Aug. 30, 2005
NORMAL, Ill. -
CollegeInsider.com, an online magazine and a forum for college basketball coaches, for the last seven years has sponsored a "Mid-Major Top 25" poll, but as a result of the success by the Missouri Valley Conference, the league will have an unprecedented third vote in this season's poll. That vote is in the hands of Illinois State head coach Porter Moser.
Moser was named to the voting panel for the 2005-06 season, by Oral Roberts head coach and chairman of the Mid-Major Top 25; Scott Sutton. As has been the case in previous years, every mid-major conference will be represented by at least one voter, with Mid-American, Missouri Valley and West Coast Conferences each having three voters.
"The MAC, the Valley and the WCC have proven to be the premier mid-major conferences," says Sutton. "Over the past few years each league has had multiple teams ranked in the Mid-Major Top 25 and multiple teams participating in postseason play. Having three voters from each league is good for the voting process."
In addition to Moser, Greg McDermott (Northern Iowa) and Steve Merfeld (Evansville) will vote from the Missouri Valley.
"It's great that so many coaches want to be on the panel," says Sutton. "Every year there are changes made. Not because coaches aren't doing a good job, but because there are so many coaches that want to be involved. It's great to see the interest in the Mid-Major Top 25."
The preseason Mid-Major Top 25 will be announced in October.
THE 2005-06 VOTING PANEL:
America East: Will Brown (Albany)
Atlantic Sun: Rick Byrd (Belmont)
Big Sky: Mike Adras (Northern Arizona)
Big South: Gregg Marshall (Winthrop)
Big West: Bobby Braswell (Cal State Northridge)
Colonial: Bruiser Flint (Drexel), Jim Larranaga (George Mason)
Horizon: Tod Kowalczyk (UW-Green Bay)
Ivy League: Joe Jones (Columbia)
Metro Atlantic: Jimmy Patsos (Loyola Maryland)
Mid-American: Tim Buckley (Ball State), Rob Judson (Northern Illinois), Steve Hawkins (Western Michigan)
Mid-Continent: Scott Sutton (Oral Roberts)
MEAC: James Wilhelmi (Howard)
Missouri Valley: Greg McDermott (Northern Iowa), Steve Merfeld (Evansville), Porter Moser (Illinois State)
Northeast: Dave Calloway (Monmouth)
Ohio Valley: Kyle Macy (Morehead State)
Patriot: Ralph Willard (Holy Cross)
Southern: James Fox (Davidson), John Shulman (Chattanooga)
Southland: Danny Kaspar (Stephen F. Austin), Bobby Marlin (Sam Houston State)
SWAC: Vann Pettaway (Alabama A&M)
Sun Belt: Kermit Davis (Middle Tennessee)
West Coast: Randy Bennett (St. Mary's), Brad Holland (San Diego) and Sam Scuilli (Santa Clara)
