MVC Power Poll (Preseason Poll)

[SaintLouBrave22]

I will be running the MVC Power Poll again with opinionated insight.

If anyone wants to help with some write ups after we get started just let me know.

I figure I will send the poll out so everyone can start voting on Monday (9th) and end it on Friday the 13th.

I will try to send out most new polls on Saturdays after the final game and the preseason poll is the only poll that will be open that long. I would like the poll to open Saturdays and be closed by Monday mornings. The write ups and poll results will then be posted to the site on Tuesday.

As always, it is anonymous so I will be taking them as PM's in my inbox.

Finally, it will be setup just as last years in case you didn't participate.

1st place - 10 pts
2nd place - 9 pts
3rd place - 8 pts
4th place - 7 pts
5th place - 6 pts
6th place - 5 pts
7th place - 4 pts
8th place - 3 pts
9th place - 2 pts
10th place - 1 pt


The more people that participate the better.

[SaintLouBrave22]

Ex of Poll from 08-09 season

If this helps, here is an example of one of my write-ups from last season:


1) ISU (1) -87-
Illinois State on top yet again and earns a home victory against more poor competition. Is the Valley conference season upon us yet? Otherwise, we may never know quite how good this team really is. You would certainly like to feel they have more depth, but outside of Sampay coming off the bench, they had 4 players combine for 27 minutes in a comfortable win against Bowling Green on Saturday. The real question being, what will Coach Jankovich do when they have to go to the bench and it becomes unfamiliar from their current rotation which plays all of their starters close to or above 30 minutes per game. There are certain character flaws for a team that starts and plays the majority of the game with 4 guards, however, this team in particular rebounds the basketball really well considering they probably have certain matchup problems on a nightly basis. If ISU has any test on the way to their first conference game at Missouri State, it won't be until December 20th when they face Illinois-Chicago.

My weekly MOP- Lloyd Phillips (16 pts, 6 rb, 5 a)

2) Creighton (2) -79-
The Bluejays finally return P. Allen Stinnett to the lineup at the end of the past week and go 2-0 including a victory on the road at St. Joseph's 69-58. That story would receive more press, however, St. Joe's is having a down year and this was already their 4th loss in 7 games, although Creighton certainly not being their best loss (Texas). The common denominator in these victories? The lights out shooting of guard Booker Woodfox who went 10-14 from 3 for the week capping it off with a 29 point performance Saturday night against the Hawks. Creighton has a tough home game Wednesday night as they face the 8-0 Dayton Flyers who have wins over Marquette and at Akron. This will be the toughest task at hand for the Jays until the 3rd of January when they play their 3rd conference game which is on the road at Illinois State.

Weekly MOP - Booker Woodfox (21.5 ppg; 4.0 rpg)

3) Evansville (5) -53-
Evansville goes 2-0 during the week with victories in convincing fashion at home against SIUE and Ball State. Of the things I have noticed about this team this year, Evansville is going to be extremely tough to beat at home, and I expect only 1 or 2 teams to accomplish that feat. The week started out with a solid 31 point victory over the SIUE Cougars and ended with a 10 point win over Ball State, which also was not a close game the entire way. A common theme was Evansville's ability to get to the bucket and get to the line, shooting 67 free throws in the 2 contests. Evansville's schedule tightens up December 18th with a trip to #1 North Carolina. If they can keep the score under 30, I expect good things from this team in the future. A final note to mention was Shy Ely pulling down a career best 14 rebounds in the win over SIUE and for that, he gets my MOP of the week.

MOP - Shy Ely (13.5 ppg; 9.0 rpg; 3.0 apg)

4) Drake (9) -52-
Whether you hate the Drake or love the Drake, you know one thing, they are always going to be a tough out. They didn't face much competition and received a scare mid week from Texas Pan Am, but they prevailed and ended the week 3-0 and have put together a nice win streak before their Tuesday contest @ Iowa State. The Bulldogs were led by Josh Parker whose sweet shot led him to 52 points in 3 games off the bench and Drake to not rely on Josh Young so much. Drake has 2 semi-difficult tasks this week, but their big game comes right before Valley season tips-off as they play in-state rival Iowa on December 20th.

MOP - Josh Parker (17.3 ppg; 12-18 3pt FG)

5) MSU (6) -48-
After reflecting on the 2 Missouri State wins this week, I notice the mentality of defense first being instilled in the players from new coach Cuonzo Martin who comes from the Gene Keady/Matt Painter style of coaching. The Bears allowed 37 and 47 points in their two wins while holding both teams to under 35% shooting. The Bears travel to Tulsa on the 10th and then don't have another real test until the Valley opener at home against Illinois State.

MOP - Chris Cooks (11.5 ppg; 6 rpg; 4.5 apg)

6) Bradley (3) -47-
Well, since there were no games to talk about for Bradley as they had a week off, I guess we can just discuss how tough the week ahead is facing Michigan State on the road and then coming home to face undefeated Butler, who just so happens to have one of the best Freshman in the Midwest in 6-3 guard Shelvin Mack. The real test will be stopping big man Matt Howard who is leading the team in rebounding and has pulled down at least 5 boars in each of the games so far this season. Its hard to look ahead, but Bradley opens the conference season at home against SIU.

7) SIU (4) -30-
The Salukis continue to fall in the standings after a decisive win vs Saint Louis, but an equally decisive loss at home vs Charlotte. Yes it was only a 2 point loss, but the reason it is so decisive is because in years past, SIU would never lose these types of games, let alone lose them at home. The Salukis are once again having problems scoring the basketball and Coach Lowery has went to multiple different lineups to try and figure out what the problems may be, even inserting Ryan Hare and Torres Roundtree into his new revamped starting lineup. As noted, it worked with mixed results and there is a great likelyhood that SIU goes into its 1st conference game at 5-6 against Bradley.

