The predictions were voted on by each league’s 10 head coaches. WKU mens received 85 points, just two behind Louisiana Tech’s 87. The Hilltoppers received two first place votes. 

The Lady Toppers received 61 points behind FIU’s 73, Liberty’s 88 and first place MTSU’s 99. 

C-USA also announced the Preseason All-Conference Honorees. Senior guard Don McHenry and graduate forward Tyrone Marshall Jr. were both named to the list. Senior guard Alexis Mead was named to the C-USA Women’s Basketball Preseason Team. 

The men’s team will get an unofficial start to the season in a charity exhibition against UAB on Sunday, Oct. 27 at Diddle Arena. The Hilltoppers first official game is a home game against Wichita State on Nov. 4. 

The Lady Toppers have a home exhibition against Lee University on Oct. 29 and will officially start the year at Indiana State on Nov. 4. 

Sports Editor Jake McMahon can be reached at michael.mcmahon480@topper.wku.edu

“We had a good showing of fans come out, students came out and just to see the joy on their faces meant a lot,” WKU guard Jalen Jackson said. “It means a lot just giving back.”

Athletes from the men’s and women’s basketball teams coached their respective teams ahead of Tuesday night’s game. Team Black, coached by the male athletes, won a 32-30 nail-biter.

“I think it’s absolutely amazing that people are willing to give up time in their day. I mean, the student athlete schedule is hectic, but they’re still here to cheer them on,” Rachel Payne, assistant organizer with Hilltopper CLIMB, said. 

Hilltopper CLIMB, WKU’s student athlete development program, works to provide volunteer and community outreach opportunities for collegiate athletes.

The excitement surrounding the Unified game, the signature service project for both the men’s and women’s teams, might very well open the door for more community outreach events like it in the future. 

Looking ahead, the athletes are already excited for next year. 

“It’s amazing,” Junior guard Josie Gilvin said. “It’s always something you look forward to.”

Rascoe played three seasons as a Hilltopper and in that time made his mark as an all-time Hilltopper great. He was named an All-American his senior season in 1962 and was a two-time All-Ohio Valley Conference First-team member in 1961 and 1962. He was named to the conference’s 40th Anniversary Team in 1988.

Rascoe tallied 1,687 points in his three seasons as a Hilltopper, a number that ranks 12th in program history. His career 20.8 points per game career average ranks fourth in the program’s history.

Rascoe was not the only one succeeding when he was on the court as WKU tallied 56 wins in the three seasons. Under E.A. Diddle, WKU won the OVC in each of Rascoe’s three seasons and qualified for the NCAA Tournament twice.

Following his time as a Hilltopper, Rascoe was selected by the New York Knicks with the 20th pick in the 1962 NBA draft. He went on to play with the Phillips 66ers of the Amateur Athletic Union from 1962-1967 and finished his pro basketball career with the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association.

He returned to WKU from 1974-78 as an assistant coach under Jim Richards. In 2012, Rascoe’s No. 45 jersey was retired in Diddle Arena. He was one of 11 players in the program’s history to hold that honor.

There will be a visitation on Wednesday Aug. 28 at 4 pm and Thursday Aug. 29 at 10 am at First Baptist Church of Bowling Green. The funeral will begin Thursday at noon.

“I think we wanted to challenge our group as well as we could,” Head Coach Hank Plona said. “When we started figuring out where we’re at and what we wanted to do, this team wants another chance to play the best. I guess we tried to create a schedule that would challenge us.”

Following WKU’s season opener against Wichita State at Diddle arena, the Hilltoppers will travel to Phoenix on Nov. 9 to face the Grand Canyon Lopes for the second game of the season. As a 12 seed in last year’s NCAA Tournament, the Lopes upset Saint Mary’s for its first tournament win in program history. GCU’s 2024-2025 squad returns four out of five starters from that game.

“We’re going to know something about us after that,” Plona said about the first two games. “I think it’s a good start to the season for this team… on the flight back from Arizona we’ll probably have a good idea if what we’re doing is good enough.”

Later in November, WKU will travel to Lexington to face the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena. Kentucky and first year head coach Mark Pope host an almost entirely new squad, returning only two players from last year’s UK team that was upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. WKU last played at Kentucky in 2021, losing to the Wildcats 95-60. 

“I thought it was a great opportunity… .Obviously the game at Rupp will be cool. You want to challenge yourself against the absolute best, go play at Kentucky, ” Plona said. “You only learn who you are when you play games like that.”

WKU’s last game of the non-conference slate, Dec. 29,  will be on the road at the University of Michigan. Like WKU, Michigan has a new head coach for the upcoming season in former FAU head coach Dusty May. While at FAU, May went 5-2 against the Hilltoppers. 

As for home games, WKU will be rekindling a spirited rivalry when Marshall visits Diddle Arena, Nov. 30. Marshall and WKU last met on March 5, 2022, with the Hilltoppers defeating the Thundering Herd 78-69. Another WKU rival, Murray State, will make their way to Diddle Arena on Dec. 14.

Other games on WKU’s non-conference schedule include;

• Nov. 12 vs. Campbellsville 
• Nov. 17 vs. Lipscomb
• Nov. 20 vs. Jackson State
• Dec. 7 at Evansville
• Dec. 10 vs. Tennessee State
• Dec. 17 vs. Seattle
• Dec. 21 vs. Kentucky Wesleyan

Originally from Mount Juliet, Tennessee, Marshall played at WKU from 1950 to 1954 and developed a knockout resume.

Marshall’s record as a Hilltopper was a staggering 99-9 with two OVC regular season championship titles (‘51-52 and ‘53-54) and two OVC tournament championship titles (‘52-53 and ‘53-54).

A 6-foot-4-inch forward, Marshall was a force offensively and defensively. He’s ranked 4th in WKU’s all-time scoring list with 1,909 points, and he ranks 2nd in WKU’s all-time leading rebounds with 1,225.

Marshall was a two-time All-American, joining only two other players from WKU to have ever been given All-America honors (Clem Haskins in 1967 and Jim McDaniels in 1971).

After his senior season, Marshall was selected by the Rochester Royals as the 7th pick in the first round of the NBA draft.

According to Paul Just, WKU Sports Information Director Emeritus, writing for WNKY, Marshall went on to play four seasons with the Royals and one year with the Detroit Pistons. His last season (‘58-59) was with the Royals, and he served as team “player-coach.”

After Marshall retired as a player, he was hired as the Royals’ head coach in December 1958, and went on to coach only one season (‘59-60).

Reporter Cameron Shaw can be reached at cameron.shaw@topper.wku.edu.

Newman, a redshirt senior guard who spent 2020-2023 at Purdue, started all 34 games for the Hilltoppers this past season. Newman averaged 10.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game during the 2023-24 season. 

Newman becomes the second Hilltopper to enter the portal since the hiring of new head coach Hank Plona, following Dontaie Allens entry on April 11. 

Allen, a Kentucky native who spent 2019-22 at the University of Kentucky, found his way to WKU via the portal for the 2022-23 season. In his time with WKU, Allen averaged 8.7 points, three rebounds and 0.6 assists a game while shooting 38% from three. 

Allen becomes the first Hilltopper to enter the portal since the hiring of new head coach Hank Plona on April 2.

“I’m blessed, I’m honored and I’m very appreciative to be named the head coach here at Western Kentucky,” Plona said. “I look forward to being a steward of this program, to helping this program continue to move forward, and build on the success that we had this year.”

Plona is taking over the reins following Steve Lutz’s single year on the Hill. Lutz, a true one year wonder for WKU, led the Hilltoppers to a Conference-USA tournament championship and a bid in the NCAA tournament before taking over at Oklahoma State. 

“When you look where we were a year ago, and where we are now, Steve deserves all the credit in the world,” Athletic Director Todd Stewart said. “He did a phenomenal job.”

Plona, who spent last season as an assistant under Lutz, has eight years of head coaching experience at the junior college level. At Indian Hills Community College, Plona won 85.6% of his games and led the Warriors to seven NJCAA tournament appearances. 

“When we hire a head coach, among the many qualities we look at are, number one, do they have winning experience as a head coach,” Stewart said. “The 86.5% [winning percentage] would be a resounding yes.”

Plonas teams at Indian Hills hosted a similar fast-paced playstyle to last season’s Hilltopper squad, as over Plonas eight years with the Warriors his teams averaged 86.9 points per game. 

“We’re going to continue to play a fast style,” Plona said. “My teams at Indian Hills never averaged less than 81 points a game so we’ll try to make sure that we continue to play up and down.” 

However, Plona said that he will add his own styles of coaching while continuing the fast paced game Lutz brought to Diddle arena last season. 

