Sporting News Ranks Murray State 35th In Preseason

Sporting News Preseason Rankings

The Murray State men's basketball team learned that it is again the focus of a major media source for preseason rankings.

In The Sporting News (Sep. 13 issue), the Racers are ranked 35^th in the magazine's preseason top-50, which represents MSU's highest ranking yet leading into the 2010-11 season.

The Racers were ranked ahead of West Virginia (36), Dayton (37), Marquette (38), UCLA (39) and Clemson (40) and just behind Minnesota (34), N.C. State (33), Mississippi State (32) and BYU (31).

MSU is coming off a 2009-10 season that saw them win an Ohio Valley Conference and school record 31 games, including a 17-game winning streak that was tied with Butler for the longest in the nation.

The season's high point came in the first round of the NCAA Tournament when the 13^th-seeded Racers knocked off 4^th-seed Vanderbilt, 66-65, in San Jose, Calif., for MSU's first win in the tournament since 1988.

Butler, ranked 19^th in the poll, ended the Racers' memorable season at 31-5 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in a tight, 54-52 game.

Other rankings in The Sporting News issue included, Michigan State as the top pick followed by Duke (2), Purdue (3), Kansas (4), Ohio State (5), Kansas State (6), Syracuse (7), Kentucky (8), North Carolina (9) and Pittsburgh (10).

When the Racers play in the 76 Classic during Thanksgiving week, they'll be in a field with three other teams ranked in The Sporting News top-50. Virginia Tech is 21^st, while Oklahoma State is 44^th and UNLV is ranked 49^th.

MSU opens the 2010-11 season (Nov. 9) at home in an exhibition game against Freed-Hardeman, before hosting East Tennessee State (Nov. 15) in the season opener. MSU's first road contest is at Mississippi (Nov. 17).

The Racers return eight major contributors including All-OVC selections B.J. Jenkins, Isacc Miles and Isaiah Canaan, who was named OVC Freshman of the Year. Junior forward Ivan Aska also returns after earning All-NABC District-19 honors last season.

In other preseason rankings, the Racers were picked 41^st by Collegehoopsnet.com and CollegeInsider.com picked MSU 47^th.

MSU finished 6^th in the final Mid-Major Top-25 for the 2009-10 season behind Butler who finished on top, followed by Northern Iowa (2), St. Mary's (CA) (3), Cornell (4) and Old Dominion (5).

Here are the complete rankings from The Sporting News.

1. Michigan State
2. Duke
3. Purdue
4. Kansas
5. Ohio State
6. Kansas State
7. Syracuse
8. Kentucky
9. North Carolina
10. Pittsburgh
11. Villanova
12. Memphis
13. Missouri
14. Gonzaga
15. Illinois
16. Baylor
17. Georgetown
18. Wisconsin
19. Butler
20. Florida
21. Virginia Tech
22. Tennessee
23. Washington
24. Wichita State
25. Florida State
26. Texas
27. Temple
28. San Diego State
29. Texas A&M
30. Xavier
31. BYU
32. Mississippi State
33. N.C. State
34. Minnesota
35. Murray State
36. West Virginia
37. Dayton
38. Marquette
39. UCLA
40. Clemson
41. Northwestern
42. Maryland
43. Arizona
44. Oklahoma State

45. New Mexico
46. Richmond
47. Georgia
48. Cincinnati
49. UNLV
50. Wofford

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