ST. LOUIS—Northern Iowa was the overwhelming choice to win the Missouri Valley Conference men’s basketball title in 2009-10.
The league said Tuesday that Northern Iowa received 38 out of 39 first-place votes. The school was last year’s regular-season co-champ and conference tournament winner.
The Panthers earned 389 out of a possible 390 votes and outdistanced Creighton, which received the other first-place vote and 336 total points.
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).
On the women’s side, Creighton (393) was tabbed as the preseason favorite, followed by Illinois State (340), Drake (296), Northern Iowa (253) and Indiana State (250).
