Pre-Season MVC Poll

[shocks771]

Wichita State picked 4th, I have a feeling this group is going to prove a lot of people wrong.

1. Creighton
2. Illinois State
3. Northern Iowa
4. Wichita State
5. Evansville
6. Drake
7. Indiana State
8. Missouri State
9. Bradley
10. Southern Illinois

[SHOXAAC]

Let the chalk board, press clipping sessions begin.

[WuDrWu]

That's just disrespectful.

[ShockerPhi]

Let's go light bags of poop on their porches

[Hurley]

I'll take the over.

[small tyme baller]

I expected either 3rd or 4th ... I don't see it as a sign of disrespect because of how much lost statistically, lost in leadership, and lost in experience. Do I think we'll finish above 4th? YES. But I don't think it will be an easy road back to 20-25 wins. (the recruiting and depth will play a key role here.)

Creighton's the clear #1 and ISU (red) the clear #2 ... but I feel we will be duking it out with the aforementioned, UNI, Drake, and Evansville.

What I've come to learn from Valley play is that it's a physical league that makes you grind out wins and injuries can kill a season complemented with lack of depth; so WSU finishing 1st or 5th wouldnt suprise me. But, with having HCGM and hopefully some depth, we can really make strides and be a pretty darn good team by the end of the season.

[ShockerPrez]

I'll worry about the final standings. Weren't we picked 4th when we went to the sweet 16? After losing Burns, Howard, and Kampman?

[shockerfan]

I'll worry about the final standings. Weren't we picked 4th when we went to the sweet 16? After losing Burns, Howard, and Kampman?

We were picked 5th. I think 4th is probably pretty close to where we should be picked right now. IMHO I feel this team is going to go through some struggles early on and I am just hoping they get the chemistry together in time for the MVC race. I don't know that we have a good at large schedule anyway. My hope is this team gets it together by MVC play, finishes in the top 3 or so in the Valley standings and finally takes St Louis! Anything more than that is gravy!

[shockerfan]

Little off topic but don't really want to start a whole new thread for it. WSU's 56 wins the past 2 seasons is the 2nd most in a two-season span in MVC history. Bradley won 64 games 1949-50 and 1950-51. That is pretty damn good. Marshall just keeps hitting the record books. Heck maybe that does deserve it's own thread LOL. This was tweeted by Paul Suellentrop.

[shock]

Athlon has it right, except for the part about dancing.

2. Wichita State (27-5, 16-2)
Wichita State is back where its passionate fans believe it belongs. The Shockers are the defending MVC champions and played in the NCAA Tournament in 2012 after winning the NIT in 2011. Gregg Marshall needed a few years to get going, but he has now won 20 or more games three straight seasons. The Shockers lost five seniors from the MVC champions, most notably All-MVC picks Garrett Stutz and Joe Ragland and All-Defensive team selection Touré Murry. Carl Hall, the ’11-12 MVC Newcomer of the Year after averaging 8.4 points and 5.0 rebounds, leads a frontcourt that should matchup favorably with most teams in the league. The backcourt should be in good hands with senior Demetric Williams, a combo guard who is WSU’s best one-on-one defender. Senior Malcolm Armstead, a transfer with one season of eligibility, started 52 games at Oregon in two seasons and averaged 8.6 points as a junior.
Postseason prediction: NCAA Tournament One and Done

I think they are just discrediting the Valley as a whole, not giving us any respect, but hey, haters gonna hate.

http://www.athlonsports.com/college-basketball/missouri-valley-conference-2012-13-college-basketball-preview

[Cdizzle]

Also note, no first team picks. Carl Hall gets a nod as Honorable Mention.

[shockerfan]

Also note, no first team picks. Carl Hall gets a nod as Honorable Mention.

Yeah that doesn't make much sense to me.

[1972Shocker]

I don't see it as being disrepectful. I simply don't expect those that don't follow the Shockers as closely as we do to understand the potential of this team. OTOH proving a 4th place pick is significantly underrating the Shocks could be a lot of fun. Let's hope that's one thing that 3G and his guys accomplish this year.

As far as individual honors are concerned that is a totally different dynamic. Individual accomplishments may or may not equate to team accomplishments. 3G's coaching style is definitley more oriented to team accomplishments than it it is to individual stat stuffing and accomplishments.

Let the games begin. Go Shocks!

[Mr. Obvious]

Yeah that doesn't make much sense to me.

Goes from 1st Team to Honorable Mention. Pretty good top 5.

[ShockerFever]

Who are the two morons who picked Illinois State to win it all? Are they serious? If there ever was a year to have a unanimous No.1, this was it. I personally think Illinois State will finish in the 3-4 range. Losing a point guard like Moore and having a new coach is not something you just ride the waves with.

4th is about right though. At least there's enough sense out there that we're picked ahead of Evansville. I don't wanna press with the expectations too much this early. There's a lot of new talent coming in. I think we'll take a lot of lumps early and hopefully can recover by the end to finish in the Top 3. 4th is a reasonable pick and I think pretty respectable considering how much we lost.

I wouldn't expect us to be co-favorites if we can't even handle South Dakota State in a scrimmage..