ST. LOUIS – Illinois State senior Keith Fisher III has been selected to the preseason All-Missouri Valley Conference third team, and the Redbirds were picked to finish ninth in the 2020-21 preseason conference poll, which is voted on by coaches, sports information directors, and media.
Illinois State totaled 112 points in the poll, just behind Missouri State (210), Drake (207), and Valparaiso (148) and ahead of Evansville (54). UNI was chosen as the preseason favorite with 426 poll points and 30 of the 44 first-place votes. Loyola was a close second with 405 points and 13 first place votes while Bradley (341) and Indiana State (282) rounded out the top four poll point totals.
Last season Fisher led the Redbirds in rebounding (6.0 per game) and averaged 9.6 points – second highest on the squad. He came on strong at the end of the season, averaging 13.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game over his final 11 games of the year, including making 9-of-20 shots from long range, and 32-of-39 (.821) from the charity stripe.
UNI's AJ Green was chosen as the Preseason MVC Player of the Year and was joined on the all-conference first team by Tyreke Key (Indiana State), Cameron Krutwig (Loyola Chicago), Austin Phyfe (UNI), and Elijah Childs (Bradley). On the preseason second team was Donovan Clay (Valparaiso), Marcus Domask (Southern Illinois), Jake LaRavia (Indiana State), Roman Penn (Drake), and Gaige Prim (Missouri State). The remaining four members of the third team outside of Fisher were Trae Berhow (UNI), Tate Hall (Loyola Chicago), Marquise Kennedy (Loyola Chicago), and Tremell Murphy (Drake).
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