ST. LOUIS – Fresh off of a championship in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, the University of Evansville men's basketball team has been picked to finish second in the Missouri Valley Conference this season.
"This is a great recognition for our program. Being picked that high in such a competitive league is a testament to the guys on the floor," head coach Marty Simmons said. "This gives us a lot of confidence to start the season and we hope to be at the top of the league in March."
Evansville also has two players on the pre-season unit. The reigning CIT Tournament post-season champs, the Aces return all five starters and match their highest-ever pre-season position (1999-00 and 2000-01 pre-season polls) as an MVC member.
D.J. Balentine enters his senior year with a chance to leave as the top scorer in program history. He begins the season with 1,766 points and is on pace to break Colt Ryan's program record of 2,279, which was set in 2013. Mockevicius had 20 double-doubles last year, a tally that was 4th in the NCAA. He finished in the top 20 in the country in rebounds, defensive rebounds and shooting percentage.
Both Balentine and Mockevicius were named to the All-Conference First Team a season ago.
"We are very excited and humbled to be picked second, but in our minds, it does not mean much right now," Balentine said. "It is just preseason expectations, but it does give us motivation going forward to finish first."
The pick also shows just how far the program has come under the leadership of Coach Simmons. From 2001 through 2008, the Purple Aces finished in the top six in the conference just once. Since the 2008-09 campaign, UE has five top six finishes, including a tie for third place in 2011-12.
Preseason Poll:
- Wichita State (42 first place votes) 429
- Evansville 350
- UNI 336
- Illinois State 323
- Loyola (1) 267
- Indiana State 218
- Drake 165
- Missouri State 127
- Southern Illinois 101
- Bradley 49
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