Official MVC Preseason Poll

[shaunguth]

http://www.mvc-sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=7600&ATCLID=1286125

1. Southern Illinois (39)
2. Bradley
3. Missouri State
4. Creighton
5. Illinois State
6. Wichita State
7. Northern Iowa
8. Indiana State
9. Drake
10. Evansville

2007-08 MVC Preseason All-Conference Team
Name, School, Pos., Ht., Wt., Year, Hometown, High School
Eric Coleman, UNI, C, 6-6, 240, Sr., Maplewood (Minn.) Tartan High
PJ Couisnard, Wichita State, G/F, 6-4, 216, Sr., Houston (Texas) Yates High
Randal Falker, Southern Illinois, F, 6-7, 230, Sr., St. Louis (Mo.) Gateway Tech
Deven Mitchell, Missouri State, F, 6-5, 210, Sr., Springfield (Mo.) Kickapoo High
Daniel Ruffin, Bradley, G, 5-10, 162, Sr., Peoria (Ill.) Central High
Honorable Mention: Jeremy Crouch, Bradley; Levi Dyer & Osiris Eldridge, Illinois State; Bryan Mullins & Matt Shaw, Southern Illinois

Preseason Player of the Year -- Randal Falker, Southern Illinois

[tornado]

Here is an interesting confession in the story that goes with the poll...

"Pollsters have accurately predicted the league’s regular-season champ
only 10 times out of 23 since 1985-86"


"Bradley, picked second in this year’s poll, is gunning for a third-straight post-season trip
and boasts the league’s top two returning scorers (Crouch, Ruffin). It’s not known whether
the league has ever had teammates who were the top-two returning scorers, but it hasn’t
happened since 1975-76 (records prior to that are not complete)."

http://www.mvc-sports.com/pdf3/91987.pdf?ATCLID=1286125&SPID=2901&DB_OEM_ID=7600&SPSID=36371

[BUBraves2006]

Isn't it nice to not have Royce Waltman voting in the poll anymore?

[tornado]

Ha...you are referring of course to 2005-2006 when Indiana State was picked by everyone else to finish 8th in the league although they had ONE 1st place vote on media day!
Royce Waltman admitted publicly that he had given his own team that 1st place vote, and a review of the prior years had shown that never in the history of the MVC polls had a team any lower than 6th even gotten a single first place vote.

Oddly, that season, Indiana State charged right out and won their first eight games, and rose all the way to the #1 spot in the RPI rankings. At that point (8-0), Royce even made a few comments about how he was smarter than everyone else.

But alas, the Sycamores lost their next 11 games, and ended the season 13-16 and in a 9th tie (in other words, tied for last place) in the Valley with a league record of 4-14, thus proving in the end, he wasn't smart at all!!

[DannyCooksey]

Ha...you are referring of course to 2005-2006 when Indiana State was picked by everyone else to finish 8th in the league although they had ONE 1st place vote on media day!
Royce Waltman admitted publicly that he had given his own team that 1st place vote, and a review of the prior years had shown that never in the history of the MVC polls had a team any lower than 6th even gotten a single first place vote.

Oddly, that season, Indiana State charged right out and won their first eight games, and rose all the way to the #1 spot in the RPI rankings. At that point (8-0), Royce even made a few comments about how he was smarter than everyone else.

But alas, the Sycamores lost their next 11 games, and ended the season 13-16 and in a 9th tie (in other words, tied for last place) in the Valley with a league record of 4-14, thus proving in the end, he wasn't smart at all!!

He was as smart as David Moss was healthy. Before he got hurt that season, his prediction was right on. They did beat Indiana that season as well as they ended SIU's Valley home court winning streak. The Moss injury killed them.

[MacabreMob]

Jerry Palm is blogging from the MVC Media Day:

http://slog.cstv.com/hangtime/mvc/

[Da Coach]

I loved this quote from one of Jerry Palm's blogs from the MVC Media Day--

Keno Davis, the son of Dr. Tom Davis, took over for his dad at Drake. He is the most talkative guy in the bunch, but I'm a little concerned for his team. He mentioned their "work ethic," which, if you look up the translation in the Coach-English Dictionary, means "no talent."

[bigdaddystuck]

I loved this quote from one of Jerry Palm's blogs from the MVC Media Day--

Keno Davis, the son of Dr. Tom Davis, took over for his dad at Drake. He is the most talkative guy in the bunch, but I'm a little concerned for his team. He mentioned their "work ethic," which, if you look up the translation in the Coach-English Dictionary, means "no talent."

Kind of like "I know this girl....she has a great personality!"

[tornado]

Here are a couple more of those "she's really a good cook" type of compliments...

"he has a tremendous upside"
"there's a lot of potential there"
"you can't deny his talent"
"he has flashes of brilliance"
"he adds to the team chemistry"
"every team needs a guy like that"
"he gives you everything he's got"
"scrappy"
"hard nosed"
"he'll make a great coach some day"
"he has all the physical attributes"
"some day everything will click (or gel)"
"his whole career has been snake bitten"

[BradleyBrave]

Here are a couple more of those "she's really a good cook" type of compliments...

"he has a tremendous upside"
"there's a lot of potential there"
"you can't deny his talent"
"he has flashes of brilliance"
"he adds to the team chemistry"
"every team needs a guy like that"
"he gives you everything he's got"
"scrappy"
"hard nosed"
"he'll make a great coach some day"
"he has all the physical attributes"
"some day everything will click (or gel)"
"his whole career has been snake bitten"

Hmm...we've heard similar superlatives describing some current and former Braves...

"he has a tremendous upside" - Anthony Thompson
"there's a lot of potential there" - Anthony Thompson
"you can't deny his talent" - Will Egolf
"he has flashes of brilliance" - Daniel Ruffin
"he adds to the team chemistry" - JJ Tauai, Danny Adams
"every team needs a guy like that" - Danny Adams
"he gives you everything he's got" - Danny Adams
"scrappy" - Danny Adams
"hard nosed" - Danny Adams
"he'll make a great coach some day" - Jeremy Crouch
"he has all the physical attributes" - Zach Andrews
"some day everything will click (or gel)" - Marcellus Sommerville
"his whole career has been snake bitten" - Sam Singh

[Da Coach]

More funny stuff from the MVC Media day--

http://slog.cstv.com/hangtime/2007/10/mvc_coaches_part_deux.html#more

[tornado]

This one cracked me up, coming from ISU's Tim Jankovich,
and I am sure having a little to do with all the legal issues the ISU guys are having:

"Jankovich: "The first think I had to do was get a parking pass because I'll tell you what, they will give you more tickets here. It's the darnedest thing. So, I got a parking pass so I don't have to pay to work there. They pay me now."

[Da Coach]

A couple reports from the media--

http://www.pjstar.com/stories/103107/BRA_BEPRG6DV.W02.php

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/10/31/sports/doc4727417a6ac14974336867.txt

[tornado]

And one more from the Springfield Journal Register, and a little extra blurb
on both Cameron Sweatman and Devyn Flanagan, both of whom are natives to the Springfield area....

http://www.sj-r.com/Sports/stories/19179.asp

[MacabreMob]

And one more from the Springfield Journal Register, and a little extra blurb
on both Cameron Sweatman and Devyn Flanagan, both of whom are natives to the Springfield area....
http://www.sj-r.com/Sports/stories/19179.asp

Devyn almsot single-handidly won the Class A girls championship as a Senior. I hope she has a huge year this year - good luck Devyn! (btw - I know she isn't playing in the exhibitions, little banged up Coach B said)