By Todd Golden
The Tribune-Star
St. Louis
October 28, 2008 11:12 pm
—
The scales of evidence can swing either direction when it comes to the fate of the 2009 Indiana State’s men’s basketball team.
On one hand, there’s talent and athleticism to suggest that ISU will exceed seventh place — the spot where the Sycamores finished last season in the Missouri Valley Conference. On the other hand, ISU has 10 newcomers and lost its top two scorers from last season.
Valley preseason poll pundits believe ISU will finish exactly as it did last year — seventh. It is the highest preseason placement for the Sycamores in the preseason poll since 2002, yet, it comes might come off as a bit of a comedown to some observers who expect more out of ISU this season.
In the end, time will tell. That’s the attitude ISU men’s basketball coach Kevin McKenna took when it came to what should be expected out of the Sycamores this season.
“A lot of things run through your mind. You look at what Drake did last year and you hope you can prove people wrong,” McKenna said. “Based on what we have back and what we have back, I’m not sure if its accurate or not. You have to play the season and regardless of where you’re picked, you have to keep going.”
ISU forward Jay Tunnell was philosophical about ISU’s lot. As ever, the preseason rankings mean nothing once the games begin, Tunnell said.
“When you’re picked lower it puts a chip on our shoulder, but we only have a few guys who played for us last year,” Tunnell said.
“With all that uncertainty, it’s kind of hard for other people to expect big things from us. And we finished seventh last year, it’s not like we had a strong showing to come out and deserve a higher ranking. At the same time, we think we’re one of the best teams in the league and we’re going to come out and work for it.”
The main reasons for any ISU placement about seventh is obvious — Tunnell is a veteran who will play more of a four-role that will allow him to take advantage of his shooting. Once he returns, Harry Marshall stabilizes the point guard position both on the floor and with his leadership off of it.
Past that, what can ISU hang its hat on to make a case for a rise up the league’s ladder?
“That’s a big unknown that we don’t know yet either. Until we see what we really have, we don’t know who’s going to step up yet. We have an idea, but until the lights are on and things are rolling, you really don’t know,” McKenna said. “When you’re dealing with inexperience, crazy things happen. Some guys might step up and surprise us, some guys might not be as good as you thought they would be. It’s an interesting time.”
Creighton was picked first overall with 36 first-place votes, a near-unanimous selection. Second-place Southern Illinois and third-place Illinois State were the only other schools to receive first place votes.
McKenna helped recruit many of the current Bluejays when he was an assistant at Creighton. Does he feel a certain sense of pride?
“Not so much. I take more pride as an alum. I have strong feelings for that team. I played there, coached there, my wife’s a grad, my daughter is a grad. You want them to do well, you just don’t want them to do well when you’re playing them,” McKenna said. “It’s a model program for our conference and we’ve tried to model after them.”
Illinois State’s Osiris Eldridge was the Preseason Player of the Year. No ISU player was on the Preseason All-Conference team or was an honorable mention pick.
MVC Basketball
Preseason Poll
1. Creighton (36) 386
2. Southern Illinois (2) 322
3. Illinois State (1) 309
4. Drake 274
5. Bradley 219
6. Northern Iowa 186
7. Indiana State 137
8. Evansville 122
9. Wichita State 105
10. Missouri State 85
MVC Preseason
All-Conference Team
Jonathan Cox F Sr. Drake
Osiris Eldridge G Jr. Illinois State
Bryan Mullins G Sr. Southern Illinois
P'Allen Stinnett G So. Creighton
Josh Young G Jr. Drake
Honorable Mention — Shy Ely, Evansville; Jason Holsinger, Evansville; Andrew Warren, Bradley; Theron Wilson, Bradley
Player of the Year — Eldridge, Illinois State
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