GRINNELL, Iowa — The Midwest Conference revealed its preseason coaches' poll for men's basketball this afternoon, and Knox College, which finished the 2024-25 season with a 4-21 record overall and a 1-15 mark in league play, was picked to finish ninth in the nine-team league. Defending champion Monmouth College was picked to defend its title, receiving 60 points and seven of the nine first-place votes, while Grinnell College (56 points) and Illinois College (52) each garnered a first-place vote.

Lake Forest College claimed fourth in the poll with 40 points, followed by Ripon College (33), Lawrence University (27), Cornell College (24), Beloit College (22) and Knox (10).

Prairie Fire Head Coach Corey Harvey, in his second season at the helm, has one returning player who started at least half of the games last season, guard Willie Rogers III (So., 6-4, Fort Worth, Texas). As a rookie, Rogers averaged 7.2 points and 2.5 rebounds a game, was second on the squad with 32 3-pointers and swiped a team-high 26 steals.

But there are also a pair of players who played in every game and averaged over 25 minutes on the court in guard Josh Stewart (Jr., 6-3, Auckland, New Zealand) and forward Russell Wright (Sr., 6-6, Savannah, Ga.). Stewart was Knox's leading rebounder and sixth in the league at 6.8 per game while ranking third among Prairie Fire players with 8.6 points a night, shooting 46.4 percent from the floor. Wright was Knox's top post presence defensively with 21 blocks, plus shot 52.9 percent from the floor while averaging 8.4 points and 6.1 rebounds a game.

Other key reserves returning this winter are forward Carl Dortch (Sr., 6-5, Galesburg, Ill.) and guard B.J. Cooley (So., 6-0, Jackson, Miss.), both of whom played in every game with Cooley starting 10 contests. Dortch gives the Fire another accurate scorer in the post having hit 58.6 percent of his field goals last season, while Cooley will vie for the role as the starting point guard.

Knox has 20 players on its roster, with eight rookies and a pair of transfers all competing for jobs along with the other returning players: guard Vladimir Marinov (Jr., 5-11, Sofia, Bulgaria), forwards Jayden McNabb (Jr., 6-4, Sawyer, Mich.), Jakob Morgenstern (Jr., 6-5, Speyer, Germany) and Braedy Phelan (So., 6-3, Wales, Wis.), and center Ryan Erdos (So., 6-9, Boerne, Texas).

Fans can get a close look at the team right out of the gate with the season opener being played at Memorial Gymnasium on Nov. 8 at 4 p.m. when the Prairie Fire host Westminster College (Mo.). Five of the team's first seven games will be played on its home court, which includes a pair of Midwest Conference games in early December.

Admission is free at Memorial Gymnasium for all 13 home games, and a live stream will be available online for each of those contests through the Knox portal on the Hudl website at watchmidwestsports.com/knox.