Wayne State College was picked to finish 12th overall and eighth place in the NSIC South Division in the 2026-27 NSIC Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll that was released Friday morning. Junior forward Matt Noll was listed as the Player to Watch this season for the Wildcats.
            The Wildcats return one starter and seven players from last year's team that was 15-14 overall and sixth in the NSIC South Division last season with an 11-11 league record.  WSC collected 77 points overall and 10 points in South Division voting conducted by league coaches.
            Minnesota State edged defending NSIC regular season champion St. Cloud State as the team to beat in NSIC men's basketball this season as the Mavericks garnered eight first-place votes and 216 points just ahead of St. Cloud State's 211 points and six first-place votes.  Minnesota Duluth was third at 195 points and one first-place ballot with Southwest Minnesota State (170) and Concordia-St. Paul (153) rounding out the top five teams.
            Noll, a 6-7 junior forward from Sioux City, Iowa (Bishop Heelan HS), was an All-NSIC Second Team selection last year for a second straight season, leading the Wildcats in scoring at 13.7 points a game.  He also led the team in assists and scored double figures in 23 of 28 games while tied for eighth in the league in blocked shots per game (0.8) and was 11^th in field goal percentage at 46.6 percent.
            Wayne State will open the 2026-27 season at home on Monday, November 9^th hosting Nebraska-Kearney in a 7 p.m. game in Rice Arena.   
 
2026-27 Preseason NSIC Men's Basketball Coaches Poll
1.         Minnesota State (8)                   216 pts.
2.         St. Cloud State (6)                     211 pts.
3.         Minnesota Duluth (1)                 195 pts.
4.         Southwest Minnesota State       170 pts.
5.         Concordia-St. Paul                    153 pts.
6.         Augustana (1)                            144 pts.
6.         Winona State                            144 pts.
8.         MSU Moorhead                         140 pts.
9.         Bemidji State                             106 pts.
10.        Northern State                           98 pts.
11.        Sioux Falls                                95 pts.
12.        Wayne State                            77 pts.
13.        Jamestown                               68 pts.
14.        Minnesota Crookston               42 pts.
14.        Minot State                               42 pts.
16.        University of Mary                     19 pts.
                        first place votes in ( )
South Division
1.         St. Cloud State (4)                     45 pts.
1.         Minnesota State (3)                   45 pts.
3.         Southwest Minnesota State      33 pts.
4.         Winona State                            28 pts.
5.         Concordia-St. Paul                    25 pts.
6.         Augustana (1)                            22 pts.
7.         Sioux Falls                                16 pts.
8.         Wayne State                             10 pts.