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MVC Preseason Poll is out

Y

yoda

Well-known member
Bradley 6th

Only the Top 6 teams are ranked - and someone is very optimistic & gave Bradley a 1st place vote?
2026-27 MVC Men's Basketball Preseason Favorites
1. Murray State (32) .. 517
2. Illinois State (7) .. 471
3. UIC (6) .. 466
4. Belmont (1) .. 353
5. Valparaiso (1) .. 343
6. Bradley (1) .. 313

mvc-sports.com

Murray State Favored to Win 2026-27 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Crown

The MVC has released its preseason favorites for men's basketball and Murray State is the top choice, earning 32 first-place votes and 517 total points.
mvc-sports.com mvc-sports.com


https://twitter.com/x/status/2110068046924493008
 
At least Bradley made the top 6 and got announced with the "poll".
mvc-sports.com

Murray State Favored to Win 2026-27 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Crown

The MVC has released its preseason favorites for men's basketball and Murray State is the top choice, earning 32 first-place votes and 517 total points.
mvc-sports.com mvc-sports.com
What is the deal, MVC? It is lame to announce only the top 6. No other conference does this.
Just release the full poll results, and give us the entire vote counts.
 
Da Coach said:
At least Bradley made the top 6 and got announced with the "poll".
mvc-sports.com

Murray State Favored to Win 2026-27 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Crown

The MVC has released its preseason favorites for men's basketball and Murray State is the top choice, earning 32 first-place votes and 517 total points.
mvc-sports.com mvc-sports.com
What is the deal, MVC? It is lame to announce only the top 6. No other conference does this.
Just release the full poll results, and give us the entire vote counts.
Click to expand...
Jeff Jackson is doing a lousy job
 
These polls are rated by who you have returning pretty much and do not reflect on the transfers you have coming in which means anything is possible. Ill. St. last season was by far the favorite and UIC was picked at the bottom which just shows you it mans nothing. Games are played on the court not on paper. Expecting another good season.
 
houstonbrave said:
I see that vote as a sign of respect for Brian
Click to expand...

Indeed- with a nearly complete overhaul som expected Bradley to get picked 8, 9 or 10

Da Coach said:
At least Bradley made the top 6 and got announced with the "poll".
mvc-sports.com

Murray State Favored to Win 2026-27 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Crown

The MVC has released its preseason favorites for men's basketball and Murray State is the top choice, earning 32 first-place votes and 517 total points.
mvc-sports.com mvc-sports.com
What is the deal, MVC? It is lame to announce only the top 6. No other conference does this.
Just release the full poll results, and give us the entire vote counts.
Click to expand...

Some conferences like the Big Ten and I think the SEC stopped doing an official preseason poll altogether - but their media guys do an unofficial poll,
...at least the MVC still does a semblance of it
 
So are there any other conferences who only release the top portion of the polls for every sport and hide the bottom portion that received fewer votes? And why? Are the MVC powers afraid it might embarrass or hurt the feelings of those schools receiving fewer votes?
 
Da Coach said:
So are there any other conferences who only release the top portion of the polls for every sport and hide the bottom portion that received fewer votes? And why? Are the MVC powers afraid it might embarrass or hurt the feelings of those schools receiving fewer votes?
Click to expand...
yes- I think we all agree none of the fans like it but as Dave Eminian states, the teams at the bottom of the conference really do not want to slightly negative publicity, it's mean to....
"protect egos...and protect ticket sales... a poll won't help them"
 
The MVC highlights that we are coming off a season (2026) that 7 MVC teams were in the Top 120 of NET rankings
 
yoda said:
The MVC highlights that we are coming off a season (2026) that 7 MVC teams were in the Top 120 of NET rankings
Click to expand...
Technically, it was 7 teams in the top 122 of NET rankings, but who's counting-
www.ncaa.com

DI Men's Basketball Rankings - NCAA Men's Basketball NET Rankings | NCAA.com

Get NCAA college basketball rankings from the Associated Press, USA Today Coaches poll and the NCAA NET Rankings.
www.ncaa.com www.ncaa.com

This year might be a bit different. In this year's preseason Kenpom rankings, the MVC has only 2 teams in the Top 125 teams-
Da Coach

Post in thread 'MVC 2026-2027 predictions'

Kenpom is out with his preseason rankings- https://kenpom.com/

Not very good numbers for the MVC.
Kenpom MVC rankings:
97) Murray State
106) UIC
127) Illinois State
138) Belmont
140) Valparaiso
142) UNI
146) Drake
170) Bradley
184) SIU
196) Indiana State
260) Evansville
 
I see Bradley in the middle of the pack 4-8 range….good enough coaching and some solid players to be above SIU, Evansville, Indy St. Not deep enough or star power to be at the top with Murray St, ISUR, UIC and Valpo.

Middle of the pack I see as Belmont, BU, Drake and UNI as we fight for one of those spots. I’m hoping closer to 4-5 seed but we will see how the season plays out. Injury bug is already starting.
 
NashvilleBU said:
I see Bradley in the middle of the pack 4-8 range….good enough coaching and some solid players to be above SIU, Evansville, Indy St. Not deep enough or star power to be at the top with Murray St, ISUR, UIC and Valpo.

Middle of the pack I see as Belmont, BU, Drake and UNI as we fight for one of those spots. I’m hoping closer to 4-5 seed but we will see how the season plays out. Injury bug is already starting.
Click to expand...
That seems to be the consensus of the people making preseason picks, and I agree. There are a lot of unknowns. Bradley is already down two likely starters, point guard Georgi Gerganov lost for the season and now starting forward and the most experienced player, Timo van der Knaap sidelined for at least 4-6 weeks. And it could be longer before he is able to work his way back into playing shape. Foot injuries can sometimes have a long lasting effect on basketball players. And though Coach Wardle has praised his players' shooting capabilities and their physical play, we don't know yet if they can perform against the good defenses in the MVC. Add the fact that Bradley has 11 players who have never played in a Division I game before, and a couple more, including the projected starting point guard (Richardson) and possible starting center (Ibukunoluwa), who have very limited D1 experience and have never started a college game before. I am surprised the coaches and media picked Bradley 6th.
 
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