INDIANAPOLIS – The Bellarmine University and Drury University men’s basketball teams have been selected to win the East and West Divisions, respectively, for the upcoming 2013-14 Great Lakes Valley Conference season, it was announced by the conference office Thursday.  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.

Drury (31-4, 16-2 GLVC in 2012-13), which garnered 115 points and 10 of 16 first-place votes in the poll, enters the season on the heels of the program’s first-ever NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship as the Panthers defeated Metro State 74-73 to close out a 31-4 campaign last year.  Five of the top-eight scorers from that Drury squad return in 2013-14 and will look to build on the team’s current 23-game winning streak, which included a 71-65 victory over the University of Southern Indiana in the GLVC Championship title game.  While the Panthers will open the season against Webster on Nov. 8, two games have already drawn the attention of a national audience.  Drury will play a much-anticipated exhibition game at NCAA Division I powerhouse Duke on Nov. 2 and then host GLVC West Division rival Maryville University before a nationally-televised audience on CBS Sports Network on Jan. 25.

Bellarmine (24-8, 12-6), the 2011 NCAA Division II Champion and 2012 NCAA Elite Eight participant, had its season halted at 24-8 last year by Drury in the NCAA Midwest Region Championship final, 67-61.  The Knights were picked to win the East Division last season, and despite finishing third at 12-6 behind the University of Wisconsin-Parkside (20-9, 14-4) and Southern Indiana (23-8, 13-5), they garnered the respect of the league coaches once again.  Bellarmine tallied 115 points and nine of the 16 first-place votes in the preseason poll.

Of the two divisions this season, the conference coaches are predicting a wide-open race in the East.  In addition to Bellarmine, three other schools earned the remaining seven first-place votes.  Southern Indiana ranked second in the division with 101 points and three first-place markers, followed by the University of Indianapolis (20-8, 11-7) in third with 95 points and two first-place votes, and Lewis University (19-9, 12-6) in fourth with 83 points and two first-place tallies.  UW-Parkside will begin its GLVC East Division title defense ranked fifth overall with 66 points.  Rounding out the East Division is Illinois Springfield (8-19, 6-12) in sixth with 48 points, Saint Joseph’s College (6-19, 4-14) in seventh with 33 points, and McKendree University (7-21, 1-17) in eighth with 29 points.

In the West, Maryville (23-9, 12-6) finished a close second to the defending national champions with 107 points, while picking up the remaining six first-place votes.  The University of Missouri-St. Louis (17-10, 10-8), led by first-year head coach Bob Sundvold, earned 87 points for third place, edging Quincy University (12-15, 7-11) by just one point.  Newcomer Truman State University (10-17, 7-11 MIAA) has been voted fifth in the division with 54 points.  The final three positions in the West are held by William Jewell College (13-14, 9-9) in sixth with 48 points, Missouri S&T (7-18, 3-15) in seventh with 37 points, and Rockhurst University (4-21, 3-15) in eighth with 34 points.

The 2013-14 GLVC men’s basketball season opens Friday, Nov. 8, with Drury, McKendree, Missouri S&T, Quincy, Saint Joseph’s, and UW-Parkside in action.