“There’s just so many unknowns,” fourth-year coach Kari Hoffman. “There’s a couple well-known teams in our league. But other than that, preseason polls are a lot of guessing.
“There’s a lot of new players in the league. We’re one of the teams that’s a big question mark. Nobody really knows where to put us.”
Defending regular-season champ Cleveland State was picked first and HL tourney winner Green Bay second, followed by Purdue Fort Wayne, Milwaukee and Youngstown State.
CSU’s Colbi Maples is the preseason player of the year after winning the award last spring.
The Raiders brought in six transfers and three freshmen this season. Only four of the six returning players saw action last year.
Junior Lauren Scott had 13 starts and averaged 24.4 minutes per game.
Junior Makiya Miller was sidelined after appearing in only 18 games.
And junior Claire Henson and third-year sophomore Macie Taylor were seldom-used subs.
The Raiders finished 18-15 last season — a 10-win jump over the previous year — and were fourth in the league at 11-9, reaching the tourney semifinals.
They’ve had to replace their top four scores and five of their top six, but Hoffman said: “We’re improving a lot. We’re really excited to play someone else and see our players in action.
“We talk a lot about maturing, and a lot of young players who haven’t played college minutes yet need to show that maturity. But we’ve got all the pieces we need to compete in our league.”
Men’s and women’s college teams are allowed either two closed preseason scrimmages against Division-I foes, two exhibitions in front of fans, or one of each.
Hoffman opted for two scrimmages, and while she didn’t want to name the opponents, she expects to be tested.
“There’s a lot to prove still with a lot of our players — how they perform when those possessions really matter, how they perform when you’re going up against someone other than us,” she said.
“There’s a lot to be decided still. And I need to see some of our players making a little separation between one another.”
The Wright State men played one scrimmage against Bowling Green and have an exhibition at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26, against visiting Wilmington.
Hoffman opted not to play an exhibition. Their opener is at Wisconsin on Nov. 5.
That’s a “buy” game, meaning the Raiders will receive a sizable check for playing but won’t get a return game at the Nutter Center.
“I’ve done an exhibition every year, and normally that’s against a D-II or NAIA team, and I don’t feel it’s as helpful potentially as playing two teams at your level — or maybe even a little better than us — and having that as a measuring stick,” Hoffman said.
They had been playing two “buy” games each season for budget purposes before getting it whittled down to one this season.
They were hammered by the likes of Michigan State, Ohio State and Tennessee, but they almost pulled off an upset last season, falling, 77-72, at West Virginia.
“I think we’ll always have to play one. That’s a good test for us,” Hoffman said.
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