Mincey’s squad selected second in SAC preseason poll
In the South Atlantic Conference’s annual preseason coaches’ poll, Carson-Newman was selected to finish second, the league office announced on Thursday morning.
ROCK HILL, S.C. – In the South Atlantic Conference's annual preseason coaches' poll, Carson-Newman was selected to finish second, the league office announced on Thursday morning.
"A lot of the ranking has to do with last year and past years," Carson-Newman head coach Mike Mincey said. "I thought we would be picked lower just to be honest. This is the least amount of experience we've had coming back in quite some time. It's the least amount of starters, points. It's a lot of guesswork on how good you think teams are going to be. Almost every team lost significant players."
Carson-Newman has been picked first or second in the preseason poll six of the past eight seasons. C-N received 118 points and two first-place votes.
The Lady Eagles made the NCAA Tournament for the 14th time in program history during the 2024-25 season. Mincey has led the program to eight NCAA Tournaments in 14 seasons and in seven of the past eight years. Carson-Newman has won its first-round game at the NCAA Tournament in consecutive seasons for the first time in program history.
Mincey's club led DII in assists per game this past season, averaging 19.1. Carson-Newman dished out 20 or more dimes on 15 occasions.
C-N graduated its four most experienced players in Makayla Alvey, Campbell Penland, Tori Rutherford and Lindsey Taylor. This quartet combined to make 471 appearances and 341 starts together. They won the SAC tournament title in 2022 and made the NCAA Tournament in three of their four seasons. Penland and Taylor were both 1,000 point scorers and finished in the top ten in scoring all-time for C-N. Penland's 1,387 career points is tied for ninth-most while Taylor's 1,703 is fourth-most. All-SAC guard Jennifer Sullivan leads the group of returners after leading C-N in scoring at 13.8 points per game this past season. Along with Sullivan, the Lady Eagles return four other players with starting experience.
Coker, the reigning SAC regular season champions, are picked to repeat in 2025-26. The Cobras received nine of the 12 first-place votes and scored 12 points higher than C-N in the poll.
Wingate finished behind the Lady Eagles in the poll in third place with 107 points, just one ahead of Anderson's 106 points. The Trojans received the final first-place vote.
There is a significant dip between fourth and fifth place. Lenoir-Rhyne was 17 points behind fourth, checking in at five with 89 points. Catawba is sixth with 85 points and Lincoln Memorial slots in after with 77 points in seventh place.
Between seventh and eighth is another significant point differential, with UVA Wise 19 points behind LMU and in eighth. Newberry and Tusculum round out the top ten. Emory & Henry is 11th and Mars Hill finishes the poll.
Carson-Newman begins the season with the SAC/Peach Belt Challenge on November 15th versus Lander at 6:00 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 5:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mix 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
|
Rank |
School (First-Place Votes) |
Points |
|
1 |
Coker (9) |
129 |
|
2 |
Carson-Newman (2) |
117 |
|
3 |
Wingate |
107 |
|
4 |
Anderson (1) |
106 |
|
5 |
Lenoir-Rhyne |
89 |
|
6 |
Catawba |
85 |
|
7 |
Lincoln Memorial |
77 |
|
8 |
UVA Wise |
58 |
|
9 |
Newberry |
45 |
|
10 |
Tusculum |
43 |
|
11 |
Emory & Henry |
37 |
|
12 |
Mars Hill |
31 |
