UAC MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Central Arkansas
- Little Rock
- Austin Peay
- UT Arlington
- Tarleton State
- Eastern Kentucky
- Abilene Christian
- North Alabama
- West Georgia
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-UAC 1ST TEAM:
-Ty Robinson – Centrral Arkansas (Preseason UAC Player of the Year)
-Caleb Blackwell – Tarleton State
-Zyree Collins – Austin Peay
-Jahlikai King – Little Rock (Newcommer of the Year)
-Raeshaud Marshall – Austin Peay
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-UAC 2ND TEAM:
-Tyrese Lacey – Little Rock
-Justin McCarter – Eastern Kentucky
-Aaron Clark – Little Rock
-Tucker Anderson – Central Arkansas
-Niko Bundalo – UT Arlington
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-UAC 3RD TEAM:
-Luke Moore – Central Arkansas
-Chas Lewless – West Georgia
-Mier Panoam – UT Arlington
-Chuck Love III – Austin Peay
-Timeo Pons – Abilene Christian
OTHER MEDIA DAY AWARDS:
-JaVar Daniel – Tarleton State (Defensive Player of the Year)
-Jalen Lyn – Little Rock (6th Man of the Year)
-John Shulman – Central Arkansas (Coach of the Year)
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COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-It is the inaugural year for the United Athletic Conference!!! It’s a hybrid of football schools from the ASun and the now defunct (and very much missed) WAC. And it’s…well…an interesting mesh of teams. I guess that’s the best way to put it.
-As a whole, from top to bottom, I must admit that I’m not really high on this league, but I am very high on Central Arkansas’s team this year. After years and years of incredibly poor play, they had a breakout season last year where they won 22 total games and were the 1st place team in the ASun. They fell in the conference championship game, but it was still an outstanding year for a program that prior to last year had seemingly always been anything but outstanding. Four starters are back and I’m always a fan of good teams who retain their nucleus of players. Ty Robinson may be the best player in the conference. Harry Beauchamp didn’t play much as a freshman, but he was a fantastic outside shooter when he did play and should step into a bigger role this year. I really can’t see anyone other than Central Arkansas winning the league this year.
-Travis Ford takes over at Little Rock as head coach. The team was a disappointing 12-20 overall last year and never seemed to play up to their expectations in the few years they were in the OVC. A fresh start may be what they need and they’ve been voted to finish as high as 2nd in the preseason poll. Jahliaki King had a solid season at UMBC last year where he averaged 14ppg and Aaron Clark was a dependable scorer and good player at Pepperdine, so they do have some good players with good D1 experience. They also have some guys that were standouts at nonD1 programs last year, so we could see them take a step forward.
-Austin Peay tied Central Arkansas for 1st place in the ASun last year, but doesn’t quite return as many players as Central Arkansas. Still, the Govs are a team to watch. They won 22 games last year and they return two of their top scorers in Rasahud Marshall and Zyree Collins. They don’t appear to have a lot of depth, which could be an issue, but they should definitely be one of the better teams.
-UT Arlington had a fairly solid year in the WAC last year, but they return very little of the top of their rotation and appear to be in a rebuilding mode. They have some guys from high major programs who saw limited playing time who have transferred in. They will likely see a lot more playing time at UTA and they’ll need to step up in order for them to have any success.
-I was really big on Eastern Kentucky last year and they fell so short of how good I thought they would be that it’s hard for me to put much faith into them again this year. AW Hamilton will be in his 9th season as head coach and he has a couple of players that put up huge numbers in JUCO a year ago, but they don’t have much in the way of proven D1 experience.
-Abilene Christian was a rather unspectacular 14-19 last year and they don’t look to be all that much better (or worse) this year. Two starters are returning, but they don’t appear to have much in the way of any prolific scorers so it could be another long year for the Wildcats.
-Two years ago North Alabama was one of the most exciting Under the Radar stories in all of college basketball. Last year they won just nine total games, which was just an astounding fall from what they had been the year before. This year the expectations aren’t all that much better. All the starters from last year have moved on and Head Coach Tony Pujol (who I do believe to be a good coach) has another uphill battle this year. They will turn to several D2 and JUCO transfers to try and get things jumpstarted this year.
-West Georgia is in their 3rd transitional season, so due to the new rules they will be full blown D1 after this season. As for this season…it’s most likely going to be a very long one. They did win 15 games last year, which by transitional standards is actually quite good. Chas Lewless had a solid season as a freshman last year and is a player to watch this year, but he doesn’t seem to have much help around him and chances are they won’t finish much higher than last.
