The Midwest Conference released its 2017-18 Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll on Thursday and Lake Forest College was the second-place team in the rankings.
Voting is done by the MWC head men's basketball coaches. Each coach votes for the other nine schools in the league in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (nine points for first, eight for second, etc.). Coaches may not vote for their own teams.
Defending league champion St. Norbert College received nine first-place votes and the maximum number of possible points in the poll. Lake Forest was the only other team with a first place vote and finished seven points ahead of Cornell College and Grinnell College, which tied for third.
The Foresters return guard Eric Porter and forward Danny Sotos, their top two scorers from last year's team that posted a 14-11 overall record and 11-7 mark in Midwest Conference play. Lake Forest qualified for the four-team MWC Tournament, where they knocked off tourney host St. Norbert College in the semifinals.
Fourth-year head coach Ken Davis and his Foresters will open the 2017-18 season against visiting Loras College on Wednesday, November 15. They will begin their conference schedule at Beloit College six days later and play 16 league games. The top four teams in the conference will qualify for the MWC Tournament, which will be hosted by the league champion February 23-24.
| PLACE | TEAM (First Place Votes) | POINTS |
| 1 | St. Norbert College (9) | 81 |
| 2 | Lake Forest College (1) | 67 |
| 3t | Cornell College | 60 |
| 3t | Grinnell College | 60 |
| 5 | Ripon College | 56 |
| 6 | Monmouth College | 38 |
| 7 | Lawrence University | 35 |
| 8 | Illinois College | 23 |
| 9 | Beloit College | 21 |
| 10 | Knox College | 9 |