PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley senior forward Marcellus Sommerville (Peoria, Ill./Central H.S.) is the Missouri Valley Conference Preseason Player of the Year, according to preseason predictions printed in the cbsSportsLine.com College Basketball 2005-06 Season Preview.
In the magazine's Missouri Valley Conference preview, Sommerville was joined on the five-player preseason All-MVC first team by Bradley sophomore center Patrick O'Bryant (Blaine, Minn./Blaine H.S.). The publication did not offer preseason predictions of the conference races, but the Braves were ranked 60th in its breakdown of the nation's top 64 teams, joining Valley rivals Northern Iowa (47) and Southern Illinois (54). Northern Iowa and Creighton, though, were the league's only two picks for the 2006 NCAA Tournament field.
Sommerville is a two-time, first-team All-Missouri Valley Conference performer who has been the only player in the league to rank among the Valley's top three in scoring and rebounding in either of the last two seasons, accomplishing the feat both years. After averaging 15.6 points and a league-best 7.3 rebounds per game as a sophomore in 2003-04, Sommerville followed up with norms of 17.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game last season. In just two years, Sommerville has scored 975 points at Bradley and he is primed to become the school's 40th member of the 1,000-Point Club early in the 2005-06 campaign.
A 7-foot center, O'Bryant landed on the Valley's All-Newcomer and All-Freshmen Teams last season after leading the league with 2.8 blocked shots per game and threatening to become the first-ever freshman to lead the Valley in rebounding. O'Bryant wound up fourth in the rebounding race at 7.4 boards per game to go along with his 10.0 points per contest, and his six double-doubles were second in the Valley. He twice tied Bradley's single-game record for blocked shots with seven and already ranks ninth on the school's career list with 75 rejections.
Men's basketball practices around the country will begin Friday evening and the 2005-06 Braves will make their public debut Oct. 28 at 6:30 p.m. when both the Bradley men's and women's programs participate in the annual Red-White Scrimmage at Robertson Memorial Fieldhouse. Bradley's two men's basketball exhibitions are slated for Nov. 3 versus SIU-Edwardsville at the Fieldhouse and Nov. 12 versus Minnesota State at Carver Arena. The Braves will open the regular-season Nov. 19 at DePaul.
Ticket prices for the Red-White Scrimmage are $5 for adults, $3 for youth (K-12) and seniors and $13 for a Family Pack. Bradley students, faculty and staff will receive free admission to the scrimmage. In addition to the men's and women's basketball games, the Bradley Alumni Association will be sponsoring a Chilli Supper in the Fieldhouse foyer.
