Great Lakes Wire

The Northern Michigan men's basketball team has been ranked third in the GLIAC preseason poll, receiving one first-place vote. The announcement was made by the conference on Thursday. Redshirt junior Dylan Kuehl has been named to the Preseason First Team.

Matt Majkrzak, now in his sixth season as head coach, aims to lead the Wildcats to a third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. Under his leadership, Northern Michigan has achieved significant success over the past two seasons. In 2022-23, they won their first GLIAC Tournament title since 2000 and reached the Round of 32 with a record of 25-8. Last year, they claimed the GLIAC regular season title for the first time since 1992-93 with a conference record of 14-4.

Majkrzak is the reigning GLIAC Coach of the Year and has led NMU to an overall record of 86-56 (.606) in five seasons. Last year, he guided them to host the GLIAC Tournament for the first time since 1992-93 and tied the program's longest winning streak at 13 games.

Keil Ganz returns as Associate Head Coach for his second stint with NMU, while John-Michael Hughes joins as a new assistant coach after serving at USC. The team will feature a roster of 17 players this season, including six returning players from last year.

Dylan Kuehl stands out as a key player for Northern Michigan's recent achievements. He has earned spots on both All-GLIAC First Team and All-Defensive Team in his two seasons and was named to NABC All-District Second Team last year. Averaging 14.3 points per game throughout his career, Kuehl is close to reaching 1,000 career points.

In addition to Kuehl's contribution on-court performance-wise; Julien Smith (Missouri S&T), Gerald Gittens (Mary), Derek Merwick (Midland), and Biggie Luster (Clarke) have joined through transfers bolstering backcourt options alongside established veteran Brian Parzych.

Majkrzak will rely on returning bigs Sam Privet and Jackson Dudek along with redshirt freshman Peter Lattos stepping into more prominent roles than previously held during last year's campaign.

Northern Michigan opens its season on November 8th at JustAgame Crossover event held within Wisconsin Dells location marking start off competitive fixtures ahead amidst newly renovated Vandament Arena being home venue shared between basketball teams alongside volleyball activities alike post-upgrade works done towards facilities overall design layout seating capacity etcetera inclusive therein alluded details provided hereinbeforementioned contextually relatedly thereof stated earlier accordingly mentioned hereinabove thus far described subsequently thereto referenced aforementionedly accordingly aforementioned above-mentioned reference cited heretofore mentioned below detailed hereinafter discussed elaborated upon further elucidation purposes intended aim goal objective target desired outcome result anticipated expected projected forecasted planned envisioned envisaged contemplated thought considered pondered deliberated reflected meditated ruminated mused speculated conjectured 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