Regis men's basketball picked No. 6 in RMAC Coaches' Preseason Poll

Oct 20 | By: David Wilson, Assistant AD-Communications

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) announced the results of the Men's Basketball Coaches' Preseason Poll on Thursday ahead of the 2022-23 season.

Regis University was selected No. 6 in the poll with 125 points, ahead of in-town rival Metropolitan State University of Denver (105 points) and just behind the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs (138 points).

Black Hills State University, the defending RMAC Champions, topped the preseason poll with 14 of the 15 first-place votes and 196 points. Colorado Mesa University (178 points), Colorado School of Mines (169 points), Fort Lewis College (152 points) and UCCS rounded out the top-5.

The Rangers are coming off a tremendous 2021-22 campaign that saw the team finish 20-10 overall and 13-8 in the RMAC while making a postseason run all the way to the RMAC Tournament title game.

Regis enters the 2022-23 season a bit of an unknown across the conference with a revamped roster featuring eight new players and six returners. Despite the changes, the Rangers' are encouraged by their talent level and are poised to make another run at the top of the RMAC this season.

Helping lead the way this winter will be graduate transfer David Simental, senior forward Aaron Bokol and sophomore forward Brayden Carter; all three of whom are named to the RMAC Players to Watch list.

Simental is a familiar face to RMAC foes after he starred at Colorado State University Pueblo during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, twice earning Second Team All-RMAC Honors. The guard then spent the 2021-22 season at the University of Nebraska-Kearney, where he averaged 18.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game en route to being named Third Team All-MIAA.

Bokol is a senior leader and three-year contributor the Rangers welcome back this season. He is coming off a 2021-22 season that saw him play in 28 games and shoot a career-best 39% from 3-point range. He finished the year averaging 8.1 points and 3.7 rebounds across 19.7 minutes per contest.

As for Carter, the 6-9 big man shined during his freshman season, playing in all 30 games and averaging 6.8 points and 3.1 rebounds in 15.4 minutes. He led all Rangers with 15 blocks and was third on the team with a .516 field goal percentage. He projects to take another step forward as a sophomore and anchor of the Regis frontcourt.

The Rangers will get their 2022-23 season underway November 11-12 when it hosts two games as part of the RMAC/Lonestar Conference Challenge. They will face Lubbock Christian University (7 p.m. Friday) and St. Mary's University (6 p.m. Saturday) during that opening weekend.

2022-23 RMAC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll

Institution (First-Place Votes)	Points
1. Black Hills State (14)	196
2. Colorado Mesa	178
3. Colorado School of Mines (1)	169
4. Fort Lewis	152
5. UCCS	138
6. Regis	125
7. MSU Denver	105
8. CSU Pueblo	100
9. New Mexico Highlands	89
10. Westminster	84
11. South Dakota Mines	80
12. Adams State	55
13. Colorado Christian	39
14. Chadron State	37
15. Western Colorado	28

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