Oilers Picked to Finish 2nd in South Division

2015-16 GLIAC Preseason Men's Basketball Poll

The University of Findlay men's basketball team was picked to finish second in the South Division of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) during the 2015-16 campaign as the league office unveiled their annual preseason poll on Oct. 28.

The Oilers received a total of 102 points in the poll, which included five first place votes. Ashland was picked as the favorite with 103 points and eight first place votes.

Saginaw Valley State was deemed the early pick to win the North Division with 108 points and 13 first place votes.

The Oilers shared the GLIAC South Division title last season with Ashland. It marked the 13th time the Oilers have shared or won the division since entering GLIAC competition during the 1997-98 campaign. They finished the season with a 16-11 record, which included a 13-9 mark in league games.

In addition, senior guard Dylan Kaufman was picked as a preseason first team all-conference player. In 2014-15, Kaufman averaged 11.1 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists per contest. He also canned a team-high 54 three pointers and enters his senior season looking to become the Oilers 44th member of the 1,000-point club. The Berlin, Ohio native has scored 779 career points with Findlay.

Also returning to aid the Oilers will be senior forward John Staley, who was named to the GLIAC all-defensive team last year. Staley ended his junior campaign with averages of 9.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. He also established a new school record for field goal shooting percentage in a season by making 64.1 percent of his attempts in 2014-15.

Sophomore guard Elijah Kahlig (7.7ppg), junior guard Ricardo Smith (7.0ppg), junior forward Tyler Stern-Tucker (6.6ppg), sophomore forward Taren Sullivan (5.6ppg) and sophomore guard Nick Ruthsatz (5.3ppg) will also be back after receiving quality minutes last year.