ST. LOUIS -- Bradley boasts the top returning scoring trio in the Missouri Valley Conference and all three members of the trio - senior guards Sam Maniscalco (Chicago/St. Patrick H.S.) and Andrew Warren (Indianapolis, Ind./Brebeuf Jesuit Prep) and junior forward Taylor Brown (Atlanta, Ga./Dunwoody H.S.) - were recognized with preseason All-Missouri Valley Conference awards Tuesday morning.
The league announced its preseason all-conference team and team predictions Tuesday during the annual Missouri Valley Conference Basketball Media Day at the downtown Sheraton City Center. In a 40-person poll of the league's head coaches, sports information directors, radio play-by-play announcers and newspaper beat writers, Maniscalco landed on the five-player preseason All-MVC first team, while Brown and Warren both earned honorable mention accolades.
In a tight vote among the teams in the upper half of the preseason rankings, Bradley finished fifth in the polling with two first-place votes and 264 total points. While Wichita State (382 points) collected 33 first-place votes to earn the preseason Valley favorite label, Bradley was closer in the voting to second-place Missouri State (313 points) than sixth-place Illinois State (165). Defending champion Northern Iowa (289) was third and Creighton (282) was fourth. The bottom four teams in the poll were Indiana State (136), Drake (121), Southern Illinois (120) and Evansville (73).
Maniscalco was a second-team All-Missouri Valley Conference selection last season when he averaged 13.1 points per game and shot a league-best 62.6 percent from inside the arc in 18 regular-season conference games. The Valley's active leader with 329 assists, Maniscalco also ranks second among the league's current players with 105 steals and third 1,152 career points. Boasting 105 career games played, he has appeared in more games than any third-year player in Valley history and has a chance to set the league's career mark.
Warren is second among the league's top returning scorers after averaging 14.4 points per game last season and he ranks fourth among The Valley's active players with 1,019 career points. After bumping his scoring average from 3.4 points per game in 2008-09 to 13.5 ppg last season, Brown was the 2010 MVC Most Improved Player and ranked among the nation's leaders in improved scoring. The 6-foot-6 forward was The Valley's fifth-leading scorer and rebounder during the regular season, making him the only player to rank among the league's top five in both categories.
