for the Bears is Nov. 13 at Oral Roberts. Season ticket information is available by calling (417) 836-8899, while single-game tickets are on sale by calling (417) 836-7678 during regular box office hours. Ticket details are also available by visiting MissouriStateBears.com/tickets.
The MVC preseason all-conference team was also announced Tuesday with Wichita State’s Fred VanVleet, the preseason player of the year, joining teammate Ron Baker on the five-person team along with the Evansville tandem of D.J. Balentine and Egidijus Mockevicius and Illinois State senior DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell.
— MSU Athletics —