Newark, NJ – The Wagner women's basketball team was predicted to finish first in the league's annual preseason poll, the conference announced at its media day on Wednesday.
Selected by the league's head coaches as the 2022-23 NEC preseason favorite, Wagner has its sights set on claiming the NEC title, a feat that has only occurred just one other time, back in 1989. It marked the first time in 30-plus years — and quite possibly the first time in program history — that the Seahawks earned No. 1 preseason status.
The Seahawks, who came short of reaching the NEC Championship game a year ago after falling in the semifinals, earned five first-place votes to secure the moniker of "preseason favorite".
Behind Wagner is FDU, who received three first-place votes while St. Francis Brooklyn checked in third in the preseason poll. Behind the Terriers is Saint Francis U, who received one first-place vote.
Rounding out the rest of the preseason poll is Merrimack, Sacred Heart, LIU, CCSU and Stonehill.
The Seahawks have four starters and seven letter winners returning to the hardwood in 2022-23. Graduate student
Zhaneia Thybulle, a guard, highlights a veteran-heavy group after a senior campaign that saw her average 10.1 points, 5.1 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. The third team All-NEC selection and Preseason All-NEC pick dished out 5-or-more dimes 16 times last season and had a pair of 11-assist outings to add to her resumé.
Wagner has been knocking on the doorstep of the NEC Championship game the past few seasons, led by second-year head coach
Terrell Coburn. The returning starting core includes
Zhaneia Thybulle (10.1 ppg), redshirt junior
Alex Cowan (9.4 ppg),
Kem Nwabudu (8.5 ppg) and
Drayah Heyward (5.4 ppg). Wagner also returns 2022 NEC All-Rookie selection
Lina Loceniece.
On the men's side, the Seahawks were picked to finish fourth by the league's coaches, receiving one first place vote. Head coach
Donald Copeland and junior guard
DeLonnie Hunt represented the Green and White at the Prudential Center on Wednesday.
Merrimack, which earned preseason No. 1 status for the first time, collected six first place votes .Sacred Heart and Saint Francis U landed second and third, respectively, in the poll. The Pioneers earned a pair of first place nods. Defending NEC regular season champion Wagner received the final first place vote and finished fourth in the rankings. St. Francis Brooklyn was slotted fifth, and there was a tie for sixth between CCSU and FDU. LIU and NEC newcomer Stonehill rounded out the field in that order.
Conducted annually, NEC coaches have only managed to correctly forecast the eventual league champion two times in the last 23 years. Over the last 35 years, the coaches have proven inaccurate on 31 occasions or 89 percent of the time.
