Wheaton, Ill. – The defending CCIW Champion Wheaton women's basketball team has earned a pair of preseason recognitions recently.
Wheaton was picked first in the CCIW's Preseason Coaches Poll. Wheaton was picked to repeat as the CCIW's women's basketball champion in the coaches' poll with 64 points and eight first-place votes. Illinois Wesleyan finished second in the poll, with 55 points and the remaining first-place vote. Carthage tallied 52 points in third place. North Park was selected fourth with 33 points, Augustana was was picked fifth with 30 points, North Central was sixth with 29 points, Elmhurst was tabbed to finish seventh with 26 points, Millikin was picked eighth with 22 points and Carroll garnered 13 points in ninth place.
The Thunder women's basketball team was picked 14th in the D3hoops.com Preseason Top-25 poll. Amherst was first in the poll with 576 points and six first-place votes, followed by Tufts in second place with 574 points five first-place votes. Scranton is third with 568 points and eight first-place votes, with Wartburg earning fourth place with 536 points, followed by Bowdoin in fifth with 512 points and four first-place votes. Hope is sixth in the poll with 475 points and Mary Hardin-Baylor is seventh with 461 points and one first-place vote. George Fox is eighth with 389 points, St. Thomas has 364 points in ninth place with one first-place vote, and DePauw rounds out the top-10 with 357 points. Trine is 11th with 354 points in the poll, Texas-Dallas is 12th with 329 points, and DeSales is 13th with 248 points. Wheaton is 14th with 242 points and Christopher Newport rounds out the top-15 with 231 points.
Wheaton is the only CCIW team ranked in the top-25 poll. Two of Wheaton's non-conference opponents in 2019-20 are ranked in the preseason poll. Wheaton opens the season on November 9 against 12th-ranked Texas-Dallas at home. Wheaton hosts No. 18 University of Chicago on November 20 in King Arena.
Wheaton compiled a 22-6 record in 2018-19, and was ranked 25th in the final D3hoops.com Top-25 poll of the season.
