Trinity Men Top 2022-23 Preseason Hoops Poll

SUWANEE, Ga. – In exclusive voting by the league’s head coaches, where just 12 points separated the top three teams, Trinity University emerged as the favorite for the 2022-23 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference men’s basketball season.

The TU Tigers, coming off back-to-back SCAC Tournament Championship appearances for the first time since the 2013 and 2014 tournaments, earned seven first-place votes from the leagues’ coaches to finish atop the poll with 63 points.

Winner of a league-leading eight SCAC titles, Trinity returns its top six scorers and all five starters from a squad that led the SCAC in scoring for the first time since the 2004-05 season and reached the 20-win plateau for the first time since 2012-13. Leading those returners is senior forward Enzo Sechi who earned First Team All-SCAC accolades last year after pacing the Tigers averaging 14.4 points per game on 47.8 percent shooting. Senior AJ Clark and junior Tanner Brown, both Second Team All-SCAC performers last season, also return after combining to average 22.5 points, 10.7 rebounds and 6.1 assists per night. Senior Kaleb Jenkins rounds out the returning All-SCAC Tigers from a year ago, earning Honorable Mention honors after averaging 9.3 points and 3.8 rebounds per night. Last year Trinity became just the third team in the last 10 years to lead the SCAC in both field goal percentage (46.7) and field goal percentage defense, limiting opponents to just 39.9 percent from the field.

Trinity enters the 2022-23 season under the guidance of Jimmy Smith who has led the Tigers to a 33-8 record in his first two seasons, including notching the program’s first NCAA Tournament win since 2012 last season.

On the heels of winning back-to-back SCAC Tournament titles for the first time since TLU won three-straight from 2015-17, the University of St. Thomas received the final two first-place votes and finished just behind Trinity in the poll with 57 points. The Celts welcome back a pair of All-SCAC players led by Third Team honoree Andrew Nguyen. Nguyen, a senior guard, averaged 8.7 points per contest last season, which included connecting on 38.5 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc – good for third best in the SCAC. Classmate Joshua Sanchez joins Nguyen as a returning All-SCAC performer after earning Honorable Mention accolades a season ago. Sanchez was key on the glass for the Celts, grabbing 58 offensive rebounds on the year, fifth most in the SCAC, and finished with 143 total rebounds on the year, ninth best in the league. One of just two teams last season that finished in the top four in both scoring offense and scoring defense, St. Thomas is seeking to be the first team since Schreiner accomplished the feat at the 2017 and 2018 SCAC Tournament to earn the top overall seed in back-to-back seasons.

After advancing to two of the last three conference tournament semifinals and securing 15 wins for the first time since the 2017-18 season, Schreiner University rounds out the top three in the preseason rankings with 51 total points. The Mountaineers will be led by a pair of First Team All-SCAC honorees from last season in senior guard Alex Dehoyos and sophomore forward Kamden Ross. In 2021-22, Dehoyos became the first player since Brian Britt of Centre during the 2000-01 season to lead the league in both assists (132) and steals (62). Ross, the reigning SCAC First-Year Player-of-the-Year, returns for his second season in Kerrville after pacing the SCAC in both rebounds (264) and field goal percentage (62.7) a season ago. Ross is the first player since Spencer Levi of Dallas, who accomplished the feat in 2017-18, to lead the league in both categories in a single season.

Centenary College, which captured the 2020 SCAC Tournament title, was the coaches’ fourth choice, coming in with 41 points in the preseason balloting. The Gents will be led by a pair of returning All-SCAC performers in seniors Seth Thomas and Ralph Johnson. Thomas, a Third Team honoree, and Johnson, who earned Honorable Mention accolades, combined for 16.5 points and 4.5 assists per contest last year.

Rounding out the top five with 28 points is Southwestern University. The Pirates will lean on returning Honorable Mention All-SCAC honorees from a season ago in seniors Preston Hannah and Chris Smith Jr. Smith Jr. started all 26 games last season and averaged 9.3 points per night, while Hannah made seven starts and added 8.3 points per game.

Colorado College and Texas Lutheran University checked in at a tie for sixth with 26 points apiece. The CC Tigers, who are seeking their first SCAC Tournament bid since 2018, will be led by sophomore Adrian Price. Price earned a spot on the All-SCAC Freshman team after averaging 8.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.

Texas Lutheran welcomes in a new era as Austin Falke takes over after serving as the top assistant for the last eight seasons – the last six for recently retired head coach Mike Wacker. Falke will lean heavily on sophomore Isaac Orozco after he led the Bulldogs in steals with 1.8 per contest and earned All-SCAC Freshman team accolades a season ago.

University of Dallas was slotted at eighth with 24 points, followed by Austin College with eight points to round out the coaches’ selections.

The 2022-23 season begins on Tuesday, November 8, while the SCAC Tournament will be held at the end of February in San Antonio, Texas, hosted by Trinity University, and beginning the 24th.