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2025-26 Rankings

Y

yoda

Well-known member
It's time for the 2025-26 previews to start coming out.... The thorough previews in the magazines like SI, Athlon, etc
won't be out 'til September but here's one from a blogger who picks Bradley to finish fourth this upcoming season in the MVC.
(note that one of the replies speculates on Ahmet Jonovic being the MVC Player of the Year)

LINK
 
I would look forward to Street & Smith basketball magazine to come out every year around October. However, I have not seen it in years. I dont know if they even print anymore
 
bradleyfan124 said:
I would look forward to Street & Smith basketball magazine to come out every year around October. However, I have not seen it in years. I dont know if they even print anymore
Click to expand...
I likewise used to enjoy their yearly preview, but some time about 10 years ago, their parent company merged the Street and Smith College Basketball Preview with The Sporting News publications.
They did still produce an NBA preview under the name "Street and Smith" but I haven't seen a CBB preview issue in a decade.
 
This same blogger today ranks Northern Iowa (3rd in the MVC) just above Bradley -

- so who do you think he has at 1st & 2nd ahead of UNI & Bradley?
...just speculating, but prob ISU and either Drake, Belmont or Murray State?

and he has the 17th place ACC team (BC) ahead of both UNI & Bradley.
Seriously? P-5 privilege...

(also- when the guy lists Bradley's players, he denotes that Timoty van der Knaap redshirted 2024-25)


ONE MORE THING- the College Sports Madness preseason TOP 144 preview/ranking has started - LINK
They are already at #128 in their countdown, but from 144 to 128, there aren't any MVC teams listed yet
 
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a couple more previews...

The College Hoops Outlet guy previews ISU, picks them to win the MVC- https://www.instagram.com/collegehoopsoutlet/p/DMTdQ3yy-Tb/

and CollegeSportsMadness countdown is now down to #104, and the only teams noted so far from #144 down to #104 are:
Drake at #121, picked 5th in the MVC- https://collegesportsmadness.com/article/24221
Belmont at #112, picked 4th in the MVC- https://collegesportsmadness.com/article/24242

So they have the top 3 teams all at or under #103 - likely ISU, Bradley & UNI
 
Here's an MVC Preview from a couple days ago and it's from one of the best guys around!!

So it stuns me that he says Bradley's Mayar Wol is going to be a big contributor.
www.valleyhoopsinsider.com

MVC Talent Explosion - Valley Hoops Insider

High Quality Players on the Way (St. Louis, MO) – There is a talent explosion going on in the Missouri Valley Conference. The number of high caliber high school players and accomplished Division 1 players is at an all-time high. Throw in a few all-Americans from lower classifications and...
www.valleyhoopsinsider.com

BTW-- remember when some people claimed the reason Mayar Wol reneged and ditched his transfer to Bradley almost as soon as he got here,
was because a bigger, better school with more NIL money tampered and lured him away?
Well that made me laugh when I saw it but here we are, almost two months later and Wol is still lingering uncommitted** and I cannot find
even a single report of anyone in that interval who has even offered, let alone pursued signing him. Will he go the juco route?

** I don't think he is officially in the portal since he left school after signing and the "portal" was no longer officially open.
So his status is apparently just uncommitted.
 
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Some previews of things to come....

Jaquan (click on image, may need to be logged in to FB or IG to view full size)
 

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Drake released their non-conference schedule and other than an Emerald Coast Classic matchup with LSU,
it is pretty weak. Included are regular season games against two DIII opponents - Simpson of Iowa (they went 5-20 last year), and
DIII Buena Vista of Storm Lake, Iowa (12-13 last year). The rest incl SIUE, WIU, N. Dakota State, UAB, Robert Morris...

2025-26 Men's Basketball Schedule - Drake University Athletics

The official 2025-26 Men's Basketball schedule for the Drake University Bulldogs
godrakebulldogs.com godrakebulldogs.com
 
The Blue Ribbon College Yearbook used to be the best preseason magazine profiling and predicting the upcoming season.
IMO, it has fallen way off in recent years.
Here is how they pick the 2025-26 MVC season-

1757468223383.png

Their first team All-MVC picks-
Johnny Kinziger- Illinois State
Chase Walker- Illinois State
Trey Campbell- Northern Iowa
Tyler Lundblade- Belmont
Isaiah Stafford- SIU

The Isaiah Stafford pick surprises me. He was a decent player with Valparaiso in 2023-24, but missed all of last season recovering from a torn knee ligament and surgery. He's now with SIU.
In his only season of Division I play with Valpo in 2023-24, he lead them to a 7-25 record, 3-17 in the MVC and a 12th place finish (dead last) in the MVC. Plus a blowout loss in their opening game in the MVC Tournament to the #5 seed.
Yes, he averaged 16.9 ppg that season (7th in the MVC), but he also shot a whopping 16.0 FG attempts per game and averaged only 37.9% overall, and 29.4% from three. Those numbers, coming off knee ligament reconstruction, don't warrant a 1st team preseason pick, IMO.
 
ESPN Preseason Top 25 from Jeff Borzello - https://www.espn.com/mens-college-b...teams-best-candidates-awards-honors-2025-2026

Illinois is ranked #16. Borzello's projected starting lineup has a distinctively Eastern European look.

