The American Rivers Conference has released its men’s basketball preseason poll, as voted on by the league’s head coaches. Loras took the top spot in the poll by just one point. Nebraska Wesleyan was picked second after winning both the regular season and conference tournament championships. The Prairie Wolves exited last year’s NCAA tournament in the second round.

Wartburg was third, followed by Dubuque at fourth. Buena Vista and Coe tied for fifth, while Central and Luther tied for seventh. Rounding out the poll at ninth is Simpson.

Conference play begins Saturday, January 23rd, though some schools have decided to schedule non-conference matches prior to that date. The conference tournament will include all nine schools this year, which begins Monday, March 1st.

KNIA/KRLS will broadcast all conference Saturday home games for Central and Simpson this season, as the men’s and women’s games will take place in opposite locations this year, rather than traditional doubleheaders.