RSC Men's Basketball Coaches' Preseason Poll & Preseason All-Conference Team announced
MIDDLETOWN, Ohio -- The 2023-24 River States Conference Men's Basketball Media Day tips off with the release of the RSC Men's Basketball Coaches' Preseason Poll and RSC Preseason All-Conference Team.
The preseason coaches' poll is voted on by the league's 13 head coaches as a prediction of the conference standings this year. The preseason all-conference team identifies the Top 10 returning players to watch this upcoming season.
University of Rio Grande (Ohio) is this year's preseason favorite in the RSC with nine of its top 11 players returning from last year. The RedStorm received 139 total votes and eight of the 13 first-place votes in the polling of the RSC coaches.
Rio Grande was the RSC Regular Season Champion and an RSC Championship semifinalist last year. The RedStorm went 25-7 overall, 16-1 RSC and beat Marian (Ind.) in the first round of the NAIA national tournament before losing to William Penn (Iowa). Rio Grande has two players on the preseason all-conference team with senior guard Miki Tadic and sophomore guard Kaden Warner.
Point Park (Pa.) University is picked second in the preseason with 125 total votes and two first-place votes. The Pioneers return the top two players on the preseason all-conference team with junior forward Jo Valrie and senior guard Jalen Stamps. Point Park is coming off a 23-7, 13-4 RSC campaign as an RSC semifinalist.
Indiana University Kokomo and Indiana University Southeast tied for third place in the poll each getting 118 total votes. IU Kokomo received two first-place votes and IU Southeast one. Those two teams were the RSC Championship finalists last year with IU Southeast winning on the road. Both teams made the NAIA national tournament and both finished 23-9.
The top half of the poll was rounded out with WVU Tech (99 votes) in fifth, Indiana University East (87 votes) in sixth, conference newcomer Shawnee State (Ohio) University (81 votes) in seventh and Alice Lloyd (Ky.) College (65 votes) in eighth.
The poll finished out with Midway (Ky.) University, Brescia (Ky.) University, Oakland City (Ind.) University, Ohio Christian University and St. Mary-of-the-Woods (Ind.) College.
Rio Grande was picked as the favorite in the RSC East with 11 of the 13 first-place votes there followed by Point Park, WVU Tech and Shawnee State as the top four divisionally.
IU Southeast edged out IU Kokomo as the RSC West favorite with eight first-place votes compared to five for IU Kokomo. Next were IU East and Midway to round out the top four there.
In addition to Rio Grande and Point Park with two players each on the preseason all-conference team, IU East has two players with Jake Johnson and Colt Meyer as does WVU Tech with Ashton Parker and Andrew Work. The final two players on the team are Donnie Miller from Midway and Jocobi Hendricks from IU Southeast.
RSC MEN'S BASKETBALL COACHES' PRESEASON POLL (OCT. 11, 2023)
(First-Place Votes in Parenthesis)
| School |
Votes |
| 1. Rio Grande (Ohio) (8) |
139 |
| 2. Point Park (Pa.) (2) |
125 |
| T3. IU Kokomo (2) |
118 |
| T3. IU Southeast (1) |
118 |
| 5. WVU Tech |
99 |
| 6. IU East |
87 |
| 7. Shawnee State (Ohio) |
81 |
| 8. Alice Lloyd (Ky.) |
65 |
| 9. Midway (Ky.) |
51 |
| 10. Brescia (Ky.) |
35 |
| 11. Oakland City (Ind.) |
34 |
| 12. Ohio Christian |
32 |
| 13. St. Mary-of-the-Woods (Ind.) |
30 |
RSC MEN'S BASEKTBALL EAST DIVISION POLL
(First-Place Votes in Parenthesis)
| School |
Votes |
| 1. Rio Grande (Ohio) (11) |
71 |
| 2. Point Park (Pa.) (2) |
61 |
| 3. WVU Tech |
47 |
| 4. Shawnee State (Ohio) |
41 |
| 5. Alice Lloyd (Ky.) |
30 |
| 6. Ohio Christian |
17 |
RSC MEN'S BASKETBALL WEST DIVISION POLL
(First-Place Votes in Parenthesis)
| School |
Votes |
| 1. IU Southeast (8) |
73 |
| 2. IU Kokomo (5) |
71 |
| 3. IU East |
54 |
| 4. Midway (Ky.) |
39 |
| 5. Oakland City (Ind.) |
27 |
| 6. Brescia (Ky.) |
26 |
| 7. St. Mary-of-the-Woods (Ind.) |
25 |
RSC MEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
(Top 10 Returning Players)
| Name |
Pos. |
Cl. |
School |
| Jo Valrie |
F |
Jr. |
Point Park (Pa.) |
| Jalen Stamps |
G |
Sr. |
Point Park (Pa.) |
| Donnie Miller |
G |
Sr. |
Midway (Ky.) |
| Miki Tadic |
G |
Sr. |
Rio Grande (Ohio) |
| Jocobi Hendricks |
G |
Sr. |
IU Southeast |
| Jake Johnson |
G |
So. |
IU East |
| Ashton Parker |
F |
Sr. |
WVU Tech |
| Colt Meyer |
G |
Sr. |
IU East |
| Andrew Work |
G |
Sr. |
WVU Tech |
| Kaden Warner |
G |
So. |
Rio Grande (Ohio) |