HILLSBORO, Ore. – After eight seasons of
domination in the Northwest Conference, the status quo is not
expected to change for the Whitworth University Pirates, who are
once more the favorites in the 2014-15 NWC men’s basketball
race as predicted by the league’s nine coaches in their
annual pre-season poll.
Beginning with the 2006-07 season, Whitworth has won or shared
the NWC crown every year with the exception of 2008-09, and has won
the NWC Tournament which determines the league’s automatic
qualifier for the NCAA Division III National Tournament in all
eight of those years. The 2014-15 campaign is not anticipated
to be any different as the Pirates picked up six first-place votes
and 68 total points in the coaches’ voting to three firsts
and 61 points for runner-up Whitman College.
Whitworth is coming off a 23-6 season and 14-2 NWC mark that saw
the Pirates go 1-1 in the NCAA Tournament and finish with a No. 20
ranking in the final D3hoops.com poll. They are No. 17 in
this year’s national pre-season rankings by D3hoops.
Headlining the Pirates’ lineup are returning starters
Taylor Farnsworth (6-8 Sr. P) and George Valle (6-4 Jr. G) along
with vital “sixth-man” Christian Jurlina (6-5 So. F),
who will likely move into a starting berth. Farnsworth and
Jurlina were both All-NWC honorable mentions last year. The
Pirates will have to replace the NWC Player of the Year, guard
Dustin McConnell, and All-NWC First Team guard Colton McCargar,
however. Coach Matt Logie, the NWC Coach of the Year in 2012
and 2014, takes a 75-14 record into his fourth season in
Spokane.
Whitman went 16-10 last year and finished second in the
conference at 11-5. The Missionaries are the only other NWC
team to make the D3hoop.com poll, being one of the more
highly-rated teams among “others receiving votes” with
52 points.
Providing firepower for the Missionaries this season are a pair
of All-NWC Second Team selections in Matt Mournier (6-3 Sr. F) and
Tochi Oti (6-0 Jr. G), along with honorable mention Evan Martin
(6-6 Jr. F). They will miss 6-8 post Ben Eisenhardt, though,
the 2012-13 NWC Player of the Year who made All-NWC honorable
mention last year despite missing almost two-thirds of the season
with an injury and only playing in ten conference games.
Coach Eric Bridgeland is entering his seventh season at
Whitman.
Battling it out for the next two spots in the standings and the
final two berths in the NWC Tournament are expected to the
University of Puget Sound Loggers with 47 points and the Lewis
& Clark College Pioneers with 44 points.
The Loggers went 15-12 overall last year, 10-6 in the
conference, and upset Whitman on the road in the NWC Tournament
before falling to Whitworth in the title game. They will aim
to go further this year with All-NWC Second Teamer Erin Barber (6-0
Jr. G) returning, but must do it without First Team wing Rex
Nelson. Coach Justin Lunt has a 125-84 record at Puget Sound
after eight seasons in Tacoma.
Lewis & Clark made the NWC Tournament but lost at Whitworth
in the opening round last year, ending with a 17-9 overall record
and 10-6 NWC mark. The Pioneers must replace All-NWC Second
Team guard Quentin Sims and honorable mention guard Connor
Freeburg, but return double-digit scorer Serg Ovchinnikov (6-1 Jr.
G). Dinari Foreman is entering his fourth season as the head
coach at his alma mater.
Challenging for playoff spots will be the Pacific University
(Ore.) Boxers and the George Fox University Bruins, who are fifth
with 31 points and sixth with 29 points respectively in the
poll. The two tied for fifth in the conference last
year, one game out of the tournament, with identical 9-7 league and
16-9 overall marks.
The Boxers graduated All-NWC First Team and All-West Region
Third Team forward Daniel Zitani, but welcome back a trio of
starters in Mitch Wetting (6-4 Sr. G/F), Riley Grandinetti (5-10
Sr. G), and Cody Proctor (6-0 Sr. G). Also back is 2012-13
All-NWC honorable mention Danny Brakebush (6-3 So. G), who missed
all of last year with an injury. Fifth-year coach Tim Cleary
has Pacific pointed in the right direction, leading the Boxers to
their first back-to-back winning seasons since 1994 the last two
years.
Maco Hamilton made a dramatic splash in his first year as head
coach at George Fox, leading the Bruins to within a game of the NWC
Tournament, and has the conference’s only returning First
Team choice in A.J. Grant (6-0 Sr. G), whom DIII News named as the
probable NWC Player of the Year. The Bruins must replace
All-NWC First Team and All-West Region Second Team forward Sean
Atkins and Second Team wing Spencer Bolte, however.
Rounding out the pre-season predictions are Pacific Lutheran
University in seventh with 24 points, Linfield College in eighth
with 19 points, and Willamette University in ninth with 10
points.
Pacific Lutheran brings back two All-NWC honorable mentions in
Bryce Miller (6-6 Jr. P) and Brandon Lester (5-11 So. G) to try to
improve upon last year’s 8-17 record and 5-11 conference
slate. Veteran coach Steve Dickerson enters his ninth season
with the Lutes after 33 years as a high school coach in the
Columbus, Ohio, area.
Linfield enters its second season under Shanan Rosenberg after
going 5-20 overall and 3-13 in the conference in his
Wildcats’ debut. Ryan Potter (6-2 So. G) had a breakout
rookie year, leading the team in scoring, and the ‘Cats will
get a big boost from the return of 6-8 post Andrew Batiuk, a former
All-NWC honorable mention selection who missed all of 2013-14 due
to injury.
Willamette, which went 3-22 overall and 1-15 in conference play,
hopes to escape the cellar behind All-NWC honorable mention Brandon
Luedtke (6-4 Jr. F). The Bearcats will again be led by coach
Kip Ioane, who is in his sixth season directing the cage fortunes
at his alma mater.
The 2014-15 season gets under way on Saturday, Nov. 15, with
four teams in action. George Fox will take on high-scoring
Grinnell College in the Colorado College Tournament in Colorado
Springs, Colo., Pacific will host Schreiner University, Lewis &
Clark will entertain Centenary College (La.), and Whitworth will
welcome in D’Youville College.
Conference play begins with four games on January 2. The
four-team Northwest Conference Tournament is set for Thursday and
Saturday, Feb. 26 and 28, with 1 hosting 4 and 2 hosting 3 in the
semifinals and the highest remaining team hosting the finals.
The NWC Tournament champion earns the league’s automatic bid
to the NCAA National Tournament.
2014-15 Northwest Conference Men’s Basketball
Pre-Season Coaches’ Poll
|
TEAM
|
1STS
|
PTS
|
’13 NWC
|
’13 ALL
|
|
Whitworth University
|
(6)
|
68
|
14-2
|
23-6
|
|
Whitman College
|
(3)
|
61
|
11-5
|
16-10
|
|
University of Puget Sound
|
|
47
|
10-6
|
15-12
|
|
Lewis & Clark College
|
|
44
|
10-6
|
17-9
|
|
Pacific University (Ore.)
|
|
31
|
9-7
|
16-9
|
|
George Fox University
|
|
29
|
9-7
|
16-9
|
|
Pacific Lutheran University
|
|
24
|
5-11
|
8-17
|
|
Linfield College
|
|
19
|
3-13
|
5-20
|
|
Willamette University
|
|
10
|
1-15
|
3-22
|
(Points awarded on a 9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. Coaches
could not vote on their own teams.)