ELMHURST, Ill. - Oakland University garnered 34 of 35 first-place votes and was tabbed as the overwhelming favorite to win the 2009-10 Summit League Men's Basketball Championship as selected by the annual preseason poll of league coaches, SIDs and media. The Golden Grizzlies placed a trio of players on the Preseason All-League First Team, led by Player of the Year selection Johnathon Jones.
Oral Roberts edged out IUPUI, who received the remaining first-place vote, for second place in the poll by just four points while South Dakota State held down fourth, defending Summit League champion North Dakota State finished fifth, IPFW sixth and Southern Utah seventh. Western Illinois, UMKC and Centenary rounded out the poll.
Jones, the national assists leader a year ago, was joined by OU center Keith Benson and forward Derick Nelson, along with Southern Utah guard Davis Baker, South Dakota State guard Garrett Callahan and IUPUI forward Robert Glenn.
Named to the second team were SDSU forward Anthony Cordova, Oral Roberts' forwards Kevin Ford and Dominique Morrison, North Dakota State forward Michael Tveidt and IPFW forward Deilvez Yearby.
The Golden Grizzlies finished as runner-up at the 2009 Summit League Championship and reached the second round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament while establishing a Division I-era school record with 23 victories. Greg Kampe, the dean of Summit League head coaches in his 26th season, returns eight letterwinners and five starters.
Oakland will rely on its three preseason first-team selections including Jones, who totaled 290 assists, 8.1 per game, and was a first team all-league selection in 2008-09. Benson is coming of a second team all-league performance and returns as the league's leading rebounding from last season after hauling down 7.8 boards per game, while placing fourth nationally in field goal percentage at a .622 clip. Nelson, a 2007-08 first team selection and preseason all-league pick a year ago, returns after missing last season with a broken foot that occurred just prior to the team's opening game.
Oral Roberts, the League's 2008-09 regular season runner-up, returns a pair of All-Newcomer selections from last season in Ford, who averaged 9.4 points per contest, and Morrison who placed second among the League's freshman scorers with 9.6 ppg. Scott Sutton, The Summit League's active leader in coaching victories and winning percentage, fields a team that lost a pair of all-league performers in Robert Jarvis and Marcus Lewis and features eight underclassmen on its roster.
Picked third, IUPUI will be led by Glenn, the 2008-09 Summit League Newcomer of the Year and second team All-League selection, and fellow senior forward Jon Avery, who led the League in field goal percentage last season. Ron Hunter's Jaguars return nine letterwinners, including four starters, from a team that placed fourth in The Summit League last year.
Selected fourth in the preseason poll, South Dakota State looks to move up The Summit League standings after a seventh place finish a year ago. The Jackrabbits return a league-best 10 letterwinners and all five starters led by Callahan, a second team All-League pick last season, and Cordova.
Defending Summit League champion North Dakota State was selected fifth in the preseason and has to replace four of its five starters from last year, including League Player of the Year Ben Woodside and first team All-League performer Brett Winkelman. Saul Phillips, the 2008-09 Summit League Coach of the Year, and the Bison will look to fill the experience void with Tveidt, a junior forward who averaged 9.8 points per game, along with five other returning letterwinners.
Led by 2008-09 Summit League Sixth Man of the Year and All-Newcomer team selection Yearby, IPFW brings back eight letterwinners and four starters after finishing in a tie for fifth place in the League standings last season.
Southern Utah is led by second team All-Summit selection Baker, who averaged 17.4 points per game, and is one of just four returning letterwinners from a year ago.
Western Illinois has five letterwinners back from last season's team, including three starters led by senior guards David Nurse and Quenton Kirby. UMKC returns their two starting forwards from a year ago in Spencer Johnson and Latreze Mushatt. After a Summit League Tournament berth in 2008-09, Centenary brings back a pair of starters and five letterwinners this season.
After six teams begin their 2009-10 campaigns on Nov. 13, The Summit League opens its 18-game, double round-robin schedule on Dec. 3. The 2010 Summit League Men's Basketball Championship returns to Sioux Falls, S.D., March 6-9.
2009-10 PRESEASON POLL VOTING
|
Rank
|
School (First-Place Votes)
|
Points
|
|
1.
|
Oakland (34)
|
520
|
|
2.
|
Oral Roberts
|
426
|
|
3.
|
IUPUI (1)
|
422
|
|
4.
|
South Dakota State
|
401
|
|
5.
|
North Dakota State
|
303
|
|
6.
|
IPFW
|
265
|
|
7.
|
Southern Utah
|
250
|
|
8.
|
Western Illinois
|
176
|
|
9.
|
UMKC
|
141
|
|
10.
|
Centenary
|
89
|
PRESEASON ALL-LEAGUE
Player of the Year
Johnathon Jones, Oakland
First Team
Davis Baker, G, Southern Utah
Keith Benson, C, Oakland
Garrett Callahan, G, South Dakota State
Robert Glenn, F, IUPUI
Johnathon Jones, G, Oakland
Derick Nelson, F, Oakland
Second Team
Anthony Cordova, F, South Dakota State
Kevin Ford, F, Oral Roberts
Dominique Morrison, F, Oral Roberts
Michael Tveidt, F, North Dakota State
Deilvez Yearby, F, IPFW
-SUMMIT-
Courtesy: The Summit League