SUWANEE, Ga. - In exclusive balloting by SCAC women's head basketball coaches, Centre College and Hendrix College were tabbed as preseason favorites to capture the SCAC Eastern Division and Western Division championships respectively as the conference is guaranteed a new champion for the first time in three years.
Perennial conference favorite DePauw University, who won or shared 10 championships during its 13-year run as a SCAC member, left the conference following the 2010-11 season.
Centre, which will be playing in its final season as a member of
the SCAC, headlined the annual poll of head coaches and is favored
to win the overall conference title. Head coach Wendie
Austin-Robinson and her Colonels tallied eight of 12 first place
votes to go along with 117 points to take the top spot.
Centre is vying for the program's fifth SCAC championship in
2011-12, as the Colonels won league titles in 1991-92, 1992-93,
1993-94 and 2000-01.
Birmingham-Southern College (100
points, 1 first place vote), Rhodes
College (80 points, 1 first place vote) and
Millsaps College (73 points, 1
first place vote) look to give Centre all it can handle in the
East. With the addition of the University of Dallas in the Western
Division, Millsaps, which is also in its final season as a member
of the SCAC, will play in the Eastern Division for the first time
since the conference went to divisional play in 2007-08.
Birmingham-Southern, host of the 2012 SCAC Tournament, will be eligible to compete for the SCAC Championship and NCAA AQ bid for the first time since joining the conference in 2007-08 season having completed the five-year reclassification process.
Rounding out the Eastern Division is Oglethorpe University (34 points) under first-year head coach Aaron Nester and Sewanee: The University of the South (15 points).
In the SCAC Western Division, Hendrix tallied 99 points while Trinity University (94 points, 1 first place vote) and Southwestern University (66 points) follow Hendrix in the preseason rankings. Head coach Emily Cummins, in her second season at the helm of the Warriors, is attempting to guide Hendrix to its third straight SCAC Western Division title and first SCAC title since the 1999-00 season.
Since divisional play began four seasons ago, a team representing the Western Division has yet to win an SCAC Championship and has only played for the title in two of those four years.
Colorado College (54 points) looks to return to the SCAC Tournament for the second straight season under fourth-year head coach Liz Doran.
Rounding out the rest of the Western Division is Austin College (36 points), and the newest member of the SCAC, the University of Dallas (24 points), who will be guided by Jina Johansen. The Crusaders will attempt to duplicate the feats of Austin College and Colorado College, who both advanced to the SCAC Tournament in their first years as members of the conference.
| 2011-12 SCAC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll | |||
| Eastern Division | No. of Votes | 2010-11 SCAC | 2010-11 Overall |
| 1. Centre College |
117 (8) | 11-5 |
17-9 |
| 2. Birmingham-Southern College |
100 (1) |
10-6 |
15-10 |
| 3. Rhodes College |
80 (1) |
6-10 |
9-16 |
| 4. *Millsaps College |
73 (1) |
8-8 |
12-13 |
| 5. Oglethorpe University |
34 | 5-11 | 6-19 |
| 6. Sewanee: University of the South | 15 |
0-16 |
1-24 |
| Western Division | No. of Votes | 2010-11 SCAC | 2010-11 Overall |
| 1. Hendrix College |
99 |
11-5 |
17-11 |
| 2. Trinity University |
94 (1) | 9-7 |
14-13 |
| 3. Southwestern University |
66 |
8-8 |
17-10 |
| 4. Colorado College |
54 |
8-8 |
11-15 |
| 5. Austin College |
36 | 5-11 |
7-17 |
| 6. #University of Dallas |
24 |
N/A |
14-13 |
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.
*Millsaps played in the SCAC Western Division during the 2010-11 season.
#University of Dallas did not compete in the SCAC during the 2010-11 season.
