ST. LOUIS -- Junior Ben Smith of Wichita State and sophomore Anthony James of Northern Iowa headline the list of selections for the 2011 Missouri Valley Conference specialty teams for men’s basketball.  Smith, a native of Oklahoma City, Okla., has been tabbed the conference’s Team Captain for the All-Bench Team, while James, a native St. Louis, Mo., 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.

 Smith started three of 30 games for the Shockers, but averaged 7.1 points and 2.2 rebounds.  His scoring average ranked fourth-best for Wichita State.  He has had 10 double-figure scoring games this year, and all 10 came in Valley play.  His season highs were 16 points, twice, and seven rebounds twice.  The junior averaged 8.3 points in Valley play, which was third best for Gregg Marshall's WSU squad.  He's joined on the All-Bench Team by teammate Garrett Stutz, Creighton's Jahenns Manigat, Evansville's Ned Cox, and Indiana State's Jordan Printy.

 James ranks second for UNI in scoring (12.6 ppg) and 3-pointers made (40) while he has had four 20-plus scoring efforts this season.  The sophomore poured in a career-high 25 points, including 6-of-7 3-point shooting in an 80-70 win at Bradley and he scored 23 (19 in the second half) in leading UNI to a 66-60 win over New Mexico.  Last year, he averaged just 5.9 minutes and 1.7 points per game for Ben Jacobson's ballclub.  He is joined on the Most-Improved Team by Bradley's Dyricus Simms-Edwards, Creighton's Antoine Young, Missouri State's Will Creekmore, and Wichita State's David Kyles.

2011 MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE ALL-BENCH TEAM
*Ben Smith, Wichita State  Jr. F 6-5 Oklahoma City (Okla.) Southeast High
Ned Cox, Evansville So. G 6-1 San Antonio (Texas) Judson High
Jahenns Manigat, Creighton Fr. G 6-1 Ottawa (Ontario) Regional Elite Dev. Acad.
Jordan Printy, Indiana State Jr. G 6-4 Marion (Iowa) Linn-Marr High
Garrett Stutz, Wichita State Jr. C 7-0 Kansas City (Kan.) North Kansas City High

2011 MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MOST-IMPROVED TEAM
*Anthony James, UNI So. G 6-0 St. Louis (Mo.) Normandy High
Will Creekmore, Missouri State Sr. C 6-9 Tulsa (Okla.) Edison High
David Kyles, Wichita State Jr. G 6-4 Dallas (Texas) Kimball High
Dyricus Simms-Edwards, Bradley So. G 6-3 Peoria (Ill.) Washington High
Antoine Young, Creighton  Jr. G 6-0 Bellevue (Neb.) West High

*--indicates team captain.