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 for the third consecutive year.
Centre headlined the annual poll of head coaches and is favored
to win the SCAC title. Head coach Greg Mason and his Colonels
earned eight of 12 first place votes to go along with 118 points to
easily take the top spot.
2012 SCAC tournament host Birmingham-Southern
College (108 points, 3 first place votes) looks to give
Centre its toughest competition in the East. Rounding out the
division was Oglethorpe University (72),
Rhodes College (55 points), Millsaps
College, which played in the West Division last year (43
points) and Sewanee: The University of the South
(31 points).
The Colonels look for the program's fourth consecutive SCAC championship and seventh overall in 2011-12. Centre won league titles in 1991-92, 1992-93, 2006-07, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11.
In the SCAC Western Division, Trinity tallied 103 points (1 first place vote) to easily distance themselves from Austin College (82 points) and Hendrix College (72 points). Colorado College head coach Andy Partee and his Tigers look to make the SCAC tournament for the first time since joining the league prior to the 2007-08 season.
Trinity looks for its first SCAC championship since the 2004-05 season and the program's sixth title in the SCAC era (since 1991-92). The Tigers won three straight titles from 2002-03 through 2004-05. They also won titles in 1999-00 and 1997-98.
Colorado College will aim for its second straight apperance in the SCAC postseason tournament and checked into the poll in fourth place.
Rounding out the rest of the Western Division is
Southwestern University (33 points) and SCAC first
year member University of Dallas (13 points).
| 2011-12 SCAC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll | |||
| Eastern Division | No. of Votes | 2010-11 SCAC | 2010-11 Overall |
| 1. Centre College | 118 (8) | 13-3 | 21-6 |
| 2. Birmingham-Southern College | 108 (3) |
14-2 |
23-4 |
| 3. Oglethorpe University | 72 |
10-6 |
15-12 |
| 4. Rhodes College |
55 |
3-13 | 7-18 |
| 5. Millsaps College | 43 | 4-12 | 10-15 |
| 6. Sewanee: University of the South | 31 | 3-13 |
9-16 |
| Western Division | No. of Votes | 2010-11 SCAC | 2010-11 Overall |
| 1. Trinity University | 103 (1) |
11-5 | 16-11 |
| 2. Austin College | 82 | 7-9 |
12-14 |
| 3. Hendrix College | 72 |
5-11 |
10-16 |
| 4. Colorado College |
61 |
10-6 | 14-12 |
| 5. Southwestern University |
33 | 4-12 |
6-19 |
| 6. University of Dallas |
13 |
*N/A | 4-23 |
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.
*Dallas competed as an NCAA Division III independent last season
