Valparaiso University senior Tevonn Walker (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier College) has been selected as a preseason Second Team All-Missouri Valley Conference selection, while the Crusader men’s basketball team has been picked to finish in sixth place during the 2017-18 season as the MVC released its preseason poll on Tuesday.

Walker earns Second Team All-Conference accolades in the preseason after a junior campaign in which he was named to the Horizon League All-Defensive Team. Walker averaged 11.9 points and 5.6 rebounds per game last season and ranked second in the team in steals with 41. The senior scored in double figures 19 times, including five efforts of at least 20 points, and enters this season just eight points shy of 1,000 for his career.

Winners of the Horizon League regular season title five of the last six years, the Crusaders will have to prove themselves in their new conference, as they were chosen sixth in preseason polling of the MVC’s head coaches, sports information directors and media members. Valpo totaled 214 points in the polling and trailed fifth-place Southern Illinois by just 12 points. Missouri State, which Valpo has defeated each of the last two seasons, received 30 of the 40 possible first-place votes and topped the polling.