BAY CITY, Mich. — The 2016-17 men's basketball season is right around the corner and the results are in for the 2016-17 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll along with the All-GLIAC Preseason Awards as voted on by the league's coaches. The Saginaw Valley State Cardinals are the favorite in the North Division with the Findlay Oilers holding court in the South Division as the team to beat.
Lake Superior State men's basketball opens the 2016-17 season projected by the league's coaches to finish third in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference North Division. The Lakers (19-10, 14-8 GLIAC) entered last postseason as the fourth seed in the conference tournament but fell to Hillsdale College at home in the quarterfinals.
2016 All-GLIAC First Team and All-Defensive Team honoree Akaemji Williams leads his Lakers in this, his junior season, following an impressive sophomore campaign that saw him average 19.4 points and 7.2 assists per game. Nationally, Williams ranked third overall in assists per game and second overall in steals per game (2.86). Williams also ranked tied for 52nd among all NCAA Division II players with a 2.26 assists-to-turnover ratio.
Joining Williams, chosen as a preseason All-Conference selection from the North Division, the Lakers lineup features three other returning starters from last season. Senior guard Jordan Dasuqi returns 9.9 points per game and a 43.2 percent shot from three-point range in 2015-16. Fellow returning starters with Dasuqi, junior center Michael Nicholson (7.9 ppg/5.8 rpg) and sophomore swing man Carson Manger (8.2 ppg/2.5 rpg) also return.
Perhaps the biggest question mark posed to coach Steve Hettinga as he enters his 10th season at the helm of the Lakers, is how to deal with the departure of Devin Daly due to graduation. Daly, a candidate for GLIAC Player of the Year, finished the season with a 21.9 points per game overall scoring average and also averaged 8.4 rebounds per game. Daly's overall scoring average ranked second in the GLIAC and he also finished fifth overall in rebounding. His 11 double-doubles also ranked fourth in the conference and the native of Mahogany Heights, Belize, even posted a GLIAC regular season record with 49 points against Northwood.
Hettinga, LSSU's all-time wins leader with an overall record of 162-102, expects the injection of three transfers and three freshmen to also make an immediate impact and help burden the load of replacing Daly.
LSSU hosts NAIA Division II member and future GLIAC member in 2017-18, Davenport University, in exhibition play on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 6 p.m.
The Lakers open the regular season at home against Great Lakes Valley Conference opponent University of Indianapolis on Thursday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. LSSU opens GLIAC play at home against Ashland at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 1.
Below are the selections for preseason all-conference awards:
2016 GLIAC Men's Basketball Preseason All-Conference Teams
North Division
Drew Cushingberry – Ferris State
Akaemji Williams – Lake Superior State
Kyle Monroe – Michigan Tech
C.J. Turnage – Saginaw Valley (Player of the Year)
Garrett Hall – Saginaw Valley
South Division
Boo Osborne – Ashland
Martyce Kimbrough – Findlay
Taren Sullivan – Findlay
Khaleal McCormick – Tiffin
Trey Fletcher - Walsh
To full GLIAC Media Day press release can be viewed at: http://www.gliac.org/polls/mbkb/2016-17/index