ST. LOUIS -- University of Northern Iowa is the overwhelming choice to win the Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball title in 2009-10. The league said Tuesday that Northern Iowa received 38 out of 39 first-place votes. The school was the regular-season co-champion and conference tournament winner last year.

The Panthers received 389 points out of a possible 390 points and outdistanced Creighton, which received the other first-place vote and 336 points.

Trailing in the preseason voting are Illinois State (299), Southern Illinois (272), Wichita State (216), Bradley (208), Indiana State (173), Drake (105), Missouri State (92) and Evansville (55).

On the women's side, Creighton (393) is the preseason favorite, followed by Illinois State (340), Drake (296), Northern Iowa (253) and Indiana State (250). Missouri State (188) is picked to finish seventh.