2015-16 NWC Men’s Basketball Pre-Season Coaches’ Poll
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TEAM
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1STS
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PTS
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‘15 NWC
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‘15 ALL
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1 Whitworth University
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7
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70
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15-1
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25-4
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2 Whitman College
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1
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57
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14-2
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20-6
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3 Lewis & Clark College
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1
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53
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10-6
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16-11
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4 Willamette University
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38
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8-8
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10-16
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5 University of Puget Sound
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33
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7-9
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12-12
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6 Pacific University (Ore.)
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29
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7-9
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12-13
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7T George Fox University
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18
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3-13
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5-20
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7T Pacific Lutheran University
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18
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6-10
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8-17
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9 Linfield College
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17
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2-14
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4-21
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(Points awarded on a 9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. Coaches could not vote on their own teams.)
MEN’S BASKETBALL: Ranked Whitworth Heavily Favored for 7th Straight NWC Crown
HILLSBORO, Ore. – With a pre-season ranking of third nationally in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com, it should come as no surprise that Whitworth University is once again a solid choice to capture the Northwest Conference men’s basketball championship in 2015-16 as determined by a poll of the league’s nine coaches.
Whitworth was the first-place choice on seven ballots and received 70 points in all, easily out-outdistancing runner-up Whitman College with one first and 57 points. Whitworth is coming off an overall 25-4 record in 2014-15 that landed them 15th in the final national rankings. The Pirates’ 15-1 conference record earned them their eighth NWC title in the last nine seasons, and they also won the NWC Tournament and the automatic bid to the NCAA National Tournament that goes with it for the ninth year in a row.
Hoping to make it 10 straight national appearances, the Pirates will count on 2014-15 NABC Third Team All-America and NWC Player of the Year Kenny Love (Jr, G, 11.9 ppg, 3.3 rpg), First Team All-NWC Christian Jurlina (Jr, F, 14.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg), and honorable mention All-NWC George Valle (Sr, G, 11.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg) to get them there. NWC Coach of the Year Matt Logie, who became the first coach in D-III history to reach 100 wins in only four years (he’s 100-18 heading into this season), must find a replacement for All-NWC honorable mention post Taylor Farnsworth.
Whitman finished one game behind Whitworth last year at 14-2 in the conference and went 20-6 overall. The Missionaries graduated First Team All-NWC forward Matt Mounier, but return Second Team All-NWC Jackson Clough (Sr, G, 13.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg) and Evan Martin (Sr, F, 10.6 ppg, 6.2 rpg) along with honorable mention All-NWC Christian MacDonald (So, G, 12.3 ppg, 18 rpg). Coach Eric Bridgeland is entering his eighth season at Whitman.
Picked third in the poll was Lewis & Clark College with the one remaining first-place vote and 53 total points. The Pioneers went 16-11 overall, came in third in the league at 10-6, and upset Whitman on the road in the first round of the NWC Tournament before bowing to Whitworth in the finals. Second Team All-NWC guard Serg Ovchinnikov is gone, but coach Dinari Foreman, who is in his fifth season at his alma mater, welcomes back a pair of Second Team All-NWC performers in Carl Appleton (Sr, F, 10.0 ppg, 8.5 rpg) and Jason Luhnow (Sr, G, 11.1 ppg, 6.0 rpg).
Willamette University captured the fourth spot in the poll with 38 points. The Bearcats edged two other teams by a game for the final spot in the NWC Tournament with an 8-8 mark in conference last year and finished 10-16 overall. Honorable mention All-NWC forward Kyle McNally has graduated, but All-West Region Second Team and First Team All-NWC Brandon Luedtke (Sr, F, 14.1 ppg, 9.4 rpg) is back for Kip Ioane, a former Bearcat who is in his seventh season as head coach.
The University of Puget Sound was the middle-of-the-pack prediction this year, coming in fifth in the poll with 33 points. The Loggers tied for fifth last year, going 7-9 in the league and 12-12 overall. All-West Region Third Team and First Team All-NWC forward Nick Holden and honorable mention All-NWC guard Erin Barber are gone, but Keith Shattuck (Sr, 9.6 ppg, 2.3 rpg) and Kohl Moyer (Jr, 9.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg) provide ongoing firepower for coach Justin Lunt, who his entering his 10th campaign in Tacoma.
Right behind UPS in sixth in the poll was Pacific University (Ore.) with 29 points. The Boxers, at 7-9 in conference play, tied for fifth in the league while compiling a 12-13 overall mark. First Team All-NWC forward Mitch Wettig will be missed, but coach Tim Cleary, entering his sixth season with the Boxers, has Skyler Burgess (8.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg) back to build around.
The bottom third of the conference was tightly packed, with George Fox University and Pacific Lutheran University tying for seventh with 18 points apiece and Linfield College tabbed for ninth with 17 points. George Fox was 5-20 overall and eighth in the league at 3-13, PLU was 8-17 and seventh in the NWC at 6-10, and Linfield was 4-21 and ninth in the conference at 2-14.
George Fox under third-year Bruins coach Maco Hamilton will center around J.J. Lacey (Jr, G, 12.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg) and Johnathan Doutt (So, G, 9.3 pppg, 1.3 rpg). At PLU, coach Steve Dickerson, now in his 10th season, has a pair of double-digit scorers, Brandon Lester (Jr, G, 12.5 ppg, 2.2 rpg) and Dylan Foreman (So, G, 11.4 ppg, 4.2 rpg), as the Lutes’ nucleus. Linfield will count on Ryan Potter (Jr, G, 9.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg) and a bunch of talented newcomers to lead the Wildcats and third-year coach Shanan Rosenberg out of the cellar.
The 2015-16 season begins Friday, Nov. 13, with Whitworth hosting the University of La Verne, Willamette entertaining Macalester College, and two games in the Bon Appetit NWC Tipoff Classic: Linfield vs. Johnson & Wales University (R.I.), and the University of Valley Forge vs. tournament host Lewis & Clark. There will be a few NWC games before Christmas this season, starting with Puget Sound at Pacific Lutheran on Tuesday, Dec. 1.
The four-team Northwest Conference Tournament is set for Thursday and Saturday, Feb. 25 and 27, 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.
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