ST. LOUIS, Mo. ? The Indiana State Sycamores officially kicked off the 2007-08 men's basketball season on Tuesday, as first-year head coach Kevin McKenna and senior guard Gabe Moore represented ISU at Missouri Valley Conference Media Day at the Sheraton City Center Hotel in St. Louis. In addition to the day's festivities, the Sycamores were picked to finish eighth in the preseason poll, as voted on by league sports information directors, local media and coaches.
The Sycamores were picked to finish in eighth place with 110 points, after finishing in the 10th and final spot in the league standings last season. Southern Illinois was a unanimous pick as the preseason favorite, as the Salukis received all 39 first-place votes for 390 points to finish ahead of Bradley in the No. 2 spot with 311 points. Missouri State was next in the poll with 283 points followed by Creighton (266) and Illinois State (235) to round out the top five. Wichita State (210) and Northern Iowa (197) were picked sixth and seventh, respectively, ahead of ISU in eighth. Drake (80) and in-state foe Evansville (63) occupied the final two spots in the poll.
ISU returns four starters from last year's squad that finished 13-18 overall, including Moore who led the team last season in points (357), points per game (11.5), steals (55), assists (121), free throws made (107) in 31 games played. Heading into the season, Moore needs just 156 points to become the 30th player in Indiana State history to score 1,000 points, 25 assists to crack the top 10 and 50 steals to take over third place on the all-time list.
The 2007-08 season will officially start on Thursday, when the Sycamores welcome DePauw to the Hulman Center for an exhibition game. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
