Oct. 28, 2008
ST. LOUIS -
Illinois State was a unanimous choice to win the Missouri Valley Conference in 2008-09 in the annual preseason poll conducted by the league's coaches, sports information directors and media, as announced by the league office Tuesday. Senior Kristi Cirone and junior Maggie Krick were selected to the 2008-09 Preseason All-Valley team.
Illinois State received all 40 first-place votes in the poll for a total of 400 points. Creighton came in second place with 310 points, followed by Drake (297), Evansville (251), Northern Iowa (245), Missouri State (215), Indiana State (166), Bradley (161), Southern Illinois (108) and Wichita State (47).
"It is exciting to see how much our program has grown over the past five years," said ISU head coach Robin Pingeton. "We appreciate the respect from the other coaches and media in our league. The players have worked very hard and have been so selfless in their commitment to this program. There is no doubt that the Valley will once again be up for grabs and we fully realize this is a preseason poll and not a post season standing. There are so many quality coaches and players in this league that on any given night absolutely anything can happen."
ISU is the fourth team to be unanimously selected as the preseason favorite, joining Drake (2001-02) and Southern Illinois (1986-86 and 1987-88). Of the previous three unanimous picks, only the1986-87 Southern Illinois won the regular season and conference tournament titles. Drake did earn at at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Sweet 16.
The only other time that ISU was chosen No. 1 in the preseason poll was the 1984-85 season, when the Redbirds went on to win the Gateway regular season title and played in the NCAA Tournament.
Preseason voters have correctly selected the conference's regular season champion 15 times in 25 seasons of the preseason poll, but, since the poll was expanded to include sports information directors and media in 1994-95, pollsters have accurately predicted 10 of the 14 champions. Preseason favorites have played in 17 postseasons, including14 NCAA Tournaments.
The Redbirds return 10 letterwinners from last season's 26-7 team that finished tied for first in the MVC regular season standings, won the State Farm MVC Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The `Birds won the second-most games in program history and had a school record 14-game winning streak. This season, ISU returns every statistical leader and 84 percent of the scoring production from a year ago.
Cirone is the two-time reigning Jackie Stiles MVC Player of the year and was an honorable mention All-American last season. She is the only returning first-team All-Valley member from last season and is the MVC active leader in five career categories. A three-time MVC Player of the Week, she led the Redbirds in scoring (16.7 ppg), three-point field goals (64), free throws (104) assists (172) and steals (80) a year ago.
Krick was an honorable mention All-Valley pick last year after starting all 33 games and ranking second on the team in scoring (12.5 ppg) and three-point field goals (50) and third in assists (103).
Cirone and Krick were joined on the preseason all-conference team by Maggie Dwyer (Missouri State), Jacqui Kalin (Northern Iowa) and Shannon Novosel (Evansville).
