(Photo courtesy GoRedbirds.com)
By ISU Sports Information
ST. LOUIS – Defending regular season Missouri Valley Conference champion Illinois State has been picked to finish fourth in the MVC Preseason Basketball Poll while the Redbird women are picked for seventh in the Valley, the conference announced on Tuesday morning.
ISU junior Phil Fayne was named on the All-MVC Preseason Second Team.
In the poll, which is determined by a panel of league sports information directors, media, and coaches, the Redbirds earned 256 points and one first place vote. Missouri State was picked as the preseason favorite with 381 points and 30 first-place votes. Northern Iowa (337, 8 first place votes) and Loyola (321 points, one first place vote) were picked to finish just ahead of Illinois State.
The six schools picked to finish behind the Redbirds include Southern Illinois (226 points), Valparaiso (214), Bradley (182), Indiana State (116), Evansville (88), and Drake (79).
Last season Fayne averaged 9.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, while making 59 percent of his shots (128-of-217) from the field. He finished second in the MVC in field goal percentage, and seventh in rebounds per game.
This preseason poll marks the third time in the last five seasons that Illinois State has been picked to finish fourth or better in the MVC, and the team has had a better regular season finish than its prediction in each of the last four seasons.
The Redbirds, who set a school record with their 28 wins a season ago, open the season on November 5 with a home exhibition against Lewis on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena.
MVC women
The Illinois State women’s basketball team was pegged for a seventh-place finish in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll. Drake was picked to win the league in the annual survey of the league’s coaches, sports information directors and media.
Illinois State (8-23, 4-14 MVC in 2016-17) will be under the direction of first-year head coach Kristen Gillespie in 2017-18. The Redbirds return four players that started a majority of the team’s games a year ago in senior Hannah Green, juniors Katrina Beck and Viria Livingston, and sophomore Megan Talbot.
Drake, with 356 voter points and 31 first-place votes, edged out Missouri State (323 points, seven first-place votes) for the top spot in the preseason poll. Northern Iowa (311 points) was the only other school to garner a first-place vote, and was slotted in for a third-place finish.
Southern Illinois, Indiana State and Bradley were picked to finish ahead of Illinois State at No. 7, while Evansville, Valparaiso and Loyola Chicago rounded out the poll.
Missouri State’s Liza Fruendt was named the MVC Preseason Player of the Year. She was joined on the league’s preseason all-conference team by Drake’s Sammie Bachrodt and Becca Hittner, Northern Iowa’s Ellie Howell and Southern Illinois’ Kylie Giebelhausen.
Illinois State will take on visiting Eureka College in an exhibition game at Redbird Arena at 7 p.m. on Nov. 1. The Redbirds’ first regular-season contest will be played in Rochester, Michigan, on Nov. 11, when Illinois State travels to take on Oakland.
