INDIANAPOLIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis, University of Southern Indiana, and Drury University men’s basketball teams have been selected to win their respective divisions for the upcoming 2020-21 Great Lakes Valley Conference season, it was announced by the league office Thursday. The annual GLVC Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll was voted on by the league coaches and ranks the top-five teams in each of the three divisions.
In response to adjustments needed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the GLVC regular season will feature three divisions and a 22-game schedule, where every team plays every divisional opponent twice – home and away – four random non-divisional opponents twice – home and away – and every other non-divisional opponent once. The top-eight teams with the most points derived from the familiar GLVC Point Rating System at the end of the regular season will earn a berth to the GLVC Basketball Championship Tournament March 4-7 on campus sites of the higher-seeded teams.
Last year’s GLVC co-Regular Season Champion and Tournament runner-up Missouri-St. Louis (27-6, 16-4 GLVC in 2019-20) was voted first in the Central Division with 67 total points and 12 of the possible 14 first-place votes, as Conference policy prohibits coaches from casting a vote for their own team. The Tritons were ranked No. 9 in the preseason poll released earlier in the week by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), which was an improvement of 10 places from their position in the final poll last season after having earned their first bid to the NCAA Tournament since 1988. Reigning GLVC Coach of the Year Bob Sundvold will see the return of last season’s GLVC Defensive Player of the Year in redshirt-junior Steve Webb, along with All-GLVC first-team members in seniors Yaakema Rose Jr. and Jose Grubbs.
Truman State University, reigning GLVC co-Regular Season and defending Tournament Champion, was selected second in the Central with 56 points and two first-place votes and also was receiving votes just outside the NABC poll. Lindenwood University follows in third with 44 points and the other first-place vote, while Quincy (33) and Maryville (20) round out the division in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Southern Indiana (22-8, 13-7), ranked 25th in the NABC preseason poll, garnered all 14 possible first-place votes to total 70 points and the top spot in the East Division. Screaming Eagles first-year head coach Stan Gouard takes over the reins in Evansville and inherits a pair of returning All-GLVC honorees in senior forward Emmanuel Little and senior guard Mateo Rivera.
The University of Indianapolis – receiving votes outside the NABC poll – gleaned 40 points for the second spot in the East, while the University of Illinois Springfield’s 38 points was good for third. McKendree University got the other first-place vote and is No. 4 with 37 points, while Lewis University completed the division in fifth with 35 points.
Drury University (20-9, 13-7) leads the West Division with 67 points and 11 first-place votes, and will again be led by veteran head coach Steve Hesser. The 17-year skipper will welcome back All-GLVC first-team member in senior Conley Garrison, who was also a member of the All-Defensive Team. Sophomore Malek Davis, an All-Freshman pick in 2019-20, will also be in the lineup this season.
Rockhurst University collected 55 points and three first-place votes to claim the No. 2 spot in the West, and Southwest Baptist University picked up the other first-place nod to total 47 points in third. William Jewell College (30) and Missouri S&T (21) completed the division respectively in fourth and fifth.
The 2020-21 GLVC men’s basketball season officially begins Friday, Nov. 27, with 14 teams in action.
The complete 2020-21 GLVC Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll follows below.
| EAST |
|
CENTRAL |
|
WEST |
|
| Rank/School |
Points (1st-place votes) |
Rank/School |
Points (1st) |
Rank/School |
Points (1st) |
| 1. Southern Indiana |
70 (14) |
1. Missouri-St. Louis |
67 (12) |
1. Drury |
67 (11) |
| 2. Indianapolis |
40 |
2. Truman State |
56 (2) |
2. Rockhurst |
55 (3) |
| 3. Illinois Springfield |
38 |
3. Lindenwood |
44 (1) |
3. Southwest Baptist |
47 (1) |
| 4. McKendree |
37 (1) |
4. Quincy |
33 |
4. William Jewell |
30 |
| 5. Lewis |
35 |
5. Maryville |
20 |
5. Missouri S&T |
21 |