Men's Basketball Picked 12th in Heart Preseason Basketball Poll
The Heart of America Athletic Conference announced its 2023-24 Heart Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll earlier this week and Culver-Stockton College was picked to finish in a tie for 12th place according to the 13 Heart head coaches.
The Wildcats, who finished 9-18 overall and 5-17 in the conference a season ago, is under the direction of new Head Coach Dorian Hobbs, Jr. Hobbs welcomes back 13 players from last season's team, including leading scorer's Robert Fry II (13.9 ppg) and Seth Larson (11.0 ppg).
MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) University was chosen to finish first this season, according to the head coaches.
Under first-year coach Adam Hepker, MNU went 20-10 overall and 15-7 in the Heart last season and advanced to the NAIA National Championship 1st Round.
The Pioneers last won a Heart men's basketball regular season title in 2016 when they shared the title with William Penn and Peru State. Their last outright regular season championship was in 2012.
The Heart sent five teams to the NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship 1st Round last season.
William Penn is the defending Heart regular season and tournament champions. The Statesmen have won four-straight Heart regular season titles and four-straight Heart Conference Tournament Championships.
MNU earned the most votes in the poll with 136 and had six first-place votes, while William Penn earned 131 votes and six first-place votes. Baker earned the other first-place vote and had a total of 118 votes to finish third in the preseason poll.
Complete Poll Below:
Team (1st place votes) Points
1. MidAmerica Nazarene (6) 136 points
2. William Penn (6) 131 points
3. Baker (1) 118 points
4. Peru State 111 points
5. Central Methodist 100 points
6. Benedictine 82 points
7. Clarke 73 points
8. Graceland 61 points
9. Grand View 58 points
10. Missouri Valley 51 points
11.Mount Mercy 39 points
12. Culver-Stockton 27 points
12 Park 27 points