ROCK HILL, S.C. --- The Tusculum Pioneers have been picked to finish third in the South Atlantic Conference according to the league's men's basketball coaches' poll. TU received 131 total points in a vote of the conference's 13 head coaches.

The Preseason All-SAC team was also released as guards Trenton Gibson and James West IV garnered recognition by the league's media relations directors.

Tusculum returns nine lettermen and four starters from last year's 14-6 squad that finished third in the SAC standings and earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Division II Tournament. The Pioneers advanced to the Southeast Region semifinal for the first time in program history.

Queens University of Charlotte is the favorite to win the title this year as the Royals picked up 150 points including seven first place votes. Carson-Newman, last year's SAC Tournament champion is second with 145 points and 5 first place nods. Tusculum was third, followed by Lincoln Memorial who garnered 128 points and the final first place vote.

Newberry is fifth with 108 points, followed by Wingate (93), Catawba (88), Anderson (85), Lenoir-Rhyne (80), Coker (50), Limestone 43), Mars Hill (42) and UVA Wise (27).

Gibson, a graduate student from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, was named to the Preseason All-SAC first team after earning Conference Player of the Year honors during the 2020-21 campaign. He led the Pioneers in scoring, rebounding and assists as TU advanced to the SAC Tournament semifinal for a second straight year.

Gibson averaged 18.8 points (3^rd in SAC), 8.2 rebounds (3^rd in SAC) and 5.0 assists (3^rd in SAC / 36^th in NCAA II) per game making him in the only player in the league to ranked in the top-five in those categories. He led the SAC with his 35.6 minutes played per game average as he scored in double figures in 19 of his 20 games including nine outings with 20 more points.

He earned spots on the SAC All-Tournament Team as well as the NCAA Southeast Region All-Tournament Team. He also shined off the court where he was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America first team and was the recipient of the SAC Men's Basketball Scholar Athlete of the Year Award. He was later named the winner of the SAC Presidents Award and the Division II Conference Commissioners Association Southeast Region Scholar Athlete of the Year Award.

West, a senior from Woodbridge, Virginia, was named to the Preseason All-SAC second team. He averaged 14.3 points per game last year and earned All-SAC honorable mention laurels. He played in 13 games with 12 starts as he missed seven games due to injury. Upon his return from injury, he finished off the regular-season on a torrid pace averaging 21.6 points per contest in a five-game span. He also posted 3.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists per contest. He averaged a sizzling 2.9 three-pointers per game and shot 85 percent from the free throw line.

TU head coach J.T. Burton has guided the Pioneers to three straight winning seasons, while finishing in the top-four in the SAC standings in each campaign. Over the past three years, Tusculum is 49-32 overall including 37-21 in league play.

The Pioneers will open the season Nov. 12-13 at the SAC/Peach Belt Conference Challenge in Morrow, Georgia. TU will face USC Aiken on Nov. 12, followed by a Nov. 13 match-up against host Clayton State. Tusculum will open the home portion of its schedule on Nov. 17 when they host Carson-Newman in the league lid-lifter.

SAC Men's Basketball Coaches' Poll

2021-22 Preseason All-SAC Men's Basketball Team
First Team
Trenton Gibson, Tusculum
Quandaveon McCollum, Newberry
Jarren Cottingham, Wingate
TJ Brown, Newberry
Kenny Dye, Queens
Jamari Smith, Queens

Second Team
Gavin Rains, Queens
James West IV, Tusculum
EJ Bush, Carson-Newman
Ren Dyer, Carson-Newman
Jordan Guest, Lincoln Memorial