SUWANEE, Ga. - In exclusive balloting by SCAC men's head basketball coaches, defending league champion Centre College and Trinity University were tabbed as preseason favorites to capture the SCAC Eastern Division and Western Division championships respectively.
Centre headlined the annual poll of head coaches and is favored to win the SCAC title. Head coach Greg Mason and his Colenels tallied eight of 12 first place votes to go along with 114 points to easily outdistance themselves from Oglethorpe University (103 points, 2 first place votes) and DePauw University (101 points, 1 first place vote). Rounding out the Eastern Division was Birmingham-Southern (57 points), Rhodes College (26 points) and Sewanee: The University of the South (19 points).
The Colonels look for the program's fifth SCAC championship in 2009-10. Centre won league titles in 1991-92, 1992-93, 2006-07 and 2008-09.
Oglethorpe and DePauw figure to be Centre's toughest test in the Eastern Division. The Stormy Petrels and Tigers were seperated by a mere two points in the preseason poll.
In the SCAC Western Division, Austin College (81 points, 1 first place vote) follows right behind Trinity. Kangaroos head coach Rodney Wecker and his team look to improve on a 6-9 conference finish from a year ago and make the SCAC Tournament for a third straight season. Southwestern University, the 2009 SCAC runner-up, also should be provide plenty of competition as the Pirates tallied 74 points to finish slightly behind Austin College.
Rounding out the rest of the Western Division is Hendrix College (64 points), 2010 SCAC tournament host Millsaps College (51 points) and Colorado College (19 points).
| 2009-10 SCAC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll | |||
| Eastern Division | No. of Votes | 2008-09 SCAC | 2008-09 Overall |
| 1. Centre College | 114 (8) | 12-2 | 23-5 |
| 2. Oglethorpe University | 103 (2) | 7-7 | 16-10 |
| 3. DePauw University | 101 (1) | 11-3 | 19-7 |
| 4. Birmingham-Southern College | 57 | N/A | 11-14 |
| 5. Rhodes College | 26 | 1-13 | 8-16 |
| 6. Sewanee-Univ. of the South | 19 | 4-10 | 7-19 |
| Western Division | No. of Votes | 2008-09 SCAC | 2008-09 Overall |
| 1. Trinity University | 83 | 13-2 | 24-5 |
| 2. Austin College | 81 (1) | 6-9 | 13-13 |
| 3. Southwestern University | 74 | 7-8 | 18-10 |
| 4. Hendrix College | 64 | 9-6 | 17-10 |
| 5. Millsaps College | 51 | 6-9 | 9-16 |
| 6. Colorado College | 19 | 4-11 | 5-20 |
Note: First-place votes (in parentheses) are worth 11 points, second place worth 10 points, on down to 11th-place votes being worth one point. Coaches voted for order of finish 1-11, but did not rank their own team. Results are displayed by division breakdown.
+Games against Birmingham-Southern did not count in the conference standings last year. This year, games against BSC will count in the standings, but BSC is still not eligible to compete in the SCAC postseason basketball tournament or the NCAA postseason tournament.