By Kayla Garner, Staff Reporter
The results for the American Southern Conference preseason poll for men’s basketball was announced on Oct. 17. This poll declared the Hardin-Simmons University men’s basketball team as second for the west division of the conference. This means that the HSU men’s basketball team is considered the second-best team in our conference and is one of the teams to beat for this year’s basketball season.
The rankings for the west division of the ASC preseason poll listed the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor as first, HSU second, Concordia University Texas third, McMurry University fourth, Sul Ross State University fifth and Howard Payne University sixth.
The teams that are voted on in the preseason poll are ranked by the head coaches and the directors of sports information from the ASC. They rank teams based on the skills of their present team and players, as well as how the team has performed in the past.
The rankings chosen by these ASC professionals are meant to help give college basketball fans an idea of how this season will go. The poll is the ASC professional opinion on who is likely to win the championship at the end of the season.
“[The purpose of the ASC Preseason poll is] to bring excitement to the upcoming basketball season,” said Matthew Brackett, HSU’s head men’s basketball coach.
Brackett weighed in on what being picked second for this year’s ASC preseason poll means for this year’s team. “It is nice to be represented well by our conference, but we are more concerned about our progress this season and how we finish,” Brackett said.
Actions speak louder than words. This year’s basketball team is more focused on proving their worth through how they play this season than through the ASC’s predictions of how the season will go.
“We are extremely excited about the team this year. We are returning four starters [Chris Barrett, Keenan Holdman, Steven Quinn, and Neal Chambliss,] from last year’s team, which lost the championship game of the conference tournament [to UMHB]. We have really enjoyed coaching this group so far, and we are excited for our first game of the year, Friday, Nov. 8, at home versus Texas Lutheran University,” Brackett said.