Official Preseason Prediction Thread

[Stryker]

I think it's time to get an official preseason thread going on, I've seen a few at some other boards already, and I am getting more pumped for Nov. 3rd every day. Anyway, go ahead and list your prediction 1-10 for each team in the Valley and then select a player of the year. Remember, the Player of the year is almost always chosen from the best team, or the best player on the best team, so the POY may not actually be the best player in the Valley.


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

POY: Should be King O, but will probably end up being Stinnett.

[amckillip]

1) Creighton 2 Conference Losses <- At Large
2) Bradley 3 Conference Loses <- Auto Bid
3) SIU 5 Conference Losses<-NIT
4) Illinois State 5 Conference Losses<-NIT
5) Drake 6 Conference Losses<- CBI
6) Northern Iowa
7) Evansville
8 Indiana State
9) Missouri State
10) WSU

MVC POY - OE

I think I hate this thread BTW

[bugregshu]

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

I think there will be a pretty big divide between the top 5 teams and the bottom 5 teams

[MacabreMob]

1.) Bradley
2.) Creighton
3.) ISU
4.) Drake
5.) UNI
6.) Indy St
7.) E'ville
8.) SIU
9.) WSU
10.) Mo St

POY - Theron

Go Braves!

[BU_EMT128]

1) Bradley
2) Creighton
3) Illinois State
4) Southern Illinois
5) Drake
6) Wichita State
7) Indiana State
8 ) UNI
9) Missouri State
10) Evansville

King O....

[BradleyBrave]

CU
BU
ISU
DU
SIU
INSU
UE
WSU
UNI
MSU

King O

[Lakeview Brave]

CU
ISU
DU
BU
SIU
INSU
WSU
UNI
MSU
UE

P'Allen

[BradleyBrave]

CU
ISU
DU
BU
SIU
INSU
WSU
UNI
MSU
UE

P'Allen

Ouch!

[RedbirdFan21]

ISU
CU
BU
SIU
DU
UE
WSU
InSU
MSU
UNI

Osiris

I too think there will be a LARGE gap between the top 5 teams... and bottom 5 teams

[Da Coach]

There seem to be a number of people picking Evansville to finish 10th. Even many of the preseason mags pick them 10th. Maybe it's just a hard habit to break.

But, though Evansville finished 10th last season, they will not finish last this year! They have senior leaders in guards Jason Holsinger, Shy Ely, and Nate Garner, and they have some decent big men. And they will be well coached.
I don't recall the exact numbers, but they return over 80% of their scoring and rebounding from last year, and all the other teams in the MVC are around 40-60%.
They have one of the leading returing scorers in Shy Ely (14.4 ppg- just slightly behind Osiris Eldridge and Josh Young), and another double-digit scorer Jason Holsinger (12.3 ppg- 7th among returning MVC players). They have 2 of the top 10 returning rebounders, Nate Garner (5.3 rpg), and Shy Ely (5.1 rpg). Holsinger is also the #2 returning assist man with 4.56 rpg. And they have 2 of the top returning 3-point shooters- Holsinger at .418 and Darrin Granger at .407.
By the way, Evansville was the top 3-point shooting team in the MVC last year! -.386.

This Evansville team may still have to overachieve to keep out of the Thursday games, but I do not see them finishing behind Wichita, Missouri State, Indiana State, and maybe UNI.

[BUFAN]

I curious about what everyone sees in Drake, I have them eighth at best, Josh Young is a good player, but not that good. I'm picking BU second only because of an unfavorable schedule. If we clobber SIU the first game and make a statement we could win it all.

CU
BU
SIU
IllSt.
IndSt.
WS
MS
DU
NIU
EU

POY Theron

[it's boogie time]

I don't have a clue where to put Drake.

I want to put SIU in the middle of the pack, but it's hard to ignore the past 7 seasons. Freshmen don't tend to do well in the second half of the Valley season.

[houstontxbrave]

1 - CU
2 - BU
3 - ISU
4 - INST
5 - SIU
6 - Evansville
7 - MO State
8 - Drake
9 - WSU
10 - UNI

[DUBulldog]

I curious about what everyone sees in Drake, I have them eighth at best, Josh Young is a good player, but not that good.

As a sophomore, Young led the conference in scoring and was 1st team all-conference, despite being less than 100% healthy for the vast majority of the conference season. I'm not sure how you define "that good".

Anyway, Drake returns two all-conference players from last season's championship team. They will be able to spread the floor as much as last season's team, and actually might be an even better shooting team this season.

Having said all that, I have no idea where Drake will finish this season, but 4th or 5th sounds about right. Replacing Leonard Houston will be tough.

[ryeguy212]

ISU
BU
CU
SIU
DU
UE
MSU
InSU
WSU
UNI

Oguchi