Sophomores Kyle Wilson of Wichita State and Grant Stout of UNI headline the list of selections for the 2005 Missouri Valley Conference specialty teams for men’s basketball. Wilson, a native of Plano, Texas, has been named the league’s team captain for the All-Bench Team, while Stout, a native of New Sharon, Iowa, has been tabbed the Conference’s team captain for the Most Improved Team.

The teams, which were selected by the league's newspaper beatwriters, are comprised of a minimum of five student-athletes on each squad and feature an interesting mix of underclassmen and upperclassmen.

Wilson is among the Shockers’ leaders in scoring at 9.7 points per game, despite only one start in 27 contests. He’s among the league leaders in free throw percentage as he’s connected on 83.9 percent of his charity tosses. He also averages 4.1 rebounds. Wilson is joined on the All-Bench team by Blake Ahearn of SMS; Neil Plank of Illinois State; Lawrence Wright of Bradley; and Tony Young of Southern Illinois.

Stout’s numbers have seen a dramatic increase from his freshman totals. The sophomore played in all 31 games last year and averaged 2.9 points and 3.3 rebounds. This year, he is averaging 11.1 points per game and leads the conference in rebounding with 7.7 per contest. He has 72 blocked shots, which is tied for the conference leadership in that category. He is joined on the unit by Pete Eggers of Drake; Tamarr Maclin of SMS; Jamaal Tatum of Southern Illinois; and Lucious Wagner of Evansville.

2005 MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE ALL-BENCH TEAM
Blake Ahearn, SMS, Gd., So.
Neil Plank, Illinois State, G/F, Jr.
*Kyle Wilson, Wichita State, Fwd., So.
Lawrence Wright, Bradley, Fwd., Jr.
Tony Young, Southern Illinois, Gd., So.

2005 MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MOST-IMPROVED TEAM
Pete Eggers, Drake, Fwd., Sr.
Tamarr Maclin, SMS, Fwd., Sr.
*Grant Stout, UNI, Fwd., So.
Jamaal Tatum, Southern Illinois, Gd., So.
Lucious Wagner, Evansville, Gd., Sr.

*--indicates team captain.