This year, I was asked by Loyola athletics to fill out a ballot for the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) men’s basketball preseason poll after being on the Loyola men’s basketball beat as a sports writer last season. I admit, it was tough to put together this ballot since it’s a wide open field without Wichita State University at the top, after leaving for the American Athletic Conference, but this is what I have.
1. Missouri State University (MSU)
I made this a tougher choice than it should have been. Missouri State has the obvious MVC Preseason Player of the Year in junior forward Alize Johnson.