Wooster Favored to Win NCAC Again, Despite Inexperience

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster, winners of four North Coast Athletic Conference men’s basketball championships in a row, was picked as the preseason favorite by both the coaches and media during Thursday’s NCAC Basketball Media Day activities.

Wooster, which also recently came in at No. 21 in D3hoops.com’s first top-25 for 2008-09, has gone 15-1 in conference play each of the last four years. Entering this season, though, the Scots return just four players who have seen significant action – senior co-captains Brandon Johnson (Columbus, Ohio / Groveport Madison) and Marty Bidwell (Middletown, Ohio / Bishop Fenwick) as well as sophomores Bryan Wickliffe (Columbus, Ohio / St. Charles Prep) and Ian Franks (Greenwich, Ohio / South Central) – and Johnson is currently out with an injury.

Nonetheless, Wooster topped each poll, receiving seven first-place votes from the league’s 10 coaches and 20 out of 23 from the media while totaling 97 of a possible 100 points and 227 of 230 from the respective groups.

The Scots’ long-time rival, Wittenberg University, ended up second in each vote. The Tigers collected one first-place tally from each contingent, and 82 points from the coaches and 190 from the media.

Ohio Wesleyan University and Wabash College were third and fourth, respectively. Ohio Wesleyan notched one first-place vote from the media, while Wabash combined for the remaining three first-place nods – two from the coaches and one from the media.

Kenyon College also is expected to finish among the top half of the NCAC, narrowly finishing ahead of sixth-place Allegheny College in both polls.

Rounding out the polls were Hiram College, Oberlin College, Denison University, and Earlham College in that order, with the exception of the media flip-flopping Denison and Oberlin.

Wooster’s season begins with the 15th annual Al Van Wie/Rotary Classic, which will bring a highly-challenging field to Timken Gymnasium in the form of Messiah College (15-10 in 2007-08), Randolph-Macon College (20-6), and Washington & Jefferson College (14-14). Randolph-Macon is ranked 14th, Washington & Jefferson was picked to win the Presidents’ Athletic Conference, and Messiah played in the NCAA Div. III Tournament as recently as 2007.