PEORIA, Ill. ? Bradley senior forward Marcellus Sommerville has been selected as one of the top power forwards in the country, according to daily rankings of the nation's top players by position by cbssportsline.com.

Already billed as the Missouri Valley Conference preseason player of the year by the cbssportsline.com 2005-06 college basketball preseason publication, today Sommerville was rated as the nation's No. 18 power forward in the fourth of the website's five-part series.

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.

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.