There are several familiar names among the projected starting lineups for the Top 25 teams-
Former Belmont All-MVC guard Ja'Kobi Gillespie, who averaged 14.7 ppg last year at Maryland, is now at #23 Tennessee
Former Bradley recruit Owen Freeman from Moline, who averaged 16.7 ppg last year at Iowa, is now at #22 Creighton
Former Bradley recruit Flory Bidunga is projected to be a starter at #21 Kansas
Former Peorian and Bradley recruit Adam Miller (9.8 ppg last year at AZ State) is now a projected starter at #19 Gonzaga
Former All-MVC wing at UNI, Nate Heise, is a projected starter at #18 Iowa State
Former Drake All-Freshman MVC team player Kevin Overton (7.8 ppg last year at Texas Tech) is a projected starter at #14 Auburn
Former Illinois center Morez Johnson, Jr. (7.0 ppg last year at Illinois) is now a projected starter at #8 Michigan.
Also, former Bradley recruit Yaxel Lendeborg (17.7 PPG last year at UAB) is projected to be a starter for #8 Michigan
Former Bradley recruit and Indiana State star Ryan Conwell (16.5 PPG last year at Xavier) is projected to be a starter for #7 Louisville
Former SIU star and former Bradley recruit, Kennard Davis (16.3 PPG at Southern Illinois) is projected to be a starter for #6 BYU
 
Da Coach said:
ESPN Preseason Top 25 from Jeff Borzello - https://www.espn.com/mens-college-b...teams-best-candidates-awards-honors-2025-2026

Illinois is ranked #16. Borzello's projected starting lineup has a distinctively Eastern European look.

There are several familiar names among the projected starting lineups for the Top 25 teams-
Former Belmont All-MVC guard Ja'Kobi Gillespie, who averaged 14.7 ppg last year at Maryland, is now at #23 Tennessee
Former Bradley recruit Owen Freeman from Moline, who averaged 16.7 ppg last year at Iowa, is now at #22 Creighton
Former Bradley recruit Flory Bidunga is projected to be a starter at #21 Kansas
Former Peorian and Bradley recruit Adam Miller (9.8 ppg last year at AZ State) is now a projected starter at #19 Gonzaga
Former All-MVC wing at UNI, Nate Heise, is a projected starter at #18 Iowa State
Former Drake All-Freshman MVC team player Kevin Overton (7.8 ppg last year at Texas Tech) is a projected starter at #14 Auburn
Former Illinois center Morez Johnson, Jr. (7.0 ppg last year at Illinois) is now a projected starter at #8 Michigan.
Also, former Bradley recruit Yaxel Lendeborg (17.7 PPG last year at UAB) is projected to be a starter for #8 Michigan
Former Bradley recruit and Indiana State star Ryan Conwell (16.5 PPG last year at Xavier) is projected to be a starter for #7 Louisville
Former SIU star and former Bradley recruit, Kennard Davis (16.3 PPG at Southern Illinois) is projected to be a starter for #6 BYU
Click to expand...
Man if Lendeborg had come to BU we probably have at least one more NCAA run.
 
The 2025-26 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Preseason Yearbook picks ISU to win the MVC

ISU
UNI
Belmont
Murray State
Bradley
SIU
Drake
Evansville
UIC
Valparaiso
Indiana State


1st Team All-MVC
Chase Walker, Tyler Lundblade, Isaiah Stafford, Trey Campbell, Johnny Kinziger

btw- future Bradley opponent San Francisco comes in at #68 on CSM's countdown
 
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even tho Indiana State is picked last they did provide a nice preseason preview of their guys

Senior transfer Xavier Hall looks a little like a smaller JaQuan Johnson
 
That really surprised me to see Bradley picked to finish out of the top four in the conference. Let's go into this season with a chip on our shoulder's. IMO Bradley will be top two or three. If everything falls into place and the team gels with all the new players, maybe even challenge to win the conference. The old saying goes, just tip up the ball and see what happens😳(y)
 
Picking preseason favorites has gotten much more difficult in the era of the portal. Too many moving parts-heck Drake was picked pretty low last year and took the title with an almost entirely new roster. Apparently the Valley has even decided not to pick a preseason first and second team players since there are so many new faces. They have not officially announced the Valley tournament structure yet as far as I know but the likely structure makes it important to make the top 5 and get a buy out of Thursday.
 
houstonbrave said:
Picking preseason favorites has gotten much more difficult in the era of the portal. Too many moving parts-heck Drake was picked pretty low last year and took the title with an almost entirely new roster. Apparently the Valley has even decided not to pick a preseason first and second team players since there are so many new faces. They have not officially announced the Valley tournament structure yet as far as I know but the likely structure makes it important to make the top 5 and get a buy out of Thursday.
Click to expand...

The MVC did name Preseason 1st, 2nd, and 3rd All-MVC teams last year, along with the Preseason Poll on October 2, 2024.
I suspect they will again this year when they have their Media Day. It should happen in a couple weeks.
Here was last year's preseason poll-
https://mvc-sports.com/news/2024/10/2/bradley-picked-as-mvc-mens-basketball-preseason-favorite.aspx

I agree about how difficult it is now to accurately predict the preseason All-MVC teams, and where teams will finish with all the changes. Several teams have almost entirely new rosters. The voters did a pretty good job last season, though they did underestimate Drake (picked 5th) and Bennett Stirtz who ended up as the POY. However, the voters at least did vote Stirtz onto the 3rd team. I'll bet there were some voters who didn't even vote for Stirtz. But other than the misses on the Drake picks, most of the preseason picks were pretty good.
 
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