FAIRBANKS - The Nanooks men's basketball team was selected to finish ninth in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Preseason Men's Basketball Coaches Poll. They received 31 points after finishing 11-15, 6-12 a year ago and finishing eighth in the GNAC standings.
Greg Sparling returns to the interior for his sixth season as the head coach of the Nanooks. After a Cinderella run to the Sweet 16 and an appearance in the NCAA West Region Final in 2021-22, the Nanooks finished their year in eighth-place in 2022-23. While they did not match their magic from a year before, the Nanooks did find some high spots on the season, including their first win over UAA in GNAC play in recent years. Abdullahi Mohamd returns for the 'Nooks, bringing a veteran presence to the bench; he is fresh off of a GNAC Second Team All-Conference honor in 2022-23 after posting 13.1 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.
Also joining Mohamed is
Nick Hopkins, a fellow Seattle-native and
Bryan Nguyen, a senior from Milpitas, Calif., who manned the point for much of the year for Alaska. Alaska added some key transfers from the Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC) as
TJ Doman (Clackamas),
Trey Anderson (Green River) and
Tyriq Luke (Everett) bring some fire power to the squad. Doman averaged 16.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per game while at Clackamas while Anderson posted 15.8 points and a 52.6% clip from the field. Luke, a Fairbanks-native, averaged 14.1 points at Everett Community College.
Saint Martin's earned nine of the 10 first-place votes and is looking for their third-straight GNAC regular-season title, something that has only happend once before by Cal Poly Humboldt in 2001-04. Northwest Nazarene received the other first-place vote, following SMU with 85 points. Central Washington and Western Washington took third and fourth, receiving 72 and 66 votes. Montana State Billings and Seattle Pacific were the last teams to receive over 50 points as both had 52 points, tying them for fifth in the preseason poll. Alaska Anchorage and Western Oregon were the final teams above the Nanooks in seventh and eighth. The Nanooks took ninth receiving 31 points. Simon Fraser rounded out the poll with 18 points. Alaska kicks off their season on Nov. 10-11 as they host the Hawai'i-Alaska Challenge. They unofficially begin their season on Oct. 21 with their Alumni Game. They then follow with their Blue/Gold scrimmage on Oct. 25 and then they play two scrimmages against the Seattle Mountaineers on Oct. 30-31 in the Alaska Airlines Gymnasium at the Patty Center.
2023-24 Season Schedule
2023-24 MBB Roster
2023-24 Tickets
2023-24 GNAC Preseason MBB Coaches Poll
| Rank |
Team (First-Place Votes) |
2022-23 Record |
GNAC Record (Finish) |
Points |
| 1. |
Saint Martin's (9) |
24-7 |
15-3 (1st) |
98 |
| 2. |
Northwest Nazarene (1) |
15-15 |
9-9 (T4th) |
85 |
| 3. |
Central Washington |
15-15 |
9-9 (T4th) |
72 |
| 4. |
Western Washington |
15-13 |
8-10 (7th) |
66 |
| T5. |
Montana State Billings |
20-10 |
14-4 (2nd) |
52 |
| T5. |
Seattle Pacific |
17-11 |
12-6 (3rd) |
52 |
| 7. |
Alaska Anchorage |
13-14 |
7-11 (9th) |
40 |
| 8. |
Western Oregon |
12-14 |
9-9 (T4th) |
36 |
| 9. |
Alaska |
11-15 |
6-12 (8th) |
31 |
| 10. |
Simon Fraser |
6-22 |
1-17 (10th) |
18 |
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