University of Northern Iowa Athletics
Jeremy Morgan Tabbed MVC Preseason Player of Year
10/25/2016 8:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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ST. LOUIS -- For the fourth-straight year, Wichita State has been tabbed the favorite to win the Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball title.
Two starters and nine lettermen are back from a squad that led the nation in scoring defense and won a pair of NCAA Tournament games last spring. Last year WSU became just the third Valley school since World War II to finish alone atop the standings in three consecutive seasons and set an all-time MVC record with their seventh-straight 25-win campaign.
The Shockers received 37 first-place votes and 413 points to outdistance Illinois State, which earned 356 points to finish second. ISU received four first-place votes. UNI received the remaining first-place tally and 348 total points to finish third in the voting.
The Panthers are represented by Jeremy Morgan on the league's five-player first-team all-MVC squad. Voted as the pre-season MVC Player of the Year, Morgan is just the third Panther to earn that honor, joining Randy Blocker (1993-94) and Ben Jacobson (2005-06).
Last year's departing class included nine seniors of the 10 total players on the first- and second-team all-MVC units. The lone returning first- or second-team honoree is also on this year's first-team pre-season squad. Indiana State's Brenton Scott averaged 14.6 points and connected on 76 treys last year for the Sycamores.
A pair of Redbirds are on this year's pre-season first-team unit, including Paris Lee and MiKyle McIntosh. It marks the first time ISU has had two pre-season all-league picks since the 1997-98 season when Dan Muller and Rico Hill represented the 'Birds on the MVC pre-season team.
The final member of the league's pre-season first-team squad is the 2016 Freshman of the Year. Wichita State's Markis McDuffie averaged 7.4 points last year while earning All-Bench and All-Newcomer honors as well.
For the third-straight season, the league returns more than 60 percent of its collective starting lineups, and undoubtedly that cast of players, molded by a group of 10 MVC head coaches who all return from last year, will help shape what will most certainly be another successful season in the nation's second-oldest Division I athletic conference.
Pollsters have accurately predicted the league's regular-season champ four-straight years, but only 16 times out of 31 total since 1985-86, but the pre-season favorite Shockers can take solace in that 28 of those 31 predicted champs have gone on to post-season play, with 20 of those 28 playing in the NCAAs.
ST. LOUIS -- For the fourth-straight year, Wichita State has been tabbed the favorite to win the Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball title.
Two starters and nine lettermen are back from a squad that led the nation in scoring defense and won a pair of NCAA Tournament games last spring. Last year WSU became just the third Valley school since World War II to finish alone atop the standings in three consecutive seasons and set an all-time MVC record with their seventh-straight 25-win campaign.
The Shockers received 37 first-place votes and 413 points to outdistance Illinois State, which earned 356 points to finish second. ISU received four first-place votes. UNI received the remaining first-place tally and 348 total points to finish third in the voting.
The Panthers are represented by Jeremy Morgan on the league's five-player first-team all-MVC squad. Voted as the pre-season MVC Player of the Year, Morgan is just the third Panther to earn that honor, joining Randy Blocker (1993-94) and Ben Jacobson (2005-06).
Last year's departing class included nine seniors of the 10 total players on the first- and second-team all-MVC units. The lone returning first- or second-team honoree is also on this year's first-team pre-season squad. Indiana State's Brenton Scott averaged 14.6 points and connected on 76 treys last year for the Sycamores.
A pair of Redbirds are on this year's pre-season first-team unit, including Paris Lee and MiKyle McIntosh. It marks the first time ISU has had two pre-season all-league picks since the 1997-98 season when Dan Muller and Rico Hill represented the 'Birds on the MVC pre-season team.
The final member of the league's pre-season first-team squad is the 2016 Freshman of the Year. Wichita State's Markis McDuffie averaged 7.4 points last year while earning All-Bench and All-Newcomer honors as well.
For the third-straight season, the league returns more than 60 percent of its collective starting lineups, and undoubtedly that cast of players, molded by a group of 10 MVC head coaches who all return from last year, will help shape what will most certainly be another successful season in the nation's second-oldest Division I athletic conference.
Pollsters have accurately predicted the league's regular-season champ four-straight years, but only 16 times out of 31 total since 1985-86, but the pre-season favorite Shockers can take solace in that 28 of those 31 predicted champs have gone on to post-season play, with 20 of those 28 playing in the NCAAs.
| Rank | Team (First-Place Votes) | Points |
| 1. | Wichita State (37) | 413 |
| 2. | Illinois State (4) | 356 |
| 3. | UNI (1) | 348 |
| 4. | Missouri State | 278 |
| 5. | Southern Illinois | 228 |
| 6. | Indiana State | 219 |
| 7. | Loyola | 179 |
| 8. | Bradley | 110 |
| 9. | Evansville | 106 |
| 10. | Drake | 73 |
Players Mentioned
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