Tiger men picked ninth in GPAC preseason poll

MITCHELL, S.D. – Last season, the Dakota Wesleyan University men's basketball team finished below .500 for the first time since the 2005-06 season.

DWU went 14-17 overall and took eighth in the Great Plains Athletic Conference with a 9-11 record. The Tigers lost in the first round of the conference tournament to Northwestern College. This year, the league's head coaches picked Dakota Wesleyan to finish ninth, it was announced Thursday afternoon by the league.

The Tigers received 33 points in the poll, which is voted on by the league's 11 head coaches. Midland University received 93 points and five first-place votes and was selected to win the league and Northwestern College was second with 80 points and one first-place vote. Hastings College (two), Morningside College (one) and Dordt College (two) all received first-place votes and finished third through fifth, respectively.

While the coaches in the conference are dwelling on DWU's finish last season, first year head coach Matt Wilber and his 2013-14 squad are ready to put last season where it belongs – in the past. The Tigers head into the upcoming season with a core of key returners and several talented newcomers to prove to the GPAC – and the NAIA – that they deserve a spot at the national tournament and to work their way back up to the top of the conference.

Back to lead the way for Dakota Wesleyan this season is junior forward Jalen Voss. Voss earned NAIA All-American Honorable Mention accolades as well as All-GPAC First Team honors after his sophomore season. The Worthington, Minn., native led the GPAC and finished third in the nation with 17 double-doubles and finished first in the league and sixth in the NAIA with 9.9 rebounds per game.

Voss also led the team in scoring (14.2) and blocked shots (44) and was the team's leading rebounder in 26 of the Tigers' 31 games.

Junior Luke Bamberg also returns after starting in 30 of Dakota Wesleyan's 31 games last season. The Corsica, S.D. native averaged 6.4 points and was second on the team with 6.5 rebounds per game. He also finished second on the team with a .511 field-goal percentage and had 50 assists.

Kris Menning and Stephen Lee are also back for their junior seasons after seeing extended varsity time as sophomores. Menning, another Corsica native, played in 28 games and averaged 5.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. He hit 28 3-pointers for Dakota Wesleyan and scored a career-high 20 points against Morningside on Jan. 30.

Lee, a Viborg, S.D., native, is in his second season with the DWU varsity team after playing on the JV squad as a true freshman. He saw playing time in 20 games last season and is looking for a more permanent role on the court for the Tigers this year as an upperclassman.

Danny Maman, Trae Bergh and Jade Miller both completed their first seasons with the Tigers in 2012-13 and are back for a second season in 2013-14. Maman is a senior for DWU this season after transferring from Glendale Community College prior to his junior season. He played in all 31 games for Dakota Wesleyan last season and averaged 5.5 points per game and scored a season-high 15 points against both Dordt College and Kansas Wesleyan University.

Miller, a Mitchell native, played in 29 games as a true freshman for Dakota Wesleyan. He went 15-for-18 from the free-throw line and averaged just under 10 minutes per game to gain experience in the always tough GPAC. Bergh saw limited varsity playing time at point guard, but looks to see more time on the varsity court as a sophomore.

Newcomers include sophomore transfer Branden Robinson and freshmen Eric Warkenthien, Jon Vorwald and Nate Widow. Robinson is a 6-foot-1 guard from Oakland Community College. Warkenthien comes to DWU from Woonsocket High School where the 6-3 guard finished his career with 1,496 points, 700 rebounds and 400 assists. Vorwald, another 6-3 guard, joins the Tigers from Worthington, Minn., where he earned all-conference honors as a senior, and Widow joins the Tigers from Dupree High School where he averaged 25 points as a senior.

DWU starts the 2013-14 season with an exhibition game against South Dakota State University Nov. 1 in Brookings, S.D.