By Matthew Schaefer
NKU Norse Basketball
The Northern Kentucky men’s basketball program was picked to finish atop the Horizon League standings and Marques Warrick, Trevon Faulkner, and Sam Vinson were all selected to the All-League teams as the Horizon announced its preseason poll and award winners on Wednesday. The results were based on voting by Horizon League coaches, athletic communication directors and members of the media.
This marks the sixth-straight year in which the Norse were chosen in the top-three of the preseason poll and the first time in program history that NKU was selected in the top spot for the league coming into a season.
“I do not put a ton of stock into preseason predictions, but I hope it does speak to the consistency of our program as a whole with this being the sixth year in a row being selected in the top-three,” NKU head coach Darrin Horn said. “It is nice to see individual student-athletes like Marques, Sam and Trevon recognized for essentially what is their production and winning the previous year. All three are very deserving.”
Northern Kentucky was tied with Purdue Fort Wayne atop the Horizon preseason poll. Both programs earned 15 first-place votes and 394 points overall.
To go with the team honors, Warrick was a Preseason All-League First Team honoree while Faulkner and Vinson joined him as All-League Second Team selections.
Warrick, a junior guard from Lexington, earned First Team honors after a stellar 2021-22 campaign. He was selected as an All-Horizon League Second Team member to end 2022, to go with a Horizon All-Tournament Team nod and two conference Student-Athlete of the Week honors. Warrick averaged a team-best 16.8 points per contest to go with a 35.3 percent mark from beyond the arc. He reached double-digit scoring in 26 of 32 games played, which included a run of 15 straight contests to end the season.
Faulkner, a fifth-year senior from Harrodsburg, has been the leader of the Norse over his five years with the program. NKU has gone 83-41 (.669) since his arrival and posted a 52-23 (.689) mark in league play. The Norse have reached three Horizon League Tournament Championships with Faulkner and twice earned NCAA Tournament bids. He enters 2022-23 with 1,332 career points and averaged 11.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1 steal per contest a season ago to pick up the Second Team selection.
Vinson, a sophomore guard from Fort Thomas, Ky., picked up Second Team honors as the reining Horizon League Freshman of the Year. He was a finalist for the Kyle Macy Award in 2022, handed out to the top freshman in college basketball. He set a new Horizon freshman record with 66 steals and ranked 12th nationally in takeaways. Vinson averaged 11.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.1 steals last season, which included reaching double-digit scoring in 19 contests.
Northern Kentucky gets the year underway with an exhibition contest against Tiffin University on Monday, Oct. 24 at 7 PM ET at Truist Arena. The regular season gets started with the home and season-opener on Monday, Nov. 7 as the Norse host Kent State at Truist. Tipoff for the contest is also set for 7 p.m.
2022-23 #HLMBB PRESEASON POLL
Pl. Team – Points (First-place Votes)
T1. Northern Kentucky (15) – 394
T1. Purdue Fort Wayne (15) – 394
3. Wright State (3) – 329
4. Oakland (2) – 321
5. Youngstown State (1) – 291
6. Detroit Mercy (2) – 268
7. Cleveland State – 188
8. RMU – 163
9. Milwaukee – 132
10. Green Bay – 111
11. IUPUI – 49
#HLMBB PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy
PRESEASON ALL-LEAGUE FIRST TEAM
Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy
Marques Warrick, Northern Kentucky
Jalen Moore, Oakland
Jarred Godfrey, Purdue Fort Wayne
Dwayne Cohill, Youngstown State
PRESEASON ALL-LEAGUE SECOND TEAM
Trevon Faulkner, Northern Kentucky
Sam Vinson, Northern Kentucky
Kahliel Spear, RMU
Trey Calvin, Wright State
Amari Davis, Wright State