INDIANAPOLIS – For the first time since joining the Great Lakes Valley Conference 12 years ago, the Truman State Men's Basketball team has been picked to win the GLVC championship by league coaches in the annual preseason poll released on Tuesday.
 
The Bulldogs picked up six first-place votes and 172 total points to sit atop the 15-team survey. They were picked last before the 2023-24 season but proved the critics wrong by going 12-8 in the conference and finishing in a three-way tie for third place. It is the first time in the GLVC era that Truman State has been picked first in a preseason coaches poll. The Bulldogs had been picked  second in four separate polls but each was when coaches picked by divisions.
 
Jeff Horner was the GLVC Coach of the Year for the second time in his career and returns the league's Freshman of the Year, Kobi Williams along with all-conference guards in junior Xavier Hall and senior Trey Shearer.
 
That trio along with Brennan Lovette (forward, junior) and Landon Eiland (forward, redshirt junior) started 99% of the games last season. Shearer and Williams both averaged over 12 points per game with Shearer knocking down 64 three-pointers and Williams connecting on 54 long-range shots. Hall dished out 137 assists while also leading the team in steals with 33.
 
Matt Haefner (sophomore, forward) and Casen Lawrence (guard, redshirt sophomore) both averaged nearly 15 minutes a contest off the bench. Haefner shot 54% from the field and scored close to seven points per game and Lawrence was third in three-point shooting with 52 makes and a 44% three-point shooting percentage.
 
Newcomers include transfers Emmanuel Byrd (junior, center), Isaiah Reams (junior, guard), Caden Stoecklein (sophomore, guard), and Isaac Danielson (sophomore, guard). Byrd played two seasons at Washburn (Kan.) with 34 games played, 25 last season. He averaged 3.6 points with nine blocks. Reams is no stranger to fans at Kirksville having played high school basketball at conference-rival Mexico and then attending North Central Missouri College in Trenton. Stoecklein is a transfer from Grand View (Iowa) and Danielson is a former all-state Kirksville Tiger, playing last season at John Wood Community College.
 
Drew Kingery is a returning redshirt freshman from last season.
 
Troy Anderson (guard), Titus Miller (forward), Quientan McCafferty (center), Trevan Krumrei (forward) and Marquis Carver-Smith (forward) are all freshmen on this season's roster.
 
The 2024-25 season will tip off in Findlay, Ohio at the annual GLVC/GMAC Challenge. The Bulldogs will face Cedarville (Ohio) on November 8^th and host Findlay on November 9^th. The first home game will be November 13^th against former MIAA member Emporia (Kan.) State.
 
Illinois Springfield was second in the GLVC poll with 162 points and two first-place votes, William Jewell was third with 161 points and four first-place votes. Lewis was fourth while Upper Iowa and Indianapolis placed fifth and sixth respectively with each picking up first-place nods.