COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – The Saint John's University basketball team was ranked third in Street & Smith's Division III Preseason Top 10 poll, published in its college basketball preview issue out on newsstands now.

In addition, senior post Lucas Walford (Elko, Minn./New Prague) was named Street & Smith's Preseason All-America honorable mention.

Street & Smith's magazine noted the following about SJU basketball in 2019-20:

"The Johnnies (23-5) have plenty of D3 national championship trophies in football, so it would be neat to add one in hoops. Coach Pat McKenzie's team is loaded with four returning starters and four reserves back in the fold. Two of the team's four seniors are 6-foot-4 Jubie Alade (13.1 ppg., 4.3 rpg.) and 6-foot-8 Lucas Walford (11.5, 9.3). Other returning starters are 6-foot-5 Oakley Baker and 6-foot-6 Zach Hanson. The Johnnies, who look like a D2 team with their size, also return 6-foot-5 Ethan Novacinski (5.6 ppg.) and 6-foot-8 Kyle Sorenson (4.0)."

2019-20 Street & Smith's Division III Top 10
1. Wisconsin-Oshkosh
2. Nebraska Wesleyan
3. Saint John's 
4. Oswego State (N.Y.)
5. North Central (Ill.)
6. Nichols (Mass.)
7. Trinity (Conn.)
8. St. Thomas
9. Augustana (Ill.)
10. Monmouth (Ill.)

Walford led the MIAC in shooting percentage (.743), offensive rebounds (66) and blocks (34) in league play en route to All-MIAC second-team honors in 2018-19. Overall, Walford averaged 11.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per game, while shooting .712 (136-for-191) from the floor. He would have led NCAA Division III in field-goal percentage, but missed (4.86) the requirement of five made field goals per game. Walford registered 11 double-doubles in 2018-19 (15 career) and became the program's all-time leader in blocks with 91.

SJU (23-5, 17-3 MIAC) won its sixth MIAC Playoff championship in program history (first since 2001) and made its second consecutive national tournament appearance in 2018-19, ending the season ranked No. 23 nationally. The Johnnies ended the 2018-19 season as the Division III statistical leader in shooting percentage (.536), second in rebound margin (+12.6 rpg.), third in scoring margin (+18.0 ppg.) and eighth in three-point percentage (.407).

The Johnnies open the 2019-20 season against Nebraska Wesleyan - the first of two non-conference games Nov. 8-9 in Superior, Wis. - which went 27-2 last season and 30-3 en route to the 2018 NCAA Division III title. The Prairie Wolves were ranked No. 2 in the Street & Smith's preseason poll above. The Johnnies will play either Marian (Wis.) or host Wisconsin-Superior the following day. 

Non-conference play continues with a trip to Minnesota-Morris Nov. 13 before SJU hosts Carleton Nov. 20. The ledger consists of four straight road games after that, including two in Oregon Dec. 20-21 at Linfield and Willamette, respectively.

The Johnnies return from the holidays Jan. 4 to take on Augsburg in Collegeville, a rematch of last year's MIAC playoff title game, before they visit a pair of MIAC playoff teams in St. Olaf (Jan. 6) and St. Thomas (Jan. 11).

Over half of SJU's home games come in two, three-game homestands over a three-week period. The first is a three-game stretch against Saint Mary's (Jan. 15), Bethel (Jan. 18) and Macalester (Jan. 20), then three more in a row against Gustavus Adolphus (Jan. 29), Hamline (Feb. 1) and St. Olaf (Feb. 5). The Johnnies play host to St. Thomas Feb. 15 for Alumni and Senior Day and end the regular season a week later, Feb. 22, at Bethel.