The Nebraska Wesleyan University basketball team was picked to finish ninth in the 2010-11 preseason Great Plains Athletic Conference Coaches’ poll that was released on Tuesday (Oct. 12). The poll was voted on by all 12 coaches with points awarded on an 11-1 basis and coaches could not vote for their own team.

Sioux Falls totaled 120 points and ten first place votes as the preseason favorite in the GPAC after they went 25-10 in 2009-10 to finish tied for second. Briar Cliff got 105 points and one first place vote for second, while Northwestern was third with 92 points. Dakota Wesleyan, the 2010 GPAC Champion, finished fourth with 91 points and the final first place vote.

NWU head coach Cam Schuknecht, who begins his fifth year as head coach of the Prairie Wolves, is expected to return three starters and nine lettermen from the 2009-10 squad that finished 10-15 overall, 8-10 in the GPAC to finish eighth in the league standings.

The Prairie Wolves will open practice on Oct. 15 with their first action coming in an exhibition game at Nebraska-Omaha on Nov. 13. The first regular season games will be during the weekend of Nov. 19-20 at the Webster Classic in St. Louis, Mo. NWU will take on Millikin University on Nov. 19, then play the host school, Webster University on Nov. 20.

Complete GPAC Men's Basketball Poll (PDF)