CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Results of the American Rivers Conference's Men's Basketball Preseason Poll (as voted on by the league's head coaches): 
 

2019-20 American Rivers Conference Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll
Rank	School (1st place votes)	Points	2018-19 Record
1.	Nebraska Wesleyan (7)	63	27-2, 15-1 A-R-C (Reg. Season & Conf. Tour. Champion/NCAA Round of 32)
2.	Simpson (2)	55	16-10, 9-7 A-R-C
3.	Loras	52	23-7, 12-4 A-R-C (NCAA Sweet-Sixteen)
4.	Wartburg	37	17-9, 11-5 A-R-C
5.	Dubuque	36	14-13, 6-10 A-R-C
6.	Coe	33	14-12, 8-8 A-R-C
7.	Central	22	8-17, 5-11 A-R-C
8.	Buena Vista	14	11-14, 5-11 A-R-C
9.	Luther	12	7-17, 1-15 A-R-C

Coming off three straight Conference titles and two post season runs in the NCAA tournament; Nebraska Wesleyan University is the coaches' pick to win the 2019-20 American Rivers Conference Championship. The Prairie Wolves earned 63 points in the poll and seven first-place votes. Simpson College received two first-place votes and 55 points to finish second in the poll. The Storm will look to claim their first league title since 1998. Coming of an NCAA Sweet-Sixteen appearance, Loras College will look to make their case for a conference title in 2019-20. The Duhawks totaled 52 points in the poll to finish third. Capsules on all nine teams -- follow here:

New Coaches: Trevor Johnson, Buena Vista University. Johnson's coaching career got started when he was hired as an assistant men's basketball coach at his alma mater of Nebraska Wesleyan University in 2014 where he stayed until departing for Johns Hopkins prior to last season. Johnson was a member of the Prairie Wolves basketball team from 2010-14 and was a four-year starter and letter winner. He received a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Nebraska Wesleyan in May of 2014 and later went on to earn his master’s degree in Management from Doane University in 2017.
 
The Schedule:  Five of the league’s nine teams kick off the 2019-20 season Friday, November 8. Nebraska Wesleyan University faces Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) member St. John’s at the UW-Superior tournament and Central College travels to Cleveland, Ohio for a contest with Case Western Reserve University. CWRU is a member of the University Athletic Association (UAA). Simpson College tips of the season with a trip to Bethany Lutheran, out of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC). Buena Vista University also hits the road for their opening contest. The Beavers will face MIAC member Gustavus Adolphus. Loras College hosts the lone home contests on opening night, facing Concordia-Chicago, out of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC).
 
Three more team’s tip-off on Saturday, November 9. The University of Dubuque hosts American Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA) member Finlandia and Coe College opens on their home court with a contest against Midwest Conference member Grinnell. Wartburg, also on their home court for the first game of the year, faces another Midwest Conference member in Cornell.
 
The final team to hit the hardwood in 2019-20 is Luther College. The Norse host MIAC member Macalester on Sunday, November 10.
 
The 2019-20 American Rivers Conference schedule begins on Tuesday, November 26 with six of the nine schools competing. Coe College will travel to Storm Lake for a match-up with Buena Vista University, Loras College hosts Central College, and Simpson College hosts the University of Dubuque.  
 
On Wednesday, December 4, the final three teams start their conference slate of games. Loras heads to Decorah for a matchup with Luther, Simpson travels to Coe, Central hosts Wartburg and Nebraska Wesleyan hosts Buena Vista.
 
The American Rivers Conference season is a 16-game double round robin schedule finishing on Saturday February 22. The league's top six teams from the regular season standings qualify for the A-R-C Tournament. The Conference Tournament will be held Tuesday, February 25 (First Round), Thursday, February 27 (Semifinals), and Saturday February 29 (Championship). Game locations for the A-R-C Tournament are at the higher seeded team's venue. The American Rivers Conference Tournament champion receives the leagues' automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III tournament.  

2018-19 Season Review: The Prairie Wolves, ranked No. 1 in the nation at the time, squeezed out an 85-82 win over the Knights on February 9, 2019, claiming their third-straight regular season conference title. The win gave NWU the No.1 seed in the conference tournament. Loras earned the No.2 seed in the tournament with a 12-4 conference mark. The Duhawks were the only team to hand then top-ranked NWU a loss prior to the NCAA tournament, as the two teams split their regular-season contests. The No.3 seed went to Wartburg, followed by Simpson, Coe, and Dubuque.
 
