Brooks named to preseason All-SAC First Team

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – The Royals of Queens have been picked to win the 2019-20 South Atlantic Conference Men's Basketball Championship as voted by the League's head coaches. The Royals picked up eight first place votes and received 117 total points in the poll.

Queens went 31-5 overall and was 19-1in South Atlantic Conference play last season, notching the program's third consecutive 30-win season and second SAC regular-season title. The Royals finished the year ranked No. 10 in the national poll. They won their second consecutive NCAA Southeast Regional and advanced to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight.

They are a preseason No. 17 pick nationally in the Division II Bulletin and are a No. 8 pick according to the NABC/Division II Preseason Poll.

Earning the No. 2 spot in the preseason poll was Lincoln Memorial. The Railsplitters earned three first place votes and 109 total points.

LMU finished the 2018-19 season in a tie for second place with Catawba with a record of 14-6 in SAC play, while going 20-9 overall. The Railsplitters are preseason Top-10 picks by both the Division II Bulletin and Street and Smith's. The Division II Bulletin has them at No. 9 in the preseason ranking, while Street & Smith's has them at No. 6, and the NABC/Division II Preseason Poll has them ranked at No. 6.

Catawba earned the No. 3 position in the poll with 97 points. The Indians, who won the 2019 SAC Men's Basketball Tournament Championship, finished last season with a record of 25-8 overall and 14-6 in SAC play. They made their first NCAA postseason appearance in nearly a decade in 2018-19.

At No. 4 in the poll was Wingate who picked up 80 points from the head coaches.  The Bulldogs went 17-13 overall and were 12-8 in the SAC last season.  Carson-Newman followed as it received 75 points, landing in the No. 5 position.  The Eagles closed out their 2018-19 season at 15-14 overall and 8-12 in the SAC.

Lenoir-Rhyne and Tusculum tied for the No. 6 spot with 73 points each.  The Bears received one first place vote and were an NCAA Southeast Region participant a year ago. They went 21-11 overall and 12-8 in the SAC a season ago. The Pioneers finished the 2018-19 season at 16-13 overall, going 12-8 in conference play.

Anderson came in at No. 8 with 48 points.  The Trojans posted a 10-10 overall record and were 10-10 in conference.

Newberry landed at No. 9 in the preseason poll as it collected 44 points from the head coaches.  Last season, the Wolves went 10-18 overall and 10-18 in SAC play. They will be under new leadership, as former SAC Coach of the Year Jason Taylor takes over for long-time coach Dave Davis.

Mars Hill came in at No. 10 with 34 points, followed by UVa-Wise with 22 points at No. 11. Coker rounded out the poll as it notched 20 points at No. 12.

The South Atlantic Conference also announced its preseason All-SAC teams. Earning first team honors were Lincoln Memorial's Anthony Brown and Kamaran Calhoun, Queens' Daniel Carr, Catawba's Marcell Hackett, Mars Hill's Ja'Shawn Brooks and Wingate's Frankie Johnson.

The second team was comprised of the following players: Newberry's Angel Sales Jr., Tusculum's Trenton Gibson, Catawba's Devin Cooper, Anderson's Shawn Benard, Queens' Van Turner Jr., and UVa-Wise's Briggs Parris.

The 2019-20 Men's Basketball season gets underway on Nov. 1-2 when Lincoln Memorial travels to St. Joseph, Mo. for the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic. The rest of the SAC teams will tip-off their seasons on Friday, Nov. 8.

2019-20 SAC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll

2019-20 SAC Men's Basketball Preseason All-Conference

First Team

Ja'Shawn Brooks, Mars Hill
Marcell Haskett, Catawba
Anthony Brown, Lincoln Memorial
Kamaran Calhoun, Lincoln Memorial
Daniel Carr, Queens
Frankie Johnson, Wingate

Second Team

Angelo Sales Jr., Newberry
Trenton Gibson, Tusculum
Devin Cooper, Catawba
Shawn Benard, Anderson
Van Turner Jr., Queens
Briggs Parris, UVa-Wise