INDIANAPOLIS – The Bellarmine University and Drury University men’s basketball teams have once again been selected to win the East and West Divisions, respectively, for the upcoming 2014-15 Great Lakes Valley Conference season, it was announced by the conference office Wednesday.  The annual GLVC Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll was voted on by the league coaches and ranks the top-eight teams in each of the conference’s two divisions.  Last year Bellarmine and Drury were also the favorites to win the divisions.

Drury (28-4, 16-2 GLVC in 2013-14) was a unanimous selection to win the West Division, garnering all 15 possible votes as conference policy prohibits coaches from casting a vote for their own team.  The Panthers amassed 120 points to take the top spot and have recently been ranked No. 7 and No. 11 nationally by the Division II Bulletin and Basketball Times, respectively.  DU, the NCAA Division II national champion in 2013, returns three starters from its Elite Eight squad from a year ago, including senior guard Drake Patterson, senior forward Cameron Adams and junior guard Kameron Bundy, who has been named a Preseason All-America selection by Basketball Times. Bundy led the Panthers with his 17.6 points per game to Adams' 17.5 ppg last season.  Drury successfully claimed the GLVC West Division title last year, but fell to Southern Indiana in the GLVC Championship Tournament semifinals before earning the NCAA Midwest Regional crown and an Elite Eight bid.

Bellarmine (23-8, 12-6) just beat out Lewis University for the top spot in the GLVC East Division preseason rankings.  The Knights grabbed six of those first-place nods for a total of 102 points in the poll.  Bellarmine, which finished fifth in the GLVC East last year but advanced to the finals of the GLVC Championship Tournament, was recently ranked No. 13 by Basketball Times and 16th by Division II Bulletin.  In addition, Basketball Times recognized senior Jake Thelen as a Preseason All-American, after he led the nation in field goal percentage a year ago when he made a school-record 74 percent of his shots.  He is Bellarmine's leading returning scorer and rebounder, having averaged 15.3 points and 7.1 rebounds per game last year. 

Of the two divisions this season, the conference coaches are predicting a wide-open race in the East once again this year.  In addition to Bellarmine, three other schools earned the remaining 10 first-place votes.  Lewis (21-6, 13-5) earned five of those votes for 96 points, followed closely by the 2013-14 co-GLVC East Division Champions in the University of Indianapolis (24-5, 15-3) and University of Wisconsin-Parkside (23-7, 15-3) in third and fourth, respectively.  UIndy grabbed three first-place markers and 93 points total, while the Rangers brought in 90 points and two first-place votes.  The University of Southern Indiana (25-6, 13-5), last year’s GLVC Champion, assumes the fifth spot with 79 points.  In a tightly contested race for the rest of the division, the University of Illinois Springfield (10-18, 5-13) ranked sixth with 39 points, Saint Joseph’s College (4-24, 1-17) was seventh with 36 points, and McKendree University (9-17, 3-15) was picked eighth with 33 points.

In the West, Missouri-St. Louis (16-12, 9-9) was the benefactor of Drury’s first-place vote and sits second with 95 points.  Quincy University (10-18, 5-13), which finished seventh in the West last year, jumps to third in the preseason poll with 79 points, just ahead of fourth-place Truman State University (20-7, 13-5) with 77 points.  Maryville University (13-14, 7-11) sits fifth with 72 points, followed by William Jewell College (11-16, 7-11) in sixth with 53 points, seventh-place Missouri S&T (12-15, 7-11) with 42 points, and Rockhurst University (7-18, 3-15) in eighth with 30 points.

On a national scale, Lewis joins Bellarmine and Drury as the three teams to have been ranked in the two preseason polls thus far.  The Flyers were picked 11th by Division II Bulletin and 17th by Basketball Times.

The 2014-15 GLVC men’s basketball season officially opens Friday, Nov. 14, with Bellarmine, Indianapolis, Lewis, Maryville, McKendree, Saint Joseph’s, and Truman in action.

The complete 2014-15 GLVC Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll follows:

Rank	East Division (1st)	Points		Rank	West Division (1st )	Points
1.	Bellarmine (6)	102		1.	DRURY (15)	120
2.	Lewis (5)	96		2.	Missouri-St. Louis (1)	95
3.	Indianapolis (3)	93		3.	Quincy	79
4.	UW-Parkside (2)	90		4.	Truman State	77
5.	Southern Indiana	79		5.	Maryville	72
6.	Illinois Springfield	39		6.	William Jewell	53
7.	Saint Joseph’s	36		7.	Missouri S&T	42
8.	McKendree	33		8.	Rockhurst	30