ST. LOUIS, Mo. ? The Bradley women's basketball team was picked to finish eighth in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason women's basketball announced by the league office Tuesday. Bradley received 161 points in the poll to finish five points behind sixth-place Indiana State in the annual survey of conference coaches, sports information directors and media members.
I-74 rival Illinois State was the unanimous favorite to win the Valley regular-season crown after garnering all 40 first-place votes (400 points). Creighton was selected to finish second, finishing 90 points behind the Redbirds with 310 points. Defending tri-champion Drake was selected third with 297 points and fellow tri-champion Evansville was fourth in voting with 251 points.
Northern Iowa followed in fifth place at 245 with Missouri State checking in with 215 points to finish sixth in voting. Indiana State edged the Braves by five points (166) for seventh and Bradley was eighth (161). Southern Illinois finished ninth in balloting with 108 points and Wichita State rounded out the preseason poll in 10th with 47 points.
Bradley returns eight letterwinners from last year's team which finished eighth in the 2007-08 regular season race. Junior guard Skye Johnson (Olympia Fields, Ill./Marian Catholic) headlines a group which features six of the top seven scorers from last year. The defending MVC Defensive Player of the Year, Johnson led the MVC in steals (82) while also leading Bradley in scoring. The most experienced back court player on the roster, Johnson was second on the team with 99 assists and 17 blocked shots and is just the fifth BU player to have 250 points, 75 assists, 75 rebounds and 70 steals in a season.
Helping lead a strong contingent of returning players in the front court is senior forward Kelly Krumwiede (Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard West). The only four-year player on the roster, Krumwiede is coming off her best season at Bradley after averaging 8.4 points and a team-best 6.2 rebounds per game. She averaged 10.3 points and 7.3 boards per game in Valley play and ranked eighth in the MVC in rebounding in 2007-08. Bradley's active career leader in scoring and rebounding, she needs 181 boards to become just the sixth player in program history with 700 career rebounds.
The Braves boast one of the most experienced rosters in the MVC, joining just two other Valley squads to return over 70 percent of its scoring and rebounding from last year. In addition to the returning players, ninth-year Bradley head coach Paula Buscher's squad will also benefit from the addition of eight new players which include seven freshmen and one sophomore.
Bradley will play the first of two exhibition games Sunday, Nov. 2 when Lewis University visits Central Illinois for a 7:05 p.m. game at Illinois Central College's Lorene Ramsey Gym.
