FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Great Northwest Athletic Conference released their 2019-20 men's basketball preseason coaches' poll. The Alaska Nanooks men's team was selected 10
th in the 11-team league, following a 5-22, 2-18 GNAC 2018-19 season. Head coach
Greg Sparling returns for his second season with the Nanooks. Joining him for his second season as well is assistant coach
Jesse Brown.
Sparling brings in his first full recruitment class to surround returning senior,
Spencer Sweet who is coming off of a season in which he averaged 11.9 points per game and three rebounds per game. Also returning for Alaska are senior guards,
Jalon McCullough and
Quinn Daugharty and redshirt-junior,
Zach Hatch.
With only four returning players, the 'Nooks will have fresh faces everywhere. Alaska welcomes seven transfers this season;
Markel Banks, a shooting guard from Olympic College,
Ousman Basir Gomez, Jr., who comes from Chesapeake College,
Keshaun Howard, who played at Herkimer College,
Koby Huerta, who moves up from Big Bend CC,
Deshawn Kelly from Western Texas CC,
Shadeed Shabazz from Iowa Western and finally,
Alex Sommerfield who transferred from Green River CC.
The Nanooks finish their roster with three freshman additions. The first freshman is
Matthew Scarboro, a 6'3" small forward, who comes to Fairbanks from North Pole. Scarboro played at Ben Eielson High School in the Eielson Air Force Base. Second is
Marcus Lee, a 5'10" point guard, who joins the 'Nooks from Ketchikan High School. The final freshman is
Mawich Kachjaani, a 6'11" F/C from Fangak, South Sudan.
Western Washington was selected to win the GNAC this season, followed closely by Seattle Pacific. Simon Fraser and Alaska Anchorage battled for the third place spot, separated by just a point. MSUB, CWU, NNU and WOU make up the middle of the pack and Concordia, Alaska and Saint Martin's finish the poll out.
2019-20 GNAC Preseason Men's Basketball Coaches Poll
Pos. Team (1st Place Votes) Overall Record GNAC Record (Place) Pts.
| 1 |
Western Washington (6) |
15-15 |
9-11 (tie 6th) |
112 |
| 2 |
Seattle Pacific (5) |
22-7 |
16-4 (2nd) |
107 |
| 3 |
Simon Fraser |
15-14 |
9-11 (tie 6th) |
91 |
| 4 |
Alaska Anchorage |
14-14 |
9-11 (tie 6th) |
90 |
| 5 |
Montana State Billings |
15-14 |
10-10 (5th) |
79 |
| 6 |
Central Washington |
11-17 |
5-15 (10th) |
63 |
| 7 |
Northwest Nazarene |
20-8 |
14-6 (3rd) |
59 |
| 8 |
Western Oregon |
22-11 |
13-7 (4th) |
56 |
| 9 |
Concordia |
11-17 |
6-14 (9th) |
25 |
| 10 |
Alaska |
5-22 |
2-18 (11th) |
23 |
| 11 |
Saint Martin's |
26-6 |
17-3 (1st) |
21 |
The men will unofficially open their season on Nov. 2 in the Patty Center with an exhibition game against the Fort Wainwright basketball team at 1:00 p.m. AKT.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team, follow @NanooksMBB on Twitter.
