Sun Belt coaches pick ASU ninth, 12th in preseason basketball polls
In the preseason league polls announced Monday, Sun Belt Conference coaches predicted the division finishes for both Arkansas State basketball teams.
ASU finished 12th out of 14 teams in the men’s preseason poll. The Red Wolves were ninth in women’s balloting ahead of Destinee Rogers’ first full season as head coach.
Both ASU teams placed players on the preseason all-conference teams. Senior guard Keya Patton and sophomore guard Lauryn Pendleton were first and third team, respectively, on the women’s All-Sun Belt team, while junior guard Caleb Fields was a third-team honoree on the men’s side.
Sun Belt women’s coaches gather in New Orleans today for the conference’s media day, followed by the men’s coaches on Wednesday.
Rogers and Pendleton will represent the ASU women’s program today, followed by Balado and Fields for the men’s team on Wednesday.
Louisiana-Lafayette is the favorite in the men’s poll with 10 of 14 first-place votes and 190 points, followed by Texas State with 162 points and one firstplace vote.
South Alabama (150 points, third place), James Madison (149, fourth place) and Georgia State (127, fifth place) all received one first-place vote.
Marshall (122) was sixth in the poll, followed by Appalachian State (120), Coastal Carolina (100), Old Dominion (93), Troy (76), Georgia Southern (69), Arkansas State (48), Southern Mississippi (34) and Louisiana-Monroe (30).
UL Lafayette forward Jordan Brown is the preseason player of the year in men’s basketball.
Fields, who averaged 7.3 points and 4.4 assists last season, is the lone returning starter for A-State from the 2021-22 team that finished 18-11. He is among seven returning letterwinners and the Red Wolves welcome nine newcomers to the 2022-23 roster.
The annual ASU men’s Scarlet & Black Scrimmage will be held Friday at 6 p.m. inside First National Bank Arena.
The Red Wolves will host Voorhees College in an exhibition game Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. ahead of the season opener at First National Bank Arena against Harding on Monday, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m.
Troy was picked first in the women’s poll with 12 first-place votes and 194 points. Old Dominion was second with 166 points and one first-place votes.
UL Lafayette was third with 161 points, followed by Southern Miss (137), Texas State (135), James Madison (130), Georgia Southern (108, one first-place vote), App State (102), Arkansas State (96), Marshall (91), Georgia State (50), Coastal Carolina (45), South Alabama (38) and ULM (17).
Troy’s Felmas Koranga is the women’s preseason player of the year.
Patton averaged 14.3 points last season before suffering a season-ending knee injury four games into Sun Belt play. Patton was the Sun Belt Freshman of the Year after averaging 11.3 points and 4.6 rebounds for the Red Wolves, who finished 12-16.
The Red Wolves’ season begins Thursday, Nov. 10, at Louisiana Tech. After visiting TennesseeMartin on Nov. 14, ASU plays its home opener Wednesday, Nov. 16, against Hendrix.