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2022-23 MVC men's Preseason Poll and All-MVC picks

Da Coach

Da Coach

Moderator
Staff member
The MVC just released the 2022-23 Preseason Poll and All-MVC picks-
https://mvc-sports.com/news/2022/10/...-favorite.aspx
https://express.adobe.com/page/koFXjVsIoJ1B2/

PDF Press release-
https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sit...18/Preview.pdf

Bradley picked 2nd, with one 1st place vote (maybe the Drake coach?).
Rienk Mast picked to 1st team Preseason All-MVC.
Tucker DeVries (Drake) picked as Preseason POY.

mvc.png


Interesting that the MVC has always had a reputation as a "guards' league". Yet of the 6 players on the 1st team Preseason All-MVC, only 2 are listed as guards (Roman Penn & Ben Sheppard), and only one is shorter than 6'6".
 
That is about what I expected. Kind of surprised to not see another Bradley player on the preseason All-MVC teams, despite being picked 2nd overall. You would think Leons or Henry would get selected.
 
You can see the votes were taken a while ago. Austin Phyfe is listed as third team but it looking more likely that he may not play at all. Really sorry for the young man- he is a fine player that has had a really tough time with Covid.
 
houstonbrave said:
You can see the votes were taken a while ago. Austin Phyfe is listed as third team but it looking more likely that he may not play at all. Really sorry for the young man- he is a fine player that has had a really tough time with Covid.
Click to expand...

25 yr old Roman Penn will likely not finish as "all mvc" as he may not play until the holidays. Lance Jones should have been 1st team in first place.
 
One unknown factor is how will the 3 new teams do in the MVC this year coming from weaker conferences. Recall that when Valparaiso entered the MVC in 2017, they had been one of the top teams for several years in the Horizon League, and the preseason poll in 2017-18 picked them 6th, ahead of Bradley. Other preseason publications picked Valpo as high as 3rd and 4th based on their successes in the Horizon League. But in the end, they finished 10th, dead last.-
2017-18 final standings- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba.../2018/group/18

And now after 5 seasons in the MVC, Valpo has still never finished higher than the 7th seed in the MVC. So there is usually a bit of a step backward initially for teams moving up to a better conference. Loyola also experienced that as they finished 10th in their first year in the MVC in 2013-14.
How that affects UIC, Belmont, and Murray State is hard to predict, especially since this year the transfer portal, immediate eligibility, and NIL money effect has resulted is such massive turnover of talent this season (except maybe for Drake) that it i hard to predict the 2022-23 season. I think the voters in this year's preseason poll might have learned from overrating Valpo in 2017, since today's picks have Belmont down at 6th and Murray State 8th, lower than most preseason publications have them. For example, Kenpom had Belmont ranked 4th and MSU 6th, and other predictions were similar.
 
houstonbrave said:
You can see the votes were taken a while ago. Austin Phyfe is listed as third team but it looking more likely that he may not play at all. Really sorry for the young man- he is a fine player that has had a really tough time with Covid.
Click to expand...

Curious that they now reveal that Austin Phyfe had "emergency surgery in June for blood clots in his lungs, Phyfe remains on blood thinners and has not been cleared". They really hadn't mentioned that before.
Yet, over the summer, Ben Jacobson said "he expects his All-Missouri Valley Conference center Austin Phyfe to be back and fully healthy for the 2022-2023 season"
but - he's still taking blood thinners- which were the reason Bradley's Pierre Cooper could not play (on blood thinners, the danger of internal bleeding from contact are significant). This is his 6th year (Sam Singh vibes) and if he doesn't play, he'd be at the mercy of NCAA which doesn't often issue 7th year waivers.
 
yoda said:
Curious that they now reveal that Austin Phyfe had "emergency surgery in June for blood clots in his lungs, Phyfe remains on blood thinners and has not been cleared". They really hadn't mentioned that before.
Yet, over the summer, Ben Jacobson said "he expects his All-Missouri Valley Conference center Austin Phyfe to be back and fully healthy for the 2022-2023 season"
but - he's still taking blood thinners- which were the reason Bradley's Pierre Cooper could not play (on blood thinners, the danger of internal bleeding from contact are significant). This is his 6th year (Sam Singh vibes) and if he doesn't play, he'd be at the mercy of NCAA which doesn't often issue 7th year waivers.
Click to expand...

