Texas A&M-Commerce is the top choice in the 2018-19 Lone Star Conference men’s basketball preseason poll announced Wednesday.
The league's preseason polls reflect the opinions of LSC head coaches and sports information directors, plus various media representatives from throughout the region.
A&M-C earned the top spot with 15 first-place votes and 254 points. The Lions were 22-9 overall and 12-6 in league play last season and posted their first NCAA Regional tournament win in 13 years.
West Texas A&M, who claimed the LSC regular season and tournament titles last season, was second with 238 points and 11 top votes just in front of Tarleton State with 236 points. Angelo State was fourth with 185 points.
UT Permian Basin was picked fifth with 161 points and the two remaining top nods. Midwestern State was sixth (149) followed by Eastern New Mexico (102), Cameron (87), Texas A&M-Kingsville (86), and Western New Mexico (42).
A&M-C’s Reggie Reid was the top choice as Preseason Player of the Year receiving 12 of the 28 votes.
Reid, a 6-0 senior guard from Harlem, Georgia, was tabbed LSC Newcomer of the Year and first-team All-LSC after leading the Lions and ranking fifth in the LSC in scoring, netting 16.3 points per contest. He averaged 4.2 assists per game, which was fifth in the conference.
The LSC has 10 teams set for this season and the league race should be as tight as ever. The season begins in early November with LSC teams playing a double round robin league schedule, in which each team plays a home and away contest against each of the other teams to determine the LSC champion.
The LSC champion will be the regular season winner determined by league games, while the postseason tournament winner is designated as LSC Tournament Champion and earns the conference’s automatic qualification. The top eight teams in the final conference standings qualify for the postseason tournament set for March 7-10, 2019, at Dr Pepper Arena in Frisco, Texas.
| RANK |
MEN’S BASKETBALL |
1st |
TOTAL |
| 1 |
Texas A&M-Commerce |
15 |
254 |
| 2 |
West Texas A&M |
11 |
238 |
| 3 |
Tarleton State |
|
236 |
| 4 |
Angelo State |
|
185 |
| 5 |
UT Permian Basin |
2 |
161 |
| 6 |
Midwestern State |
|
149 |
| 7 |
Eastern New Mexico |
|
102 |
| 8 |
Cameron |
|
87 |
| 9 |
Texas A&M-Kingsville |
|
86 |
| 10 |
Western New Mexico |
|
42 |