Looking primed for an NCAA-tournament appearance, Nebraska Wesleyan completed the American Rivers Conference double by adding the conference-tournament title to its regular-season crown. The Prairie Wolves were impressive in their 97-79 victory over Loras in a battle of the top-two seeds in the conference. The Duhawks were making their third trip to the conference title game in program history and first since 2008.
 
Loras received an at-large bid into the 64-team NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament field and first trip to the tournament since 2008. Loras picked up a 75-64 first-round win over Albion to advance to the round of 32, were they took down North Central in a thriller, 84-82. The win moved the Duhawks onto the Sweet-Sixteen for the first time in program history. Eventual national champions, UW-Oshkosh, brought Loras’ magical run to an end on March 8, defeating the Duhawks 86-75.
 
The defending national champions and top-ranked Prairie Wolves were selected to host first and second round games Friday, March 1 and Saturday, March 2, 2019. After a convincing 101-75 first-round win over Eureka College, NWU ran out of steam in the second half of their round of 32 match-up with St. Thomas. NWU’s cold shooting in the second half proved to be the difference in the contest between top-15 ranked teams, as the Tommies won 70-58. 

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1st		Nebraska Wesleyan University  Head Coach: Dale Wellman (6th season) 2018-19 Record: 27-2, 15-1 A-R-C (Reg. Season & Conf. Tour. Champion/NCAA Round of 32) 2018-19 Conference Finish: 1st Returning All-Conference: Nate Schimonitz (First Team), Jack Hiller (Honorable Mention), Clay Reimers (Honorable Mention) Starters Returning: 3 Starters Lost: 2 Dale Wellman - "Hopefully the conference is starting to get the respect it deserves nationally. Great coaches and teams should make for another exciting A-R-C season."
	Players to Watch:
	Nate Schimonitz - G (Sr.)	16.5-ppg // 51.1-fg% // 4.4-apg
	Jack Hiller - G (Sr.)	12.0-ppg // 44.1-3-pt % // 85.7-FT% // 1.5-spg
	Clay Reimers - F (Sr.)	10.9-ppg // 55.2-fg% // 6.2-rpg // 1.5-apg // 32-blks
	Nate Bahe - F (Sr.)	10.4-ppg // 58.0-fg% // 84.0-FT%

 

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2nd		Simpson College Head Coach: Brad Bjorkgren (5th season) 2018-19 Record: 16-10, 9-7 A-R-C 2018-19 Conference Finish: 4th Returning All-Conference: Conor Riordan (First Team), Kyle Wagner (Second Team), Adam Reiter (Second Team) Starters Returning: 3 Starters Lost: 2 Brad Bjorkgren - "Our guys are looking forward to a great season. Our league is a top league in the nation and you must bring your 'A game' every night to be successful. With a good bunch of returning and some good newcomers we are looking forward to the season."
	Players to Watch:
	Nick Janssen - G (Sr.)	4.8-ppg // 42-3-pt % // 92.0-FT% // 1.0-apg
	Conor Riordan - G (Sr.)	18.2-ppg // 85.0-FT% // 3.7-rpg // 3.1-apg

 

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3rd		Loras College Head Coach: Chris Martin (4th Season) 2018-19 Record: 23-7, 12-4 A-R-C (NCAA Sweet-Sixteen) 2018-19 Conference Finish: 2nd Returning All-Conference: Jordan Boyd (Honorable Mention) Starters Returning: 2 Starters Lost: 3 Chris Martin - "We are excited to play in one of the best leagues in the country! We feel that the best teams in the A-R-C will always compete at the highest levels on the national stage."
	Players to Watch:
	Jordan Boyd - C (So.)	10.0-ppg // 54.3-fg% // 4.7-rpg // 30-steals // 17-blocks
	Jordan Matthews - G (So.)	5.5-ppg // 39.3-3-pt % // 82.0-FT% // 1.3-apg // 28-steals
	Rowan McGowen - G (Jr.)	10.9-ppg // 3.4-rpg // 1.3-apg
	Cole Navigato - F (Jr.)	6.4-ppg // 1.3-apg // 8-blks

 

