November 4, 2020

Eagles slotted ninth in SAC preseason poll

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Carson-Newman has been picked to finish ninth in the annual preseason coaches poll released by the South Atlantic Conference Wednesday morning.

The Eagles received 77 points in the poll and sit one point behind eighth-place Newberry and four points behind seventh-place Wingate.

Carson-Newman finished last year ninth in the conference with a 10-18 record and 7-15 mark in SAC play.

"If you make this particular season's preseason poll based on performance last year, we are squarely where we need to be. History doesn't necessarily mean a whole lot, but regardless of preseason expectations, we've been able to do better than that. Presuming we get to play and presuming that we aren't devastated by illness, I think we have a chance to be a competitive team and represent this program and institution in a good way."

The Eagles return 73 percent of their scoring and 81 percent of its rebounding from last years team. Carson-Newman brings back four of its top five leading scorers from a year ago in EJ Bush (Oak Ridge, Tenn.), Tripp Davis (Nashville, Tenn.), Luke Brenegan (Greenville, S.C.) and Kaleb Wallace (Atlanta, Ga.). Reece Anderson is the lone departure from that group.

Lincoln Memorial was picked to win the SAC in 2020-21 with 11 out of 13 first-place votes and 155 points.

LMU finished the 2019-20 season with a 32-1 record, rattling off an impressive 32-straight victories, including winning the 2020 SAC Pilot Flying J Men's Basketball Championship. The Railsplitters closed out the season ranked No. 2 nationally in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) poll.

"This is my 11^th year as head coach here. When I think back to the decade prior to this season, this league has exploded in a decade. There's never been a greater level of success in the SAC than in the previous decade. It's the greatest 10-year run by far."

Queens earned the No. 2 position in the poll with one first-place vote and 144 total points. The Royals closed out the 2019-20 season with a record of 24-7 and a No. 23 ranking in the NABC national poll. They advanced to the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional for the fifth consecutive year.

Lenoir-Rhyne sits in third with the other first-place vote and 122 points. The Bears didn't lose a player off last year's 14-14 (10-12 SAC) team.

Tusculum rounds out the top four with 114 votes, narrowly edging Catawba in fifth and the Indians 114 votes. A bit of a gulf separates Catawba and Anderson in sixth.

Following Carson-Newman, Mars Hill, Coker, UVA Wise and Limestone round out the poll 10^th through 13^th, respectively.

The Eagles open the year Nov. 21 at Coker at 4:00 p.m. Coverage will be available on the Eagle Sports Network starting at 3:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on The Mountain 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.

2020-21 SAC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll

Rank	School (First-Place votes)	Points
1	Lincoln Memorial (11)	155
2	Queens (1)	144
3	Lenoir-Rhyne (1)	122
4	Tusculum	117
5	Catawba	114
6	Anderson	107
7	Wingate	81
8	Newberry	78
9	Carson-Newman	77
10	Mars Hill	64
11	Coker	45
12	UVA Wise	40
13	Limestone	26