For the first time on record, Drake has been picked as the preseason favorite in the Missouri Valley Conference men’s basketball race by a voting panel consisting of coaches, sports information directors and media. The Conference has been conducting preseason polls in men’s basketball since 1985-86. Drake’s previous high ranking in a league preseason poll was in 1988-89, when the Bulldogs were picked to finish third that season.
Preseason Poll - Full Story (PDF)
Drake enters the 2021-22 campaign with plenty of momentum. The Bulldogs are coming off three of the most successful seasons in program history and the team’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in 13 years, taking second in the league race last year (26-5, 15-3). The Bulldogs received 29 first-place votes and 411 points in this year’s poll.
After reaching the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the last four years, Loyola welcomes back four starters from the 2020-21 team that finished the season ranked No. 12 in the final Coaches Top 25 Poll, and posted a 26-5 overall record. The Ramblers earned eight first-place tallies and 363 total points to finish second in the poll.
The third pick in this year’s poll is UNI. The Panthers have landed in the top half of the league standings in 17 out of the last 18 years and received six first-place votes and 354 total points. The 2021-22 Panthers return virtually the entire roster from the previous season, including 2020 Larry Bird MVC Player of the Year honoree AJ Green, who comes back from a season-ending injury. Green was tabbed as this year’s preseason Player of the Year.
Missouri State and Southern Illinois round out the top five in the poll. Both teams return five starters from last year. Missouri State is picked fourth in the poll with 325 total points, while SIU is the fifth pick with 228 points. Coming off a season in which the Bears matched a program record for conference road wins (7), Missouri State enters the 2021-22 campaign with all five starters returning, 89 percent of its scoring and 91 percent of its rebounding back from a squad that finished third in the MVC. And the 2021-22 Salukis return 97 percent of their scoring and add four exciting newcomers in the third year of the Bryan Mullins era.