Posted: Oct 26, 2022

Griffins Look for Next Step

After winning their first St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball regular season title since 2009, Fontbonne University is the coaches' preseason favorite. The Griffins now will be looking to win the program's first tournament championship since that same year, 2009. They picked up 47 points in the poll with five first-place votes. Head Coach Lance Thornhill brings back a pair of First Team All-Conference players and four starters. Caden Clark and Elijah Rice give the Griffins arguably the most dynamic backcourt. Clark averaged 15.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game while Rice put up 15.2 points per game on 49 percent shooting while grabbing 7.2 rebounds per game. Brent Wagner gives the Griffins another scoring guard and averaged 11.4 points per game last season while leading the team with 60 three-point field goals. Will Suellentrop will be the focus on the inside and put up 9.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. Coach Thornhill brings in a trio of prep All-Conference players in Peyton Blair, Ethan Chartrand, and Grant Hastings.

Webster University finished with 40 total points, picking up two first-place votes. The Gorloks went just 10-18 overall last year but are expected to get back to the form that saw them advance to the tournament championship game by winning five of their final six games. Head Coach Chris Bunch returns three starters and boasts a strong inside-outside duo of Karl Moore Jr. and Wynne Brown Jr. Moore averaged 10.2 points and 10.9 rebounds per game last season as he was named the SLIAC Newcomer of the Year. He also was named to the SLIAC All-Defensive Team as a freshman after leading the league with 84 blocks, the third most in conference history. Brown can put up points in a quick fashion and averaged 13.2 points per game last year while hitting 43 three-pointers. Javane Nugent averaged 4.5 points and 6.6 rebounds per game in limited minutes last season and could see his workload increase this year. Mark Moore is one of the league's top scoring threats off the bench and led the team in three-point field goals last season while averaging 8.2 points per game. New faces to the program are Jalen Davis, Ben McMullan, and Maxamus Simms.

Eureka College finished with 35 points on the poll, finishing 3rd. Head Coach Chip Wilde returns just two starters but both are All-Conference players. Logan Dorethy averaged 16.0 points and 6.3 rebounds per game in his first season with the program while being named Second Team All-Conference. Charlie McKinty joins Dorethy to give the Red Devils a tough tandem. McKinty, a Third Team All-Conference player, averaged 16.0 points and 5.4 rebounds per game but can also step outside and led the team with 50 three-pointers. Austyn Ellison put up 6.3 points per game while dishing out 74 assists last season. They will need to replace SLIAC Player of the Year Ian Milsteadt but could look for transfers Cody Baer and Noah Persich to pick up some of those minutes and scoring.

Blackburn College was picked 4th in the poll with 34 points including the final first-place nod. The two-time defending tournament champions are coached by Austin Kirby and were 11-18 overall last season before rolling off three straight tournament wins to take the title. Guard Chanz Aldridge, a former league Player of the Year, is back for one last go-around with the Beavers. An impactful player at both ends of the court Aldridge averaged 16.7 points per game while also tallying 66 assists and 23 steals. Izayah Talmadge shined for the Beavers last season, putting up 7.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game last year while being named to the SLIAC All-Defensive team. Center Eliot Harrison II averaged 4.7 points and 5.5 rebounds per game as a freshman while finishing second in the league with 40 blocks. The recruiting class includes junior Zach Kelsey and freshmen Troy Cole Jr., Cameron Johnson, and Tyson Johnson.

Principia College received 21 points, coming in 5th on the poll. Panther head coach Todd Zimmerman returns all five starters and 10 players from last year's team that was 9-15 overall. Clark Davidson was an All-Conference pick last year after putting up 14.5 points and 8.4 rebounds per game while shooting 59 percent from the field. AJ Byrd led the team in scoring at 15.6 points per game is also back. The Panthers led the league in three-point field goal percentage last season and could do so once again with the trio of Payton Sellars, Kevin Wingert, and Jake Kampf all coming back. Sellars averaged 14.3 points while shooting 37 percent from long range. Wingert was the SLIAC 6th Man of the Year last year after averaging 9.4 points per game and hitting 37 three's while Kampf knocked down 60 triples and averaged 11.7 points per game. Jaquan Adams and Marco Powells are transfers that should also see time in the rotation.

Westminster College was chosen 6th in the poll with 20 points. For the first time since 1998, the Blue Jays will be coached by someone other than Matt Mitchell but it is a familiar face. Todd Creal has been on the staff since 2020 and takes over a program that returns three starters. Those starters include two players that averaged double figures in scoring. Jaxon Althaus was second on the team at 15.1 points per game and hit on 44 threes while shooting 42 percent from the field. Tre Kempker put up 11.4 points per game and shot 55 percent from the field as a sophomore. Makygh Galbreath played in all 26 games, starting 14, and totaled 39 assists and 21 steals while averaging 4.9 points per game. Coach Creal brings in a transfer in Kaden Eirhart and two freshmen that could see minutes in Lee Verslues and Carl Dorsey.

Greenville University picked up 14 points and head coach George Barber returns seven players and two starters. Jarred Johnson, a Second Team All-Conference selection last year, averaged 15.0 points per game and was second on the team in steals (47) and fourth in assists (46). Kaidyn Johnson averaged 11.9 points per game and Travis Dickey averaged 10.4 points per game and will again be featured in the offensive attack. Carlos Crespo and Trenton Lee could both see their minutes increase this season. The list of newcomers includes Kei Thomas, Deshaun Butler, and Ian Green.

Spalding University received 13 points in the coaches' votes after going 8-19 overall last season. Head Coach Kevin Gray will look early on to find new lineup combinations as he returns just six players and loses his top three scorers from last season. The leading returning scorer is Jacoby Johnson, who averaged 8.8 points per game as a freshman. Johnson led the team in three-pointers and added 34 assists and 23 steals. Other players that are back are Maxton Campbell, Isaiah Lockard, Jonathan Henson, and Teferell Toliver. New faces include sophomores Anthony Dillard and Jackson Holt and freshman Andre Crawford.