October 27, 2009        
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE         

Missouri Southern Men 7th, Women 6th in Preseason MIAA Basketball Poll

Kansas City, Mo. -- The Missouri Southern men were picked seventh in both the media and coaches poll, while the women were picked sixth by the coaches and fifth by the media as the MIAA announced the Preseason Media and Coaches poll today in Kansas City.

Maryann Mitts' women's team is coming off an 19-10 record from a year ago that saw the team advance to the semis of the MIAA Tournament. The squad returns one starter in Randi Henderson and three other position players but Coach Mitts has ten talented freshmen and junior college transfers coming in to round out the program.

"You look at the six junior college players we signed and all of them were All-Conference performers," Mitts said. "Jasmine Lovejoy was a third-team All-American after scoring 1,000 points in high school and five of the six were All-Region, as well. Of the four freshmen, two were All-State performers (Erin Rice and Kelby Fritz)."

The top four in both polls were identical as Emporia State, Washburn, Pittsburg State and Central Missouri were the unanimous top four. Southern and Fort Hays were flipped in both polls with the Lions taking fifth in the media poll and the Tigers claiming fifth in the coaches poll. Nebraska-Omaha was seventh in both polls, while Southwest Baptist and Northwest Missouri were flipped in both polls. Missouri Western and Truman were 10th and 11th in both polls.

Robert Corn's men's team returns four starters, and all but two players from a team that finished 19-12 last season and had it's 11th- straight appearance in the MIAA Tournament. The team was ranked as high as 10th nationally.

Coach Corn feels this team has the potential to be something special.

"I think this team has an understanding of what it takes to win and it has the willingness to work hard enough to get the job done," Corn said. "This team doesn't have any egos. When you talk about really good teams, egos are put by the wayside. Our 1999-2000 team went 30-3 and accomplished a lot of great things as a unit, but there were no egos on that team. If we can continue with the attitude we've shown during the offseason and in our preseason work, a lot of positive things can happen."

Neither the coaches, nor the media poll were as uniform for the men as it was for the women. The top two teams in either poll were the same, with Southwest Baptist earning the top spot from the coaches and Central Missouri chosen as the media's nod.

In the coaches poll, Emporia State was third followed by Fort Hays, Missouri Western, Nebraska-Omaha, Southern, Washburn, Pittsburg State, Northwest Missouri and Truman. In the media poll, Fort Hays was third, followed by Emporia State, Washburn, Nebraska-Omaha, Southern, Missouri Western, Northwest Missouri, Pittsburg State and Truman.

The men will open up their exhibition slate this Friday night when the Lions travel to the University of Illinois for a 7 pm start. The Southern women will host Livin' the Dream in an exhibition on November 11, before opening the regular season on November 15 at Northeastern State. The Men will also host Livin' the Dream in an exhibition on November 14, before opening the regular season at the Pittsburg State Classic on November 20 against Missouri S&T.