Men's Hoops Picked Sixth in HCAC Preseason Poll

GREENWOOD, IND.  --  The Defiance College men's basketball team was picked to finish sixth in the 2015-16 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches Poll.  [HCAC Preseason Poll]

The Yellow Jackets received 45 points to place sixth overall and had one first-place vote.  Mount St. Joseph University was picked as the favorite with 97 points and seven first-place votes.  Rose-Hulman (Ind.) Institute of Technology was second with 90 points and two first-place votes and Hanover (Ind.) College rounded out the top-three with 73 points.

DC is coming off of one of its most successful seasons after winning the HCAC regular season and conference tournament titles.  The Yellow Jackets also made a fifth overall appearance in the NCAA National Tournament and recorded their first-ever victory in the NCAA Postseason.

Defiance had two players selected to the "Players to Watch" list in senior Wade Wooley (Wauseon) and junior Michael Parker (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North).  

Wooley returns as one of two seniors and was selected to the HCAC All-Sportsmanship Team last season.  Wooley started all 29 games and led the team in rebounding with 202 total boards (66 offensive and 136 defensive) for a 7.0 rpg. average.  His 7.0 rpg. ranked fourth most in the HCAC.  Wooley also led the team in blocked shots with 36 which were second highest in the conference and third most in a single season in program history.  Wooley shot an impressive 68.7 percent (68-of-99) from the field and had eight assists and five steals.

Parker played in all 29 games last season and made four starts.  Parker averaged 5.8 points per game and was amongst the team leaders in three-point shooting making 43-of-109 attempts for a 39.4 shot percentage.  He also averaged 2.5 rebounds per game to go along with 23 assists, five blocked shots and 11 steals.

Defiance will begin the 2015-16 season on Friday, Nov. 20 when the Jackets take on Wabash (Ind.) College in their first game of the Wheaton (Ill.) College Lee Pfund Classic in Wheaton, Ill.  The game is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.