Little Rock Men's Basketball Picked to Finish 1st in Blue Ribbon Yearbook Preseason Poll
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Preseason polls are rolling in and Little Rock Men's Basketball is on the boards. Chris Dortch's Blue Ribbon Yearbook picks for the Ohio Valley Conference have the Trojans on top, as well as two players with additional honors.
The Blue Ribbon forecast has Little Rock finishing first in the conference, followed by Morehead State and Western Illinois. This comes as the Trojans won the 2023-24 conference regular season and finished second in the OVC tournament after falling 55-69 against Morehead State.
Blue Ribbon's All-Conference team includes Little Rock's graduate guard KK Robinson. Robinson, a Little Rock native, was a major asset to the Trojans in the 2023-24 season, finishing the year averaging 15.6 points per game along with 33 steals, 17 blocks, and an average of 5.6 rebounds per game.
Robinson is also picked as Blue Ribbon's OVC Player of the Year. "KK deserves to be picked early as Player of the Year because of his talent and how he helped us win last year," head coach Darrell Walker said. "He's going to have a target on his back, just like the rest of our team, but he's a good player and truly deserves this."
Little Rock transfer guard Mwani Wilkinson is Blue Ribbon's pick for Newcomer of the Year. Wilkinson comes to Little Rock after four years at Louisiana State University where he played major minutes before undergoing shoulder surgery his junior year. "Mwani's a good player, he's learning our system," Walker said. "He has a chance to be a good asset to our team and be Newcomer of the Year."
The full Ohio Valley Conference picks are listed below:
BLUE RIBBON FORECAST
1. Little Rock
2. Morehead State
3. Western Illinois
4. Southeast Missouri State
5. Eastern Illinois
6. SIUE
7. Tennessee State
8. Lindenwood
9 Southern Indiana
10. UT Martin
11. Tennessee Tech
