Southern Illinois

Duke

Michigan

Southern Illinois

UCLA

In recent seasons, the Missouri Valley Conference has had great success at home in non-conference play, and the league is at it again, recording a 7-1 home start in the first week of the season.  In the past four seasons (not counting this year), the league has combined for a 226-33 (.873) mark at home in non-conference play.  The results have translated into 20 post-season bids (including 10 NCAA trips, nine NITs and a CBI entry).

State Farm Missouri Valley Players of the Week

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Saluki men's basketball head coach Chris Lowery announced his three-man 2008 recruiting class on Monday, which features a point guard, a shooting guard and a power forward.

Kendal Brown (Evansville, Ind./ William Henry Harrison H.S.) is a 5-foot-9 point guard, who averaged 15.4 points, 5.3 assists and 2.6 steals last season. A cousin of head coach Chris Lowery, who plays for Lowery's high school alma mater, he was a first team all-league pick in the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference last season.

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Despite opening up a 15-point first half lead, the UMass men's basketball team couldn't hold off a charging Southern Illinois Salukis squad, which used a late 12-0 run to turn a two-point deficit into a 10-point advantage on its way to an 80-73 win on Wednesday night. With the loss, the Minutemen have been eliminated from the 2K Sports Classic, falling one win shy of a return trip to Madison Square Garden where last season's memorable NIT run culminated.

CARBONDALE, Ill.

 

Conference Rank: 9th

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois may not be in mid-season form just yet, but the Salukis flashed plenty of potential in Monday's 82-59 exhibition win over NAIA opponent Missouri Southern.

SIU dominated early, surging to a 51-27 halftime lead. The play got a little sloppy in the second half when Southern committed 23 of its 34 turnovers.

For head coach Chris Lowery, he's willing to take the good with the bad at this point in the season, especially considering the roster has eight new faces.

Bradley

Creighton

Drake

Illinois State

Southern Illinois

OMAHA, Neb. -- The Creighton men¹s basketball team is the near-unanimous pick to win the Missouri Valley Conference, according to the preseason poll announced today during the league¹s annual Basketball Media Day. Creighton earned 36 of 39 first-place votes in the survey of league coaches, beat writers, sports information directors and play-by-play men.