Pierre Cooper was one the best players that Bradley fans never got to see play to his potential. I have always felt that was a shame
 
bradleyfan124 said:
Pierre Cooper was one the best players that Bradley fans never got to see play to his potential. I have always felt that was a shame
Click to expand...

Yes, you are right. Dick Versace used to say that of his terrific recruiting classes of the early 1980's, Pierre Copper was the best player he landed, and that he would have been a superstar at Bradley. He was a member of the 1981 recruiting class that also included Voise Winters, Anthony Webster, Barney Mines, and Willie Scott. Pierre sat out the 1981-82 season after he developed leg pain and swelling, which was quickly diagnosed as blood clots. He got excellent medical care and was treated with blood thinners. He was going to be allowed to play the 1982-83 season, but the blood clots returned when he stopped the blood thinners. After that, he was put back on the blood thinners and it was never deemed safe for him to play.

That is why he is listed on the 1982-83 roster as a freshman, though he never actually suited up or played.
Scroll down to #42- https://bradleybraves.com/sports/men...roster/1982-83

So Pierre never played a game at Bradley, though he did remain a student and graduated with a degree in business. He is still living in Chicago and has had a successful career in the music and broadcasting business.
LinkedIn page- https://www.linkedin.com/in/pierre-cooper-44029926
 
bradleyfan124 said:
Pierre Cooper was one the best players that Bradley fans never got to see play to his potential. I have always felt that was a shame
Click to expand...

I had the good fortune to see him practicing in the old Haussler Hall before his freshman season and he was something else. His first step was so quick that he literally left a Bradley player who was guarding him standing still as he went around him for a power dunk. Man, I wish he would have stayed healthy.
 
Da Coach said:
Yes, you are right. Dick Versace used to say that of his terrific recruiting classes of the early 1980's, Pierre Copper was the best player he landed, and that he would have been a superstar at Bradley. He was a member of the 1981 recruiting class that also included Voise Winters, Anthony Webster, Barney Mines, and Willie Scott. Pierre sat out the 1981-82 season after he developed leg pain and swelling, which was quickly diagnosed as blood clots. He got excellent medical care and was treated with blood thinners. He was going to be allowed to play the 1982-83 season, but the blood clots returned when he stopped the blood thinners. After that, he was put back on the blood thinners and it was never deemed safe for him to play.

That is why he is listed on the 1982-83 roster as a freshman, though he never actually suited up or played.
Scroll down to #42- https://bradleybraves.com/sports/men...roster/1982-83

So Pierre never played a game at Bradley, though he did remain a student and graduated with a degree in business. He is still living in Chicago and has had a successful career in the music and broadcasting business.
LinkedIn page- https://www.linkedin.com/in/pierre-cooper-44029926
Click to expand...

Thanks Da Coach. It is good to see he continued on and has done very well for himself
 
One MVC exhibition game today (Sunday, Oct. 30)-
Illinois State beat Division III College of Wooster (from Wooster, OH) 84-49 -
https://goredbirds.com/news/2022/10...2022-23-with-exhibition-win-over-wooster.aspx

Three other MVC teams played exhibition game yesterday (Sat. Oct. 29)-
Evansville beat D2 Oakland City University (Oakland City, Indiana) 81-56
https://gopurpleaces.com/news/2022/...efeats-oakland-city-in-exhibition-opener.aspx

SIU lost at Alabama 73-64-
https://siusalukis.com/news/2022/10...t-at-no-20-alabama-in-charity-exhibition.aspx

Valparaiso beat Cedarville 83-79-
http://www.valpoathletics.com/mbask...ns-basketball-prevails-in-exhibition-tune-up/
 
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