Eagles picked fourth in preseason SAC Coaches Poll
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Carson-Newman’s men’s basketball program has been tabbed for a fourth-place finish by the head coaches in the South Atlantic Conference.
VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Carson-Newman's men's basketball program has been tabbed for a fourth-place finish by the head coaches in the South Atlantic Conference.
The league office released the conference's annual preseason coaches' poll Thursday morning.
The annual release is something head coach Chuck Benson definitely looks forward to every year.
"It doesn't mean anything," Benson said. "We see the email, we look at the poll and we go about our business. I have never understood the logic behind this. We go through this charade. We'll figure out who we are when we get to February and March."
Lenoir-Rhyne, last year's Southeast Region and SAC Tournament champion, was picked to win the league with 128 points and eight first-place votes. Lincoln Memorial, last year's regular season champ, and Anderson were tied for second with 109 points. The Trojans had three first-place votes. C-N collected the final remaining first-place vote and had 104 points.
Catawba, UVA Wise, Wingate and Newberry round out the final four spots that would make the SAC tournament.
Tusculum, Coker, Emory & Henry and Mars Hill round out the final four spots.
Carson-Newman lost seven seniors from last year's NCAA tournament team. C-N lost a combined 5,233 points from its graduated seniors. A whopping 3,952 of those points came from the all-league trio of Nick Brenegan, Trey Hubbard and John Zhao.
The Eagles will be eyeing the difficult challenge of producing a third straight 20-win season and a second straight NCAA tournament appearance.
Carson-Newman opens the season at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 15 against Lees-McRae in Holt Fieldhouse in the SAC/Conference Carolins Challenge. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 7:15 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on MIX 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. A video stream is available with a subscription to FloSports at cneagles.com/flombb.
