HCAC Announces Men's Basketball Preseason Poll

DEFIANCE, Ohio - The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference 2019-20 men's basketball preseason coaches' poll was released Wednesday morning by the league office. In the annual poll, Defiance College lands ninth as they accumulated 23 points. 

Transylvania University landed first in the polling as they claimed 95 points and six first-place votes. Defending HCAC Champions, Hanover College, claimed a second-place finish with 83 points and one first-place vote. In third, the Fightin' Engineers of Rose-Hulman collected 73 points and two first-place votes. Rounding out the top five are Franklin College and Bluffton University with 73 and 72 points respectively.

Directly ahead of Defiance in the poll are Anderson (47 points), Mount St. Joseph (42 points), and Earlham (33 points). DC precedes Manchester, as the Spartans finished with 16 points.

There will be plenty of new faces in the Karl H. Weaner Center during the season. Head Coach Scott Cutter welcomes 12 newcomers to the program for the 2019-20 campaign.

Four Yellow Jackets find their names on the 2019-20 HCAC Players to Watch list. Micaiah Cox (Ft. Recovery/Ft. Recovery) returns as the lone junior on the squad. Cox is coming off a season in which he served valuable minutes from the bench for the Purple and Gold. The Ft. Recovery native featured in 19 games and tallied 67 points, 34 rebounds, and four blocks last season.

Sophomore Tyler Andrew (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence Central) will dive into the 2019-20 season after playing in all 25 games as a freshman. The 6-foot-5-inch forward scored 330 points during his freshman campaign while recording a team-high three-point percentage of 46.2 (24-of-52).

Joining his fellow sophomore on the Players to Watch list is Sean Tyson (Columbus/Centennial). Tyson started all 25 games for DC as a freshman, often leading the charge as the primary point guard. The Columbus native averaged 11.2 points per game during the 2018-19 season, all while dishing out a team-best 4.1 assists per game.

Marrell Jordan (Lafayette, Ind./Lafayette Jefferson) rounds out the Players to Watch list for Defiance. Jordan made 24 appearances throughout his freshman campaign. A nuisance on defense, Jordan tallied a team-high 37 steals last season. The Lafayette, Ind. native will look to continue his impressive young career after knocking down 17 triples and shooting 39.5 percent from the field during 2018-19.

The Yellow Jackets are set to begin the season with a pair of exhibitions as they travel to Concordia (Mich.) and Ball State (Ind.) on Wednesday, October 30, and Tuesday, November 5, respectively. Defiance will then open the regular season with a trio of home contests. After hosting Westminster (Pa.) in the season-opener on Saturday, November 5, DC will host the 45^th Annual Purple & Gold Tournament November 15-16.

 2019-20 HCAC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll