October 23, 2014
EASTON, Pa. - Senior Seth Hinrichs of the Lafayette men's basketball team was selected to the Preseason All-Patriot League Team, it was announced at Patriot League Media Day on Thursday. Additionally, Lafayette was picked to finish fourth in the Patriot League Preseason Poll.
Coming off an 11-20 season a year ago when the Leopards went just 6-12 in Patriot League play, a rebound is expected for the Maroon and White with their best player returning for his senior season. Hinrichs, an All-Patriot League Third-Team selection a year ago, was limited to just 19 games in 2013-14 due to a left knee injury, sidelining him for 11 games from mid-December through late January, including the Leopards' first eight Patriot League contests.
Hinrichs' return to the starting lineup during the second half of conference play ignited a turnaround in Lafayette's season as the Leopards went 6-3 with Hinrichs in the starting five after opening the league season with an 0-9 mark.
For the year, Hinrichs led Lafayette in scoring (16.7 ppg) and rebounding (5.9 rpg) and posted career highs in both categories. The Clara City, Minn. native scored 28 points in back-to-back games against Yale (11/26) and Penn (11/30), and finished the regular season with 14 career 20-point games.
As a team, the Leopards have high expectations for this season, returning all five starters from a team selected to finish second in last year's preseason poll.
"Our goals are always the same in that we want to be playing our best basketball into February and March," head coach Fran O'Hanlon said, entering his 20th season on the Lafayette sideline. "We want to improve over the course of the season and we'd love to get off to a good start, but we're aware of our daunting schedule. We just want to continue to grow and come together as a team throughout the year."
The 2014-15 slate begins on Nov. 14 with a trip to Western Pennsylvania to take on Robert Morris at 7 p.m.
The Patriot League Preseason Poll and All-League Squad are shown below.
Preseason Rankings
1. American
2. Army
3. Holy Cross
4. Lafayette
5. Bucknell
6. Boston U.
7. Lehigh
8. Colgate
9. Loyola
10. Navy
Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year
Kyle Wilson, Jr., G/F, Army
Patriot League Preseason All-League Team
Darius Gardner, Sr., G, American
Seth Hinrichs, Sr., F, Lafayette
Tim Kempton, So., F/C, Lehigh
Malcolm Miller, Sr., F, Holy Cross
Kyle Wilson, Jr., G/F, Army
