BELLEVILLE, Ill. – After taking home the regular season titles the past two seasons in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, the Webster men's basketball team comes into the shortened 2020-21 season picked to finish tied for third with Greenville University in the Preseason SLIAC Coaches Poll that was released Wednesday afternoon by the league office.
 
The Gorloks, who have won 31 of its last 36 league games over the past two seasons, earned a total of 36 points to sit tied with Greenville, who also earned 36 points and two first place votes, in the preseason poll that was voted on by the league's eight head coaches and head coaches couldn't vote for their own teams.
 
Webster enters the 2020-21 season with two returning starters and six other lettermen from last season's 19-9 squad that won its second straight SLIAC regular season title, claimed the SLIAC Tournament championship and advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament where they fell 77-73 in the first round at 10th-ranked Nebraska Wesleyan University.
 
While Webster and Greenville were tied for third in the preseason poll, the league's coaches tabbed Fontbonne as the favorite as the Griffins, who tied for second place in the league last season, earned 45 points and three of eight first place votes, while Westminster, who went 7-11 in the league last season, is tabbed second as the Bluejays received 38 points and the other two first place votes.
 
Behind Fontbonne, Westminster, Greenville and Webster in the preseason poll, the coaches tabbed Blackburn, who fell 85-77 to Webster in the semifinals of the 2020 SLIAC Tournament, fifth as the Beavers earned 24 points. Eureka, who won the league's tournament title in 2019, was picked sixth as the Red Devils earned 22 points.
 
Iowa Wesleyan (13 points) and Spalding (10 points) were tabbed to finish seventh and eighth by the coaches in the preseason poll. Principia College has opted out of the basketball season due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, while MacMurray ceased operations at the of the 2019-20 school year.
 
Chris Bunch, who is entering his 19th season at the helm of the Gorloks men's basketball program this season, welcomes back a team that must replace three starters that averaged over 9.8 points per per game and two players that earned All-SLIAC honors a season ago. The Gorloks return 40.4 percent of its points, 36.5 percent of its rebounds and 37.8 minutes played this season from the 2019-20 team.
 
The two returning starters though both earned All-SLIAC honors a season ago as senior forward Rodson Etienne (West Palm Beach, Fla./Royal Palm Beach) was a Second-Team All-SLIAC selection and was named to the SLIAC All-Tournament Team, while sophomore guard Wynne Brown, Jr. (Memphis, Tenn./Bartlett), was named the SLIAC Newcomer of the Year and took home SLIAC Tournament MVP honors.
 
As a junior in 2019-20, Etienne, who enters this season just 14 points shy of becoming the 14th member of the 1,000-Point Club, was second on the team in the scoring as he averaged 16.3 points per game and he also averaged 4.7 rebounds per game, collected 42 steals and blocked 29 shots and shot 62 percent from the field, while Brown, Jr., averaged 12.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game and shot 49 percent from the field, 45 percent from the 3-point line and 87 percent from the free throw line.
 
In addition to Etienne and Brown, Jr., the other key returners are senior forward Ethan Hughes (Union, Mo./Park University), senior guard Lance Hatten (Greenacres, Fla./Berean Christian), sophomore guard Javane Nugent (Kingston, Jamaica/Piper), sophomore forward Jadis Smith (Little Rock, Ark./Estem Charter), sophomore guard Nick Wagner (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South) and sophomore guard Blair Cleare (Plantation, Fla./South Plantation).
 
Along with eight returners, Bunch has added 11 newcomers to his roster, including three transfers (two junior college and one four-year school transfer) and eight freshmen.

For the second straight year, the league once again released a SLIAC Preseason Watch List of the league's top players that are returning from last season. The watch list includes returning All-SLIAC players from last season.
 
Etienne was the only Gorlok on the five-player SLIAC Watch List and he was joined by Westminster junior guard Landon Harrison, Fontbonne junior guard Anthony Jones, Iowa Wesleyan senior forward Jarryd Fernandes and Spalding senior guard Marcus Montgomery. Etienne, Harrison and Jones were all Second-Team All-SLIAC selections last season, while Fernandes and Montgomery were Third-Team All-SLIAC honorees.

The SLIAC Men's Basketball season ends with the SLIAC Tournament, which this year will consist of all eight teams in the league with the quarterfinals set for April 6, the semifinals are scheduled for April 8 and the championship is set for April 10. The Gorloks will open its 35th season of intercollegiate men's basketball on Feb. 24 with a 7:30 p.m. game at Greenville University. Per SLIAC policies in regards to COVID-19, no fans will be permitted at any of the league's indoor sporting venues.