Senior Anton Grady of Wichita State and sophomore MiKyle McIntosh of Illinois State headline the list of selections for the 2016 Missouri Valley Conference specialty teams for men’s basketball. Grady, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, has been tabbed the conference’s Team Captain for the All-Bench Team, while McIntosh, a native of Pickering, Ontario/Canada, is the league’s Team Captain for the Most-Improved Team.
The teams, which were selected by the league’s newspaper beat writers, are comprised of a minimum of five student-athletes (top five vote-getters, plus ties) on each squad.
Grady, a two-time All-Horizon performer and 1,000-point scorer at Cleveland State who has embraced a much different role off the bench at WSU. He started the first five games of the year but missed three weeks with a spinal concussion and has eased his way back. In 23 games, he averaged 7.1 points and 4.6 rebounds in 17.0 minutes. (16.8 pts, 10.8 reb. Per 40). He is joined on the squad by teammate Markis McDuffie; Nick Banyard of Illinois State; Mislav Brzoja of Evansville; Klint Carlson of UNI; and Leo Vincent of Southern Illinois.
McIntosh has played in 29 of 30 games, with 25 starts, compared to starting 16 of ISU’s first 30 games in 2014-15. This year, he is averaging 10.6 points per game, a 4.3-point increase from his average of 6.3 points per game in 2014-15. Notably, all of his shooting percentages have increased, comparatively: 42.9 percent from the field vs. 36.6 percent; 34.7 percent from beyond the arc vs. 20.5 percent; 66.7 percent at the free throw line vs. 55.4 percent. McIntosh netted a career-best 25 points on two occasions in 2015-16, surpassing his 2014-15 career high of 18 points. He is joined on the Most-Improved Unit by Jaylon Brown of Evansville; Chris Kendrix of Missouri State; Bennett Koch of UNI; Bola Olaniyan of Southern Illinois; and Donte Thomas of Bradley.
2016 MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE ALL-BENCH TEAM
Nick Banyard, Illinois State, Jr., F
# Mislav Brzoja, Evansville, Jr., G
Klint Carlson, UNI, So., F
* Anton Grady, Wichita State, Sr., F
Markis McDuffie, Wichita State, Fr., F
Leo Vincent, Southern Illinois, Jr., G
2016 MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MOST-IMPROVED TEAM
Jaylon Brown, Evansville, Jr., G
Chris Kendrix, Missouri State, So., G/F
Bennett Koch, UNI, So., F
*MiKyle McIntosh, Illinois State, So., F
Bola Olaniyan, Southern Illinois, Jr., C
Donte Thomas, Bradley, So., F
*–indicates team captain
#–named Tuesday as league’s “Sixth Man of the Year” by all-conference voting panel
