Drake men's basketball is preseason favorite in Missouri Valley Conference

The Drake men's basketball team was predicted to finish first in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll, and Drake's Tucker DeVries was selected as the MVC Preseason Player of the Year, the league announced Tuesday.

The Bulldogs were selected as the preseason favorite for the 2023-24 season in the MVC for the third consecutive year after receiving 24 first-place votes. The voting panel was made up of MVC coaches, sports information directors and media members.

Northern Iowa was picked to finished second after receiving 19 first-place votes.

Drake finished the 2022-23 MVC regular season standings in second place with a 15-5 conference record before winning the 2023 State Farm MVC Tournament for an NCAA Tournament berth.

DeVries was predicted to repeat as Player of the Year. DeVries averaged a team-high 18.6 points per game a season ago. UNI's Bowen Bown joined DeVries on the All-MVC preseason first team.

Drake's Darnell Brodie and UNI's Tytan Anderson earned a place on the second team.

Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball preseason poll

• 1. Drake (24 first-place votes) 558 points

• 2. UNI (19) 524

• 3. Bradley (3) 487

• 4. Indiana State 402

• 5. Belmont 400

• 6. Missouri State (1) 386

• 7. Murray State 292

• 8. Illinois State 237

• 9. Southern Illinois 218

• 10. UIC 157

• 11. Evansville 95

• 12. Valparaiso 66

Individual honors

PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Tucker DeVries, Drake

FIRST TEAM

• Tucker DeVries, Drake

• Bowen Born, UNI

• Donovan Clay, Missouri State

• Malevy Leons, Bradley

• Cade Tyson, Belmont

SECOND TEAM

• Darnell Brodie, Drake

• Tytan Anderson, UNI

• Robbie Avila, Indiana State

• Julian Larry, Indiana State

• Rob Perry, Murray State

• Kenny Strawbridge, Evansville

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Drake men's basketball is preseason favorite in Missouri Valley