St. Cloud State Picked Second In Northern Sun Conference Preseason Poll

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- St. Cloud State University basketball fans are anticipating another exciting season on the hardwood.

Going Polling

The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference released its Pre-Season Coaches Poll Friday morning. The coaches have the Huskies picked #2 overall just behind #1 Minnesota State - Mankato, and tied with the Mavericks on top of the South Division. Mankato received 216 points overall, including 8 first-place votes. St. Cloud received 211 points overall, including 6 first-place votes.

Veteran Squad

The Huskies' 6'8" Senior Wyatt Hawks from White Bear Lake has been named the South Division Pre-Season Player of the Year. Last season, he averaged 12 points per game, 8 rebounds per game, and nearly 2 assists per game. Hawks is the reigning NSIC Defensive Player of the Year. He enters the 2026-2027 season with record-breaking potential; he ranks third all-time in blocks with 128 and 10th in rebounds with 684.

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St. Cloud returns four of their top five scorers from last season. Other key returning players are Bob Griechen, who missed a majority of last season with an injury, Anish Ramlall, and Nate Dahl.

The Huskies will be without one top player; Luke Winkel has transferred to Division I at the University of North Dakota. In two seasons at SCSU, Winkel averaged 16 points and 4 assists per game.

Breakthrough season last year

Last season, St. Cloud posted a 26-7 overall record and an NSIC best 20-2 record, winning the regular season title. They also qualified for the NCAA Regional Tournament.

Mark your calendars

The Huskies will play their opening exhibition game at St. John's University in Collegeville at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 29th.

Their regular season opener is on November 9th at the University of Minnesota-Crookston.

Their home opener at Halenbeck Hall is on November 24th against Minnesota State-Mankato.

Women's Program

The St. Cloud State University Women's Basketball team has been picked to finish 8th overall in the NSIC and 4th in the South Division. They finished last season 14-15 overall and 10-12 in the conference.