HCAC announces men's basketball preseason poll
The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference announced the results of its men's preseason coaches poll on Tuesday morning with the Defiance College squad placing 10th.
CARMEL, Ind. - The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference announced the results of its men's preseason coaches poll on Tuesday morning with the Defiance College squad placing 10th.
Anderson University and Hanover College tied for the top spot with 81 points apiece. Anderson received four first-place votes while Hanover received one. Transylvania University (78 points) and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (75 points) placed third and fourth and each had two first-place votes. Franklin College rounded out the top five with 67 points and a single first-place vote.
Defiance senior Marell Jordan has been named an HCAC Player to Watch for the upcoming season. Jordan has earned Second Team All-HCAC honors each of the past two seasons. In the shortened 2020-21 season, Jordan appeared in six games. In that limited time, he led the HCAC and DC in points per game (20.3) and steals per game (2.3). He also led the team in total points (122), field goals made (47), field goal percentage (.566), free throws made (23), total steals (14) and assists per game (2.5) while averaging 2.8 rebounds an outing. Jordan shot 50.0 percent (5 of 10) from three-point range and 74.2 (23 of 31) at the foul line. His field goal percentage and free throw percentage ranked second and fifth, respectively, in the conference.
The Yellow Jackets will be led by first-year Head Coach Josh Gibson who spent the 2020-21 season as an assistant coach at NAIA Indiana University East and has previously served as head coach at Urbana University, Lourdes University, and Brescia University.