Oct. 25, 2005
ST. LOUIS -
Illinois State and Indiana State may have met for the 2005 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship, but, according to the league's coaches and media, they won't be close in the 2006 regular-season standings. The Redbirds, defending champions of the Valley Tournament, are picked seventh, while the Sycamores, who have all five starters returning from a 23-9 team, are picked first.
And that makes sense for those who looked at the 2005 regular-season standings and the 2006 picks--no team is picked more than two slots from where it finished last year. The Redbirds were eighth, while Indiana State finished in a three-way tie for second.
Missouri State, the 2005 regular-season champion, was picked second in the poll and Creighton, who tied with Northern Iowa and Indiana State for second last year, got the nod for third in the poll. Indiana State garnered 34 of 40 first-place votes, while MSU and Creighton split the other six.
Drake, Northern Iowa and Evansville finished No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6, respectively, in the poll. Illinois State was next, followed by Bradley, Wichita State and Southern Illinois.
Redbird coach Robin Pingeton can understand why her team was picked No. 7, especially with the loss of 2004-05 seniors Jaci McCormack, Katie Donovan, Michelle Harakas and Sophie Tirtiaux. Eight of ISU's 12 players are freshmen or sophomores and three of the other four have been at Illinois State one year or fewer.
"We have a lot to prove as a team," said Pingeton. "We are very young, with only one senior on the team. We graduated our two leading scorers (McCormack and Donovan), and we only have one player (junior guard Catherine Graham) who played for Illinois State before last year."
She sees potential in her team, which returns three starters--center Holly Hallstrom, guard Megan McCracken and forward Amber Shelton--from a team which was 13-18 last year, 7-11 in the Valley, but finished the season with an NCAA Tournament loss to eventual national champion Baylor.
"I'm excited about our team," said Pingeton. "Our players are very driven, passionate, hard-working and coachable. It is a special group, and probably the closest team I've coached in my 15 years. That closeness is a great thing to build on. We have some talented players; we just need to get some experience under our belts."
Experience marks the Preseason All-Valley Team, which includes Indiana State senior point guard Melanie Boeglin, a returning all-conference player and a unanimous choice. She is joined by fellow seniors Cassie Hager of Northern Iowa, Angie Janis of Creighton and Kari Koch of Missouri State, plus junior Jill Martin of Drake on the preseason team, which, like the poll, was chosen by league head coaches, media relations representatives and two media members from each market.
The Redbird women play their first exhibition game at 7:05 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 5 vs. Odyssey in Redbird Arena. The regular-season opener is Nov. 18 at Chicago State, with the regular-season home opener Nov. 20 vs. Loyola Chicago in Redbird Arena.
2005-06 Preseason Missouri Valley Conference
Women's Basketball Poll
(selected by coaches, media relations and media)
Place Team Pts.
1. Indiana State (34) 393
2. Missouri State (3) 349
3. Creighton (3) 302
4. Drake 271
5. UNI 219
6. Evansville 207
7. Illinois State 190
8. Bradley 99
9. Wichita State 92
10. Southern Illinois 78
(first place votes in parentheses)
2005-06 Preseason All-Conference
Melanie Boeglin, Sr., G, Indiana State
Cassie Hager, Sr., C, UNI
Angie Janis, Sr., F, Creighton
Kari Koch, Sr., G, Missouri State
Jill Martin, Jr., F/C, Drake
