The Anderson University men's and women's basketball teams have been ranked in preseason polls.
Following last season’s second consecutive trip to the NCAA and an Elite Eight appearance, the Anderson men’s basketball team has been picked to finish third in the South Atlantic Conference by the league’s coaches.
The 2010-11 season saw Anderson become just the second team in South Atlantic Conference history to claim an NCAA Regional Championship, and the first team from the state of South Carolina to win a regional championship since Lander in 1999.
The Trojans entered the 2011 NCAA Regional as the seventh seed last year, upsetting No. 2 Lincoln Memorial, No. 6 Montevallo and No. 1 seed Augusta en route to their first-ever regional title.
The 2012 Food Lion SAC Basketball Championship will take place March 3-4 in Hickory, N.C.
Meanwhile, the women's team has been selected to finish ninth in its second season in the South Atlantic Conference by the league’s coaches as released by the conference office Wednesday afternoon.
“We don’t really pay much attention to preseason rankings because they mostly are speculation,” said Anderson head coach Jim Brunelli. “We know what we lost as far as player personnel, however I feel that we have a good core group back that has a lot of experience and when you mix in a solid recruiting class, I believe we can compete.”
With three returning starters, Brunelli is looking for the 2011-12 version of Anderson women’s basketball to make a run at the South Atlantic Conference championship this season. Brunelli, who guided the Trojans to three consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament from 2008-2010, will have a talented but youthful collection on this year’s squad and has many reasons to be optimistic, with an exciting nucleus of returners and four true freshmen.
Anderson visits Furman for an exhibition contest on Monday and opens the regular season with a four-game road swing, beginning with Georgia College on Friday, Nov. 11.