Missouri Valley Conference Preview

The following preview is provided by Blue Ribbon. For the most thorough preview available of the upcoming season, order the 2002-03 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, on sale now at 1-800-775-2518.   Blue Ribbon Forecast No. Team  '01-02 Conf. Rec. (Overall) 1. Creighton  14-4 (22-8)  2. Southern Illinois  14-4 (26-7)  3. Illinois State  12-6 (17-14)  4. Wichita State  9-9 (15-15)  5. Drake  9-9 (14-15)  6. Evansville  4-14 (7-21)  7. Bradley  5-13 (9-20)  8. Northern Iowa  8-10 (14-15)  9 Indiana State  4-14 (6-22)  10 Southwest Missouri State  11-7 (17-15)  All-Conference Team Did You Know? G: Kent Williams SR, Southern Illinois G: Luke McDonald JR, Drake F: Kyle Korver SR, Creighton F: Baboucarr Bojang SR, Illinois State F: Jermaine Dearman SR, Southern Illinois Player of the Year Kyle Korver SR, Creighton Newcomer of the Year Trey Guidry SO, Illinois State Top Backcourts 1. Southern Illinois 2. Illinois State 3. Bradley Top Frontcourts 1. Creighton 2. Illinois State 3. Evansville 2002-03 Conference Tournament March 7-10, Savvis Center, St. Louis, MO. 2001-02 Champions Creighton and Southern Illinois (Regular season) Creighton (Conf. tournament) 2001-02 NCAA Tournament Postseason Record 3-2 (.600) NCAA Southern Illinois (Sweet 16) Creighton (Second round) Four members of the Missouri Valley Conference will take part in the inaugural "Bracket Buster Saturday" series, which will have select games televised on either ESPN or ESPN2. Creighton, Illinois State, Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois were chosen to play in the non-conference games on Feb. 22 along with 14 other teams teams. One of the nine games, Tulsa at Gonzaga, has been decided, but the remaining match-ups will be announced Feb. 3. Creighton and SIU will play host to games. ESPN2 will also show the regular-season game between SIU and Creighton in Omaha at 3 p.m. on Jan. 18. The MVC's conference final will also be aired on March 10 on ESPN. First-year Bradley head coach Jim Les is the fourth former player to run the program. The previous three--Chuck Osborn, Joe Stowell and Stan Albeck--posted a combined 466-274 (.630) record, including 59-25 (.702) in their first seasons. Creighton is one of 20 schools to make four straight trips to the NCAA Tournament. SIU last season became the first team to win at Creighton since Feb. 19, 2000 when it knocked off the Bluejays, 79-77, on Feb. 3. The Salukis also won the game in 2000. Illinois State got an early start to the season with a six-game trip to Australia, where the team went 2-4. The Bluejays will be playing their final season in the Omaha Civic Center and will move into the 15,800-seat Omaha Convention Center and Arena next season. Wichita State will spend the season playing home games at the Kansas Coliseum while Levitt Arena is under construction for 16 months.

 

Related information

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video