The Midwest Conference released its 2019-20 Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll on Friday and Lake Forest College was third 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.
St. Norbert College was the top team in the poll with 81 points and received nine first-place votes. Monmouth College received the other first-place vote and, with 68 points, edged out the Foresters by just two. Grinnell College was fourth with 55 points and Ripon College fifth with 50.
The Foresters return four starters from a year ago, including First Team All-MWC guard Sean Espinosa, who scored a team-high 18.2 points per game and led the league with 53 steals. The team's program record 83.6 points per game also included 12.2 from guard Tashon Brown, 11.9 from guard Aram Arslanian, and 11.1 from guard Sam Husting. Lake Forest earned a spot in the MWC Tournament for the fourth year in a row and won the event for the first time in school history. The Foresters made their first appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament and finished the season 18-10.
Sixth-year head coach Ken Davis and his Foresters will open the 2019-20 season against visiting North Park University on Saturday, November 9. They will begin their conference schedule on December 4 at St. Norbert and play 18 league games. The top four teams in the conference will qualify for the MWC Tournament, which will be hosted by the league champion February 28-29.
| PLACE | TEAM (First Place Votes) | POINTS |
| 1 | St. Norbert College (9) | 81 |
| 2 | Monmouth College (1) | 68 |
| 3 | Lake Forest College | 66 |
| 4 | Grinnell College | 55 |
| 5 | Ripon College | 50 |
| 6 | Lawrence University | 46 |
| 7 | Illinois College | 30 |
| 8 | Cornell College | 26 |
| 9 | Beloit College | 18 |
| 10 | Knox College | 10 |
