INDIANAPOLIS – The Drury University, University of Southern Indiana, and University of Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball teams have been selected to win their respective divisions for the upcoming 2021-22 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.
Last year’s GLVC West Division and Championship Tournament runner-up Drury (11-10, 9-9 GLVC in 2020-21) was voted first in the division with 15 total points and three of the possible four first-place votes, as Conference policy prohibits coaches from casting a vote for their own team. The Panthers made a run in the GLVC postseason as the No. 6 seed on a limited lineup of just eight student-athletes but ultimately fell to 5-seed Lewis in the title game. Returning for the Panthers this season will be three starters and four others who played in that final. New head coach, Chris Foster, who served stints at both Truman State and most recently McKendree, will take over in his first season after the retirement of Drury’s 17-year and all-time winningest coach, Steve Hesser.
Southwest Baptist University picked up the other two first-place nods to total 14 points for second in the West, while Missouri S&T collected eight points to claim the No. 3 spot. William Jewell College (7) and Rockhurst University (6) completed the division respectively in fourth and fifth.
Southern Indiana (12-5, 11-4), receiving votes just outside the NABC preseason poll top 25, garnered 13 total points and three first-place votes for the top spot in the East Division. The Screaming Eagles won the divisional crown a year ago but were forced to opt out of the tournament due to return to play procedures, as a result of COVID-19 health and safety protocols. They did, however, garner an at-large bid to the NCAA Midwest Regional for the third-straight season. Second-year head coach and alumnus Stan Gouard will lead USI in 2021-22 along with All-GLVC returner in senior guard Mateo Rivera.
The University of Illinois Springfield’s 11 points, along the other two first-place votes, was good for a tie for second in the East with defending GLVC Champion Lewis University. The Flyers made a run in the GLVC Championship event as the 5-seed to claim their third tournament trophy in program history and the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Regional. The University of Indianapolis gleaned eight points in the preseason, and McKendree University had seven for the respective fourth and fifth spots to complete the division.
Receiving votes just outside the NABC top-25 preseason poll, Missouri-St. Louis (13-6, 12-5) claimed first in the Central Division with three first-place votes and 15 points, just one point ahead of sixth-ranked and defending divisional champion Truman State University (20-3, 18-1), which garnered the other two first-place votes. Truman was the top seed in the league’s postseason event, while UMSL was No. 2; but despite both being eliminated prior to the title game, it was the Bulldogs’ that had the fortune of an at-large berth into the NCAA Regional. Truman went on to win the Midwest crown but eventually bowed out in the Elite Eight.
The Tritons return redshirt-senior guard Steve Webb, who was chosen back-to-back as the GLVC Defensive Player of the Year, as well as two other All-GLVC honorees in senior forward Marty Jackson and senior guard Shane Wissink. The Bulldogs welcome back reigning GLVC Player of the Year, Cade McKnight, as well as GLVC Freshman of the Year, Masen Miller, along with All-GLVC forward Dylan Peeters, all of whom will be under the direction of GLVC Coach of the Year Jeff Horner.
Lindenwood University followed in third in the Central with 10 points, while Quincy (6) was fourth and Maryville (5) rounded out the division in fifth.
The GLVC regular season will feature three divisions and a 20-game schedule, where every team plays every divisional opponent twice – home and away – two 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 3-6 at the Vadalabene Center in Edwardsville, Illinois, on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
The 2021-22 GLVC men’s basketball season officially begins Friday, Nov. 12 with 11 teams in action.
The complete 2021-22 GLVC Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll follows below.
| EAST |
|
CENTRAL |
|
WEST |
|
| Rank/School |
Points (1st) |
Rank/School |
Points (1st) |
Rank/School |
Points (1st) |
| 1. Southern Indiana |
13 (3) |
1. Missouri-St. Louis |
15 (3) |
1. Drury |
15 (3) |
| 2. Illinois Springfield |
11 (2) |
2. Truman State |
14 (2) |
2. Southwest Baptist |
14 (2) |
| Lewis |
11 |
3. Lindenwood |
10 |
3. Missouri S&T |
8 |
| 4. Indianapolis |
8 |
4. Quincy |
6 |
4. William Jewell |
7 |
| 5. McKendree |
7 |
5. Maryville |
5 |
5. Rockhurst |
6 |