And Paul Lusk's Missouri State Bears were picked to finish eighth out of the ten Valley schools.
And his Bears will be very young with six freshman expected to see lots of playing time.
Knowing the lack of veteran playing time, the coaches put Missouri State in the bottom half of the conference for only the fifth time since the Bears have joined the Valley.
The Bears were 16-16 last season and Lusk says he's not worrying about the poll.
"It's just a poll and games are won the floor they're not won on paper," said Lusk. "So we're not that concerned about it. We do have a lot of questions that we have to answer. But we're excited about the opportunity in front of us. I think we have the right guys in the locker room."
Here's what the mens poll looks like, Creighton's in first followed by Illinois State, Northern Iowa, Wichita State and Evansville.
Drake checks in at number six, then comes Indiana State, the Bears at eight, then Bradley and Southern Illinois.
