Picked 2nd? Rechelle Turner is just fine with that
WBB: Belmont is picked #1 in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll
There are just four players who earned All-Missouri Valley Conference honors in 2024-25 who are returning this season: Murray State’s Halli Poock and Haven Ford, along with Belmont’s Tuti Jones and Jailyn Banks. The Racer duo both earned spots on the All-Valley 2nd Team last season, while the two Bruins were named to the 3rd Team.
With that returning firepower, it shouldn’t be a surprise Murray State and Belmont were picked as the top two teams in the Missouri Valley’s 2025-26 preseason poll. What caught some people off guard was the order in which they were predicted to finish.
With 25 of a possible 44 first-place votes, Belmont edged Murray State for the #1 spot, and that’s just fine with Rechelle Turner.
“Belmont’s got a lot of talent coming back,” the ninth-year Racer head coach said. “They did extremely well in the portal, and they’re a championship program year in and year out. I don’t think you ever shake your head and think, ‘I can’t believe Belmont’s in front of us.’ I mean, that’s a hill we’ve been trying to climb for a long time. We finally were able to get the best of them last year in the tournament, but we expect them to be one of the teams we’re chasing every year.”
Compliments to their rivals from Nashville aside, being picked to finish second didn’t hurt Turner’s feelings one bit. If she ever needs something to stoke the fire of her team, this preseason poll is certainly a chip to lay on her program’s championship shoulder.
“For sure,” Turner smiled. “I’d already been talking to the returners about creating their own legacy. When everybody looks at the championship from last year, who wouldn’t say, ‘Well, they had the school’s all-time leading scorer’ — and we did. So I’m like, ‘What do you want your legacy to be?’ You come back and you prove people wrong that we can do it with the next team. It’s next man up and those type of things. As a coach, you always use that type of stuff to try to motivate them any way you can. Get (the voters) back and ‘We’re going to prove you wrong’ mode, which worked well for us last year.”
While Poock and Ford may not have found themselves at the top of The Valley’s preseason poll, they were the only two players from the conference to be named to the Becky Hammon Award’s preseason watch list. That award is given to the nation’s best mid-major player.
Last season, Poock averaged 17.0 points per game, while Ford was one of four players in the country to average at least 14.9 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists.
”I thought that was really cool when Clay (Wagoner), our Sports Information Director, told me that they both made it,” Turner said. “I thought that was great, but both well deserved. Both of them proved themselves on the big stage over and over last year, and obviously were a key reason that we were able to win a championship. I think it’s no secret we will go as far as they take us, so we’re looking forward to them having a big year.”
The Hammon Award watch list currently has 25 names on it, and players can play themselves on or off the list as the season progresses. The award will be handed out around the Final Four in April.
Nine months after tearing her ACL, Murray State junior forward Destiny Thomas is inching ever so close to being medically cleared to return to full basketball activities.
“She’s been thrown into some contact drills,” Turner said. “(Team trainer) Greg (Jocelyn) actually came in, looked at the practice schedule (last week) and said she could do a little bit more. I think she will be gradually just working her way back into practice, and, you know, she’s got to get in shape. Obviously, there’s a lot of things that are ahead of her, boxes that she has to check off, but it’s great seeing her running up and down the floor.”
While she may be able to start being worked into some games once Murray State’s season starts November 7th, the hope is for Thomas to be back to full-strength, and speed, by the time Missouri Valley Conference play begins after Christmas.