SWAC MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Bethune Cookman
- Southern
- Alabama A&M
- Florida A&M
- Prairie View A&M
- Jackson State
- Alabama State
- Grambling State
- Texas Southern
- Alcorn State
- Arkansas Pine Bluff
- Mississippi Valley State
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-SWAC 1ST TEAM:
-Daeshun Ruffin – Jackson State (Preseason Player of the Year)
-Daniel Rouzan – Bethune Cookman
-Michael James – Alabama State
-Dorian McMillian – Jackson State
-Jaquan Sanders – Florida A&M
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-SWAC 2ND TEAM:
-James Graham – Alabama A&M
-Sami Pissis – Alabama A&M
-Quentin Heady – Bethune Cookman
-Antonio Baker – Florida A&M (Preseason Defensive Player of the Year)
-Jalen Tatum – Arkansas Pine Bluff
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COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-Bethune Cookman had a great regular season that ended unexpectedly in the SWAC quarterfinals. Only one starter is back, but the expectations are high once again. Jaylen Jones comes in from Jacksonville, and Jameel Morris put up nice numbers at Alcorn State. Some other solid players from JUCOs and others who played limited roles at other D-1 schools fill out the roster, so they seem to have a good group of talent.
-Southern has been one of the more successful programs in the SWAC, and they were the 2nd-place team and conference tournament runners up a year ago. All five starters are gone, so it is a transfer-heavy roster. Justin Page comes in from Niagara after averaging 12ppg a year ago and they have a few others that put up big numbers at either JUCOs or lower divisions. They seem to be lacking in D-1 experience, but they could still make some noise this year.
-Alabama A&M is coming off their best season in quite some time and the expectations are for that to continue into this year. This is as high as I can ever remember them being picked in the preseason. Only one starter is back from last year’s 18-win team, but they have some good-looking JUCO transfers and other guys with some limited D-1 experience transferring in who could make an impact.
-Florida A&M tied for 2nd place last year, but is another team that is having to replace nearly all of their key players. Jaquan Sanders is back after being granted an injunction for a 5th season, Jaden Kempson comes in after being a double digit scorer for Albany, and Antonio Baker returns to the roster after averaging just under 10ppg a year ago.
-Prairie View A&M, who we are used to seeing much closer to the bottom than the top, won 19 games last year and was a fairly solid 9-9 in conference play. They then went on to upset Bethune Cookman in the conference tournament on their way to winning it, and then beat Lehigh in the First Four. All the starters are gone, and they are having to start completely over with players who have limited D-1 experience and who are looking to play a bigger role.
-Jackson State was a modest 10-8 in SWAC play last year, but four of those starters are gone and Trey Johnson is taking over as coach, so I can understand why there are question marks about them. Dorian McMillan returns after averaging nearly 12ppg last year, but other than him a lot of the newcomers lack substantial D-1 experience, so it is hard to tell how they will adjust.
-Alabama State really struggled last year after making the NCAA Tournament the year before. Chris Wright takes over as coach and he has his work cut out for him. Michael James comes over from Mississippi Valley State, where he averaged over 21ppg, and is joined by Paul McMillan IV, who was a big-time scorer for Canisius. Amaree Brown also comes in from Southern Indiana, so they have some pretty good pieces and I think they can be a bit of a dark horse this year. I like them a lot more than the voters do, and think they can finish as high as 2nd or 3rd this year.
-Grambling struggled last year in Patrick Crarey II’s first year and is basically starting over this year. All five starters are gone and they have a JUCO-transfer-heavy roster this year, so it is hard to say exactly how good they are going to be.
-Corey Lowery takes over coaching duties at Texas Southern. The Tigers are coming off a solid season where they were 10-8 in SWAC play, but four starters are gone and they do not have a lot of experience. It could be a long first year for the new coach.
-Alcorn State, like just about eveyrone else in the league, is having to replace most of their roster. All five starters are gone and their roster is made up of players who saw limited minutes at other D-1 programs.
-Arkansas Pine Bluff was a solid 10-8 in SWAC play last year, but all the starters are gone and they will be relying on players without a whole lot of D-1 experience to step into bigger roles.
-Last, and definitely least (at least on the court) is Mississippi Valley State. They have not won more than 5 games since 2018-2019 and have not won more than ten games since 2011-2012. They have finished below 360th in the NET for the last three years and are once again expected to be among the worst in all of D-1. It is getting to the point to where we may rename the Centenary Award after them. Are there any bright spots?? Tymias Williams was a prolific scorer for Rochester Christian, which is an NAIA school, so he may be able to give them some sort of a spark. I would love it if MVSU could ever get it going in basketball. We at Hoops HD really do follow them and pull hard for them! They are a fun team! But…it may be yet another tough year this year.
