ST. LOUIS—Returning all five starters and nine of 10 players, Northern Iowa is the overwhelming choice to win the Missouri Valley Conference men’s basketball title in 2009-10.
The league announced the results of its coaches, media and sports information directors poll Tuesday.
Northern Iowa, last year’s regular-season co-champ and conference tournament winner, was a near-unanimous choice, picking up 38 out of 39 first-place votes. The Panthers earned 389 out of a possible 390 votes and outdistanced Creighton, which received the other first-place vote and 336 total points.
“We’ve got a good returning group,” Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson said. “Is it an honor or a burden? I think expectations are good. Obviously, it says more about what last year’s team did. I think those things are good. You want expectations for your basketball team.”
Creighton coach Dana Altman welcomes back three starters to his program, which has won 20-plus games for a league-record 11 consecutive seasons.
“It should be a very competitive race,” Altman said.
Trailing in the preseason voting were Illinois State (299), Southern Illinois (272), Wichita State (216), Bradley (208), Indiana State (173), Drake (105), Missouri State (92) and Evansville (55).
Conference commissioner Doug Elgin said the league needs to place more than one team in the NCAA Tournament like it has for the past two years. He is optimistic that will happen.
“The cup is obviously much more than half full,” Elgin said. “This year, we have 31 of 50 starters coming back. One of our primary objectives every year is to earn multiple bids in the tournament. I think you’ll see our league being much better this year.
“I think we’ll be a league to reckon with and I think it looks a lot like 2005 when we had multiple teams (in the tournament). I believe this is our time again and we’ll be able to step up with the best teams in the country. Sometimes, you have to be as lucky as you are good.”
On the women’s side, Creighton was tabbed as the preseason favorite. Coming off a 22-win season, the Bluejays received 34 of 40 first-place votes and 393 total points.
“We have an experienced team,” Creighton coach Jim Flannery said. “Our expectations are higher.”
Illinois State (340), Drake (296), Northern Iowa (253) and Indiana State (250) follow Creighton. The remaining teams are Bradley (214), Missouri State (188), Evansville (108), Wichita State (97) and Southern Illinois (61).
The six-player preseason all-conference men’s team is headed by a pair of Panthers—junior guard Kwadzo Ahelegbe and senior forward Adam Koch, who averaged 12.1 points and 5.1 rebounds a game last year.
They are joined by Illinois State senior guard Osiris Eldridge, Southern Illinois senior guard Tony Freeman, Creighton junior guard P’Allen Stinnett, and Drake junior guard Josh Young.
Eldridge is the preseason pick for the league’s Player of the Year. Eldridge averaged 14 points and 6.2 rebounds last year, leading the Redbirds to a NIT berth.
The women’s preseason team has five players—Missouri State sophomore guard Casey Garrison, Illinois State senior guard Maggie Krick, Indiana State senior guard Kelsey Luna, Creighton senior forward Megan Neuvirth and Drake senior guard Jordann Plummer.
Neuvirth is the preseason Player of the Year choice. Last year, Neuvirth averaged 13.3 points a game along with 9.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists.
