MOUNT PLEASANT – The Iowa Wesleyan College men’s basketball team was picked to finish fifth in the Midwest Collegiate Conference in a preseason poll of league coaches released Monday afternoon.
The Tigers finished with 46 points in the poll, placing them in the middle of the nine MCC teams. St. Ambrose University was named the conference favorite with 77 points and five first-place votes, with the Fighting Bees just ahead of Mount Mercy University, which finished with 73 points and three first-place votes. Grand View University was third with 58 points and the final first-place vote, while William Penn University was fourth with 54 points.
Ashford University came in sixth in the poll with 39 points. Viterbo (Wis.) University was seventh with 24 points, while Clarke University (22 points) and Waldorf College (12 points) came in eighth and ninth, respectively.
The Tigers finished 9-20 last year and tied for eighth in the conference regular season standings with a 3-13 league mark. Five letter winners from last year’s team return, as well as senior guard Keenan Stanbridge (Quincy, Ill.), who missed last year with a knee injury but started for the 2008-09 team which won 20 games and advanced to the NAIA Division II National Tournament.
IWC opens its season Nov. 5-6 at the Bosch Financial Classic in Cedar Rapids hosted by Mount Mercy University. The Tigers will play Central Methodist (Mo.) University in their opener Friday, Nov. 5, at 6 p.m.
MCC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll
