The United Athletic Conference released the preseason polls for both the men and women basketball teams. In addition to the portal era muting expectations from year to year, there's a while new conference for coaches to evaluate. Take it with a grain of salt, not that I didn't anyway.
For the women, the poll is as follows:
2. Eastern Kentucky
3. Central Arkansas (1)
4. Austin Peay
5. UT Arlington
6. Tarleton State
7. Little Rock
8. West Georgia
9. North Alabama
I'm not terribly surprised as this is a new year mixed with new faces. ACU returns a lot from a team that was the cream of the Western Athletic Conference last year. I know little about EKU or UCA, but on the surface, ACU would have been my pick.
There were seven teams that had at least one player named to the all-conference team. UTA and TSU were the odd schools out. But with only junior guard Amayah Reynolds and junior forward Mirayah Perkins returning, I'm not surprised. 5th-year guard Jalyn Brown could have been picked. She scored 13 points a game at Michigan State as a senior.
As for the men, the coaches were fairly spread out. Three teams received multiple first-place votes. Like the women, the men have a predicted exact middle finish at fifth. Also like the women, not one player made the all-conference list.
2. Austin Peay (2)
3. Little Rock (3)
4. Tarleton State
5. UT Arlington
6. Eastern Kentucky
7. Abilene Christian
8t. North Alabama
8t. West Georgia
That's not terribly unexpected, for either side really. There are two returnees in junior center Miles Goodman and sophomore forward Stoney Hadnot. Goodman had 13.4 minutes per game last year while Hadnot was redshirted.
Six UAC schools landed a preseason player of the year. Eastern Kentucky, North Alabama and UTA were absent. That means UTA is the only school to not have one on either side. Maybe that's bulletin board material or some motivational issue, or maybe it's the reality of such a roster turnover issue every year and the teams will just play.
I'd love to offer some preview of what to expect, but I have zero clue. Even the last few years saw some starter coming back that likely was a centerpiece. I expect the names I have already listed to be a big part of each team, but I've had egg on my face before thinking a big transfer would be crucial and then they aren't even top eight in minutes played.
What I can see for the ladies is they have players who have scored at prior places, whether that's high school, junior college or another NCAA institution, and I've got decent hopes it will carry over to College Park Center.
As for the men, they are definitely taller, likely the tallest of the K.T. Turner era. What that means for the team, I don't know. But it will be nice to see options when opponents come to different combos.
The men open today against North Texas-Dallas of the NAIA with a tip off set for 7 pm. The women are tomorrow against Sacramento State that is slated for a 6:30 start time.
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