Shippensburg, IUP picked as favorites in 2021-22 Men’s Basketball Preseason Polls
LOCK HAVEN, Pa. --- The Shippensburg University Raiders and the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Crimson Hawks have been picked to win Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference’s Eastern and Western Divisions, respectively, in the 2021-22 PSAC Men’s Basketball Preseason Polls, the league office announced Thursday morning.
Preseason polls were determined by a vote of the league’s head coaches.
PSAC EAST
The Raiders picked up seven of the possible nine first-place votes in the preseason poll. Shippensburg finished the year with a 24-7 overall mark and an 18-4 league mark finishing first in the East in 2019-20. Ship made it all the way to the PSAC Championship Tournament Final, falling to IUP. The Raiders also earned a spot in the NCAA DII Men’s Basketball Tournament, but the first game of the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19.
Shippensburg has won at least 20 games in five consecutive years and return one All-PSAC player in Jake Biss who was a 2020 First Team honoree. Ship returns 10 players from the 2019-20 season, including three starters.
East Stroudsburg was selected to finish second in the East following a 20-9, 15-7 year. They finished second in 2019-20 and have seven of their top 10 scorers back on the roster. ESU played in the PSAC Championship Tournament semi’s before being eliminated by IUP.
Selected third in the PSAC East is West Chester. The Golden Rams are coming off a 20-win season, earning a record of 20-10 overall. They were 13-9 in league games and they also climbed to eighth in the DII National Poll at one point, the highest they had been ranked since 1983. WCU received one first-place vote in the preseason poll.
Millersville was selected fourth in the coaches poll. The Marauders received a first place vote as well coming off a 15-15, 11-11 2019-20 campaign. They were fourth in the West to finish the season, falling in the PSAC Tournament. They’ll have a quartet All-PSAC players returning in Jaden Faulkner, Caden Najdawi, James Sullivan and Khari Williams.
Picked fifth is Kutztown, who missed out on the conference tournament finishing seventh in 2019-20. The Bears will have Wesley Butler back, however, who averaged 18.2 points per contest.
Sixth is Shepherd, who in its first year in the PSAC went 10-12 in league matchups, making the PSAC Tournament finishing fifth. They had a pair of big PSAC victories including one against ESU.
