Preseason Poll: Voted on by WIAC Head Coaches and Sports Information Directors

 
012-13 Preseason Predictions--Voted on by WIAC Head Coaches and Sports Information Directors



1: UW-Whitewater

2. UW-Stevens Point

3. UW-La Crosse

4. UW-Platteville

5. UW-River Falls

6. UW-Eau Claire

7. UW-Stout

8. UW-Superior

9. UW-Oshkosh

MADISON, Wis.--University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, the defending NCAA Division III champion, is the preseason choice to secure the 2013 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) men’s basketball championship, according to the league’s head coaches and sports information directors.

The Warhawks, ranked third nationally in a preseason poll by D3hoops.com, received 15 first-place votes in the conference projections after winning the third NCAA Division III championship in program history and 10th by a WIAC program a season ago. The 2011-12 squad also captured the 14th league crown in school archives and finished third in NCAA Division III with a 50.9 field goal percentage and sixth in scoring defense at 58.2 points per game.

UW-Stevens Point, ranked No. 15 by D3hoops.com, secured the remaining three first-place tallies in the league poll and is slotted for second in the conference race. The Pointers own a league-best 26 regular-season conference championships and have finished no lower than third place in the WIAC standings since the 1999-2000 campaign. Last year’s team earned a spot in the NCAA Division III Championship for the sixth consecutive year.

UW-La Crosse returns four starters and seven players who saw action in at least 20 games from last year’s team that reached the WIAC tournament semifinals for the first time since 2007.

UW-River Falls is coming off a 2011-12 campaign that featured its second straight NCAA appearance and first-ever WIAC tournament title. The program has 999 wins dating back to the first year that basketball records were kept in 1912.

Matt Siverling returns to UW-Eau Claire as head coach after holding the top spot at UW-Superior the past two seasons. He was an assistant coach for the Blugolds from 2004-07. UW-Eau Claire will start the 2012-13 campaign with seven of its first nine games away from home, including five straight to begin the season.

UW-Stout returns four starters and all 10 players who appeared in at least 20 games last season.

UW-Superior welcomes Paul Eberhardt as its new head coach in 2012-13. He most recently served as the head coach at Scottsdale Community College (Ariz.), and was an assistant coach at Winona State University (Minn.) and UW-River Falls. . The Yellowjackets are seeking their fourth straight winning season which would be the longest streak since a five-year stretch from 1949-53.

Pat Juckem begins his first season at the helm of UW-Oshkosh after spending the last seven years as the head coach at Coe College (Iowa). The Titans have posted at least 16 wins in 12 of the past 17 years.