“I tell these guys all the time, if you try to be anybody but yourself you will fail,” Plona said. “I’m going to be me, I’m going to have my personality, it’s a little bit different than coaches [Lutz] for sure.” 

Before his eight years at Indian Hills, Plona spent time as an assistant coach at South Plains College, Arkansas Fort Smith and held a graduate assistant role at Providence college. 

Plona’s contract extends to June 30, 2028 with an annual salary of $500,000. The contract includes incentives such as $150,000 for both C-USA regular season championships and NCAA tournament bids, $50,000 for C-USA coach of the year awards and 50% of total ticket revenues in excess of $1 million. 

Lutz’s annual base salary exceeded Plonas by $150,000, however Lutz’s incentives for both a C-USA regular season championship and an NCAA tournament appearance sat at only $100,000 each according to the Approval of Athetic Employment Contract from May 4, 2023.

“My staff and I haven’t stopped working since the day we got back from Indianapolis and the NCAA Tournament and we are eager to build upon the success of the 2023-24 season into the future,” Plona said. “We will continue working tirelessly on the recruiting trail – both in retaining current Hilltoppers and identifying future ones.”

Plona, who spent last year on the WKU bench as an assistant coach, has eight seasons of head coaching experience at the junior college level with Indian Hills Community College. In his time as head coach of Indian Hills, Plona led the Warriors to a 225-35 record and seven NJCAA tournament appearances. 

“Hank Plona is a winner,” Athletic Director Todd Stewart said. “He played an integral role in many areas of our program during this past championship season, and I am confident under his leadership we will continue to build on the strong momentum that has been established.”

Plona developed multiple Division I talents in his time with Indian Hills including WKU guard Don Mchenry, the Hilltoppers leading scorer from last season. Mchenry made his way to Bowling Green with Plona for the 2023-24 season. 

Before his time with Indian Hills, Plona held several assistant coaching positions at South Plains College, Arkansas Fort Smith and a graduate assistant role at Providence. 

An introductory press conference for Plona will be held on Wednesday, April 3, at Diddle Arena and will be open to the public.  

Lutz, who spent his previous two years in the Lone Star state, coaching Texas A&M Corpus Christi, will head south once again to take over the reins from former Cowboy coach, Mike Boynton. 

The OSU position was one of many that Lutz has been tied to as Louisville and SMU both emerged as rumored landing spots.

During his stint at both WKU and TX A&M-CC, Coach Lutz propelled both teams to 80+ PPG, with his time with the Hilltoppers ranking top 40 in total scoring and fast breaks points.

In the 2023-2024 season, Lutz secured his base salary of $650,000 with a $100,000 bonus for the NCAA Tournament berth. 

The first order of business for Lutz will be sitting down with Javon Small and Brandon Garrison, two of the Cowboys’ top four leading scorers who have entered the transfer portal. 

However, this is not a new task for Lutz. When he first arrived at WKU, Lutz convinced Tyrone Marshall Jr. to suit up for the Hilltoppers once again, and remove his name from the portal.

After the team’s March Madness loss to Marquette, Marshall spoke on what that conversation sounded like.

“It was really hard to adjust for a little bit coming from Coach Stansbury to Coach Lutz because I was in the process of hitting the portal until me and Lutz had sat down and had a talk,” Marshall said. “And he told me ‘I’m going to make you a better player’ and I believed him and he did and I thank him for that.”

But it’s not just convincing players to stay that is his specialty. His final year with Purdue, and the last time he was in a Power 5 conference, Lutz secured Zach Edey’s recruitment. Edey is now a two-time consensus All-American, two-time Big-10 POTY, 2022-2023 AP POTY, and is currently in the running to go back to back in that award.

Oklahoma State capped off their 2023-2024 season with a 12-20 record, and a tie for last place in the Big 12, with a 4-14 conference record.

However, Lutz also has a history of being able to flip programs in one year.

During the 2020-2021 season, TA&M-CC to picked up five wins in their 24 games. Yet, just one season with Coach Lutz provided the Islanders with a 47-23 record in his two years, with two berths to the NCAA Tournament.

While the change wasn’t as drastic in Bowling Green, Coach Lutz still shined in his lone year on the Hill. Going from a 17-16 season to a 22-12 record and an NCAA Tournament berth for the first time in over a decade, it has become a habit for Lutz to win in very little time.