INDIANAPOLIS/DAYTON – Wright State men’s basketball team received 463 total votes and nine first-place votes as the Raiders were selected second in the Horizon League preseason poll ahead of the 2021-22 season. Additionally, redshirt junior Grant Basile was named a first team preseason selection and junior Tanner Holden earned second team preseason honors.
Cleveland State earned 30 first place votes and 502 total votes to take the preseason top spot, with Northern Kentucky slotted third with 406 total votes and a single first place vote. Milwaukee (396 total votes) and Detroit Mercy (350) rounded out the top five as both received two first place votes each as well.
Inserted in the starting lineup the last 15 games of 2020-21, Basile scored at a 15.0 points per game clip with 19 double digit scoring games, including a career-high 35 points in the Horizon League tournament last March against Milwaukee. He added a 7.0 rebounds/game average, the third-most on the Wright State roster and ninth in the League overall. Basile’s 62 percent shooting from the floor last season was the highest among Wright State regular rotation players, while that mark also led the Horizon League and was the seventh-best in the country overall.
The preseason first team honor comes following Basile’s first team selection last spring. He began his Raider career as an all-freshman honoree in 2019-20.
Holden averaged a team-high 34 minutes per game last season and tallied 15.8 points per game, second-most on the roster. He recorded 21 double digit scoring games, including 18 games with 15 or more points, while shooting 52 percent from the floor, the sixth-best mark in the League, and was an 80 percent free throw shooter, seventh in the League. Holden added 7.3 rebounds per game, the second-most on the Raider roster and eighth in the League overall last season.
The preseason second team selection comes after Holden was named a first team HL selection last spring and earned second team NABC Division I All-District honors. Like Basile, Holden began his Raider career as an all-freshman honoree in 2019-20.
The Raiders open the season at home on November 9 against Lake Erie before a challenging non-conference slate that includes trips to Purdue and North Carolina State, along with the Naples Invitational, ahead of the Horizon League conference schedule.
2021-22 #HLMBB Preseason Poll Results
Pl. School (1st-place) – Votes
1. Cleveland State (30) – 502
2. Wright State (9) – 463
3. Northern Kentucky (1) – 406
4. Milwaukee (2) – 396
5. Detroit Mercy (2) – 350
6. Oakland – 340
7. Youngstown State – 214
8. UIC – 204
9. Purdue Fort Wayne – 169
10. RMU – 157
11. Green Bay – 146
12. IUPUI – 85
Preseason Player of the Year
Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy
Preseason All-League First Team (alphabetical order by school)
Torrey Patton, Cleveland State
Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy
Patrick Baldwin Jr., Milwaukee
Jalen Moore, Oakland
Grant Basile, Wright State
Preseason All-League Second Team (alphabetical order by school)
DeAndre Gholston, Milwaukee
Trevon Faulkner, Northern Kentucky
Marques Warrick, Northern Kentucky
Jarred Godfrey, Purdue Fort Wayne
Tanner Holden, Wright State
COURTESY WSU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
