MIDDLETOWN — The University of Rio Grande has been picked at the top of the 2023-24 River States Conference Men’s Basketball Preseason Coaches’ Poll.
The poll, along with the league’s Preseason All-Conference Team, was released on Wednesday afternoon as part of the River States Conference Men’s Basketball Media Day.
The coaches’ poll was voted on by the league’s 13 head coaches.
The preseason all-conference team recognizes the Top 10 returning players to watch this upcoming season.
Rio Grande, which returns nine of its top 11 players, received 139 total points and eight of the 13 first-place votes in the overall balloting.
Among East Division teams only, Rio picked up 11 of 13 first-place votes for 71 points.
The RedStorm (25-7 overall, 16-1 RSC) won the RSC regular season championship and was an RSC Championship semifinalist last year.
Point Park (Pa.) University was picked second in the preseason with 125 total points and two first-place votes.
The Pioneers return the top two players on the preseason all-conference team in 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 — with each getting 118 total points.
IU Kokomo received two first-place votes and IU Southeast one.
The Cougars and the Grenadiers 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 pts.) in fifth, Indiana University East (87 pts.) in sixth, conference newcomer Shawnee State (81 pts.) in seventh, and Alice Lloyd (Ky.) College (65 pts.) 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.
Behind Rio Grande in the RSC East were 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.
A complete breakdown of the polls and the all-conference team can be found at http://www.riverstatesconference.com.
