WESTERVILLE, Ohio — The Marietta College men's basketball team was picked second in the Ohio Athletic Conference preseason poll in voting by the conference coaches. The Pioneers received four first place votes and will sit a notch below top-rated Mount Union in the OAC Preseason Poll announced Friday (Nov. 4) morning by the league office.
"I totally understand why we aren't ranked #1 in the preseason poll, but we want nothing to do with finishing #2 or below," said Marietta head coach
Jon VanderWal. "We will be on a mission to finish at the top. Winning this league is of the upmost importance to us."
The University of Mount Union received five first place votes and led the poll with 77 total points. The Pioneers were very close with those four first-place votes and totaled 74 points in the poll.
John Carroll University received the other first place vote and finished third with 61 points. Heidelberg University was fourth with 56 points, while Otterbein University was fifth with 50 points.
The bottom five includes Baldwin Wallace University in sixth place with 41 points, Capital University in seventh place with 36 points, Ohio Northern in eighth place with 26 points, Wilmington College in ninth with 17 points, and Muskingum University in tenth with 12 points.
"We went to the final four last year, but this is a completely new year, and we will be seeing a lot of new faces on the floor this year," said Coach VanderWal. "Even though we lost a lot to graduation, we feel that our program is loaded with talent, and we have extremely high expectations."
Marietta swept the regular season and tournament championships last year. The Pioneers posted a 29-3 regular season record and ran the table in the OAC with an 18-0 record. The Pioneers cruised through the bracket games to win the OAC Tournament crown.
The Pioneers graduated five seniors from last year's team but have plenty of experience returning for 2022-23.
Sahmi Willoughby (Groveport, Ohio/Reynoldsburg),
Cooper Parrott (Willard, Ohio/Willard), Brennan Crawford,
Jac Alexander (Port Clinton, Ohio/Oak Harbor), and
Addy Black (Byesville, Ohio/Meadowbrook) all played significant minutes last year.
Willoughby led Marietta last winter averaging 7.8 rebounds per game and converted 54.3% of his shots from the field. Parrott averaged 5.8 points per game and shot nearly 33 percent from three-point range.
Crawford averaged 4.6 points per night, shooting 56% from the field. Alexander averaged 4.3 points and dished out 35 assists coming off the bench last year. Black started 27 games last year, averaging 2.3 points and 3.2 boards per game last year. He was also third on the team with 18 blocked shots.
Ranked No. 17 in the D3hoops.com Preseason Top-25, Marietta opens the season at home with a pair of games at the Marietta Shrine Tournament on November 11-12.
The complete poll is below. First place votes are in parenthesis.
OAC Preseason Coaches Poll:
1. Mount Union (5) — 77
2. Marietta (4) — 74
3. John Carroll (1) — 61
4. Heidelberg — 56
5. Otterbein — 50
6. Baldwin Wallace — 41
7. Capital — 36
8. Ohio Northern — 26
9. Wilmington — 17
10. Muskingum — 12
Fans can follow all the Pioneer teams all year long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