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4th		Wartburg College Head Coach: Dick Peth (23rd season) 2018-19 Record: 17-9, 11-5 A-R-C 2018-19 Conference Finish: 3rd Returning All-Conference: Max Smith-Drahos (Honorable Mention) Starters Returning: 2 Starters Lost: 3 Dick Peth - "The American Rivers Conference will be an extremely competitive league once again this season. We are looking to build on our recent successes and excited about our team."
	Players to Watch:
	Max Smith-Drahos - G (Jr.)	12.6-ppg // 4.2-rpg // 2.0-apg // 2.0-spg
	Ryan Stulken - F (Jr.)	8.4-ppg // 6.8-rpg // 1.6-apg
	Camry Moore - G (Sr.)	5.5-ppg // 54-fg% // 1.1-apg
	Tyler Zumbach - F (Sr.)	4.8-ppg // 56-fg%

 

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5th		University of Dubuque Head Coach: Robbie Sieverding (13th season) 2018-19 Record: 14-13, 6-10 A-R-C 2018-19 Conference Finish: 6th Returning All-Conference: Avery Butler (Honorable Mention) Starters Returning: 2 Starters Lost: 3 Robbie Sieverding - "We are looking forward to a very competitive conference season. Our league graduated some talented senior, but I expect our league to be very competitive and one of the better conferences in the country. We hope to be playing our best basketball down the stretch and are excited to get started."
	Players to Watch:
	Peter Ragen - F (Jr.)	10.0-ppg // 4.1-rpg // 1.2-apg
	Avery Butler - C (Sr.)	10.9-ppg // 57-fg% // 6.7-rpg // 1.0-apg // 20-blks
	Cade Daugherty - G (So.)	4.0-ppg // 1.9-rpg
	Mitch Burger - G (Jr.)	7.6-ppg // 1.5-apg

 

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6th		Coe College Head Coach: Bryan Martin (8th season) 2018-19 Record: 14-12, 8-8 A-R-C 2018-19 Conference Finish: 5th Returning All-Conference: Adam McDermott (Second Team) Starters Returning: 3 Starters Lost: 2 Bryan Martin - "Austin Roth, Josh Schmitt, Ivan Morrow, TJ Kaufmann, Tommy Hook, and Adam McDermott are the six outstanding seniors that will lead us in the 2019-2020 season. Our league has earned a lot of national respect over the last few years and we expect that trend to continue this season. Each team in the A-R-C has plenty of talented players and is well-coached so we know we will have to compete at a very high level each game."
	Players to Watch:
	Tommy Hook - G (Sr.)	10.0-ppg // 3.4-rpg // 2.2-apg
	Jarad Kruse - F (So.)	3.2-ppg // 2.0-rpg
	Adam McDermott - G (Sr.)	11.5-ppg // 85.0-FT% // 4.8-rpg // 1.4-apg // 20-steals
	Austin Roth - F (Sr.)	9.5-ppg // 82-FT% // 3.8-rpg // 2.1-apg // 27-blks
	Josh Schmitt - G (Sr.)	8.5-ppg // 2.1-apg // 23-steals

 

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7th		Central College Head Coach: Craig Douma (8th season) 2018-19 Record: 8-17, 5-11 A-R-C 2018-19 Conference Finish: t-7th Returning All-Conference: Jaden Moody (Second Team) Starters Returning: 3 Starters Lost: 2 Craig Douma - "The conference will be as balanced as its ever been and continues to get stronger! Every night you will need to be ready to play. We are excited about this year and the team we have!"
	Players to Watch:
	Jaden Moody - G (Sr.)	17.9-ppg // 36.6-3-pt % // 4.8-rpg // 1.3-apg
	Adam Flinn - G (Jr.)	12.5-ppg // 51.9-fg% // 49.5-3-pt % // 3.1-apg

 

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8th		Buena Vista University  Head Coach: Trevor Johnson (1st season) 2018-19 Record: 11-14, 5-11 A-R-C 2018-19 Conference Finish: t-7th Returning All-Conference: Timothy Jeffries (Second Team) Starters Returning: 3 Starters Lost: 2 Trevor Johnson - "We are very excited to get things started here at Buena Vista. Our league has proven itself to be one of the toughest in the country over the past few years and I expect more of the same this season. We have great coaches in this league and every team is capable of winning on any given night."
	Players to Watch:
	Dominic Sesma - F (Sr.)	12.0-ppg // 47-3-pt % // 2.8-rpg // 2.0-apg
	Tim Jeffries - G (Sr.)	15.5-ppg // 54-fg% // 39-3-pt % // 4.2-rpg // 2.2-apg // 31-steals

 

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