The University of Southern Indiana men’s basketball team is predicted to place fourth in the Great Lakes Valley Conference in 2018-19 by the conference head coaches. USI was 20-11 overall and an 11-7 in the GLVC a year ago, earning an eighth-straight trip to the conference’s post-season tournament.
The Screaming Eagles, who collected 141 points in the poll, return six players and three starters in 2018-19. USI senior guard Alex Stein (Evansville, Indiana), a preseason All-American, leads the returning players with 19.7 points per contest.
The prediction of a USI fourth-place finish comes in the first non-division GLVC preseason poll since 2004-05 when the league was comprised of 11 teams.
Bellarmine University (29-3, 16-2 GLVC), the defending GLVC champion, was awarded the top spot with 181 points and 12 of the 13 first place votes. Drury University (21-8, 13-5 GLVC), which won a share of the West Division last year, was second with 160 points, while Lewis University (15-14, 10-8 GLVC) was slotted in third with 157 points and the final two first place votes. The University of Indianapolis (19-9, 12-6 GLVC) rounded out the top five with 138 votes.
Truman State University (20-11, 13-5), which shared the West Division title last year with Drury, earned 118 points in the poll to place sixth. The league coaches closed out the top-half of the GLVC with William Jewell College (20-9, 10-8), which garnered 101 points for seventh place.
The bottom half of the GLVC poll was comprised of Maryville University (20-8, 12-6 GLVC; 94 points); Rockhurst University (14-14, 7-11 GLVC; 91 points); University of Missouri-St. Louis (14-13, 9-9 GLVC; 74 points); McKendree University (12-16, 3-15 GLVC; 64 points); University of Illinois Springfield (14-15, 6-12 GLVC: 61 points); Quincy University (9-18, 5-13 GLVC; 48 points); and Missouri University of Science & Technology (3-23, 1-17 GLVC: 28 points).
The 2018-19 USI campaign begins with exhibition games November 1 at Indiana University and November 3 at Butler University. The regular season campaign tips off November 9-10 with the GLVC/GMAC Crossover in Springfield Illinois. The home schedule begins with Martin Methodist College November 17 in the Physical Activities Center.
