Wayne State was picked 11^th in the 2023-24 NSIC Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll released Thursday morning by the league office in Burnsville, Minnesota.  Redshirt sophomore guard Alec Millender was listed as the Wildcat to Watch in the NSIC this season.
            The Wildcats collected 74 points in voting conducted by league coaches.  WSC returns two starters from last year's team that was 18-11 overall and won the NSIC South Division with a 13-9 league mark (tied for fourth overall in NSIC).
            Minnesota Duluth earned 13 of 15 first-place votes and 195 points and was tabbed the team to beat in the Northern Sun Conference this season.  Minnesota State collected the remaining two first-place votes and 177 points to come in second followed by Northern State (160), MSU Moorhead (154) and Augustana (135) in the top five. 
            Bemidji State was sixth with 125 points and Southwest Minnesota State seventh at 117.  Sioux Falls (107), Minot State (84) and Winona State (80) close out the top 10.  Wayne State, Concordia-St. Paul (73), University of Mary (50), St. Cloud State (27) and Minnesota Crookston (17) round out the poll.
            Millender, a 6-3 guard from Chicago, Illinois (Saint Rita of Cascia HS), missed all of last season as a medical redshirt.  In 2021-22 he averaged 10 points, 2.7 assists and 2.4 rebounds per contest for the Wildcats.
            Wayne State plays an exhibition game at Creighton on Friday, November 3^rd at 7 p.m.  The Wildcats open the 2023-24 regular season Friday, November 10^th at the Puerto Rico Classic facing Sagrado Corazon at 10 a.m. in San Juan, Puerto Rico.