MOP - Carlton Fay (14.5 ppg; 6 rpg)

8 ) WSU (7) -29-
I question that if Gregg Marshall believed it was going to be this hard at Wichita State so far, he may not have even agreed to the position. Then again, how was he really to know that Turgeon was planning on leaving for over 2 years and left the cupboard pretty bare. It certainly didn't help matters when Sean Ogirri and Wendell Preadom decided to transfer out, or when Gal Mekel decided to go back overseas after last season. That being said, at this point I would say he's doing a pretty good job with what he has. The Shockers lost two more tough single digit games the past week to Texas Tech and Texas Christian. The question that remains is whether they are playing better teams close because they are good or its just something of a coincidence? The Shockers will start the Valley season rough playing both Creighton on the road and Bradley at home, but if they can steal one from either Bradley or by going on the road in game 3 at UNI, look out. It also needs to be stated that w/o Clevin Hannah or A.J. Hawkins, who are both new players, the Shox would not have been in those games.

MOP- A.J. Hawkins (15 ppg; 2 spg)

9) UNI (7) -25-
The UNI Panthers. It has become very clear that they are going to win the games they are supposed to win and lose the game they are supposed to lose. According to my math, that would more than likely leave them playing on Thursday night in St. Louis come March, which makes sense that they are slated for the 9-slot this week. The team has not been terribly bad to watch, but they also haven't exactly impressed anyone either. It is what it is for the Panthers, and unfortunately it is starting to look as though they made the wrong decision handing the job over to Ben Jacobsen. While the playbook from the Mac era is all there, the players are not. Either through suspensions, defections, injuries, or poor recruiting, its certain there is something wrong in Cedar Falls, where everything was supposed to get better now that they have a new arena. I guess plans don't always work out the way they should.

MOP - Kwadzo Ahelegbe (17.5 ppg; 4.5 rpg; 3.5 apg)

10) In St (10) -0-
The Sycamores...When did the program get so bad? I could sit here and discuss the ins and outs of the program and the games this past week and where they're headed, but I'm not going to. Surprisingly, by the time this will come out, they have finally won their first game. Do I think that will earn them any points next week? No, not really. This team will most likely gauge how the conference does during the conference season. You may ask me, how would the worst team in the conference be able to do such a thing? Well, my point is this: If Indiana State wins more than 5 games during the conference season, then the conference is really down...simple as that. For lack of a better option or any option really, this is your MOP for the week for InSU

MOP - Jay Tunnell (12.5 ppg; 6 rpg)

[SFP]

It's funny that no one would have laughed at the ranking early on!

[SaintLouBrave22]

It's funny that no one would have laughed at the ranking early on!

Well, Evansville and Drake were playing well at that point as well as playing cupcakes and UNI hadn't yet put anything of note together...


Apparently I wasn't very good at predicting things, but then again, neither were the so-called "experts"

[amckillip]

Well, Evansville and Drake were playing well at that point as well as playing cupcakes and UNI hadn't yet put anything of note together...


Apparently I wasn't very good at predicting things, but then again, neither were the so-called "experts"

And the rankings was a compiling of OUR votes, so no one can blame you. I thought your write up will always pretty spot-on.

[SaintLouBrave22]

And the rankings was a compiling of OUR votes, so no one can blame you. I thought your write up will always pretty spot-on.

Well, I thought ISU, Creighton, Bradley, SIU, and Wichita St. were pretty spot on...and you can even attribute what they did late in the year to some things in my column.

[Braves4Life]

Can I just put in a standing first place vote for Bradley?

[SaintLouBrave22]

Time to start the preseason voting

OK...


Everyone can start sending me PM's for their Preseason Power Poll.


I will take votes up to Friday morning, but would like to get it going ASAP so that we can vote week 1 a week from today.


So send me a PM and by next Monday I'll try and get DC to sticky the poll so everyone will have a good idea what the voice of Bradleyfans is on the Valley.

[SaintLouBrave22]

3 voters so far including mine...


Everyone make sure to vote.

[SaintLouBrave22]

Once again, if you would like to participate, and I hope you do, even ISU, Wichita, Creighton, SIU, and Indiana St fans that frequent the board are welcome, the Preseason Poll voting is underway and you can PM me with your selections.


If you don't know how to PM, I'm sure DC or Tornado can direct you in how to do so.

Currently there are 7 votes in. I would like there to be many more and maybe see some more intriguing variety of what people think so far.



Thanks!

[SaintLouBrave22]

Thank you everyone for participating. There are now 14 entries.


I am fairly certain there are more than 14 regular posters on this site though.


I have yet to receive from some of the "bigger" names on the site...

Ahem, T, BB, MM, Big Mike, SFP, dogs, fish, real fan...among others

[thefish7]

Hey! I sent you mine at like 9 PM last night. Unless there's another fish around here somewhere...

[SaintLouBrave22]

Hey! I sent you mine at like 9 PM last night. Unless there's another fish around here somewhere...

Ok yeah i got it....


But the rest of them still aren't off the hook

[SaintLouBrave22]

Only a couple more mornings to get your votes in for the preseason poll.

[shaunguth]

Thank you everyone for participating. There are now 14 entries.


I am fairly certain there are more than 14 regular posters on this site though.


I have yet to receive from some of the "bigger" names on the site...

Ahem, T, BB, MM, Big Mike, SFP, dogs, fish, real fan...among others

Sent......even though I didn't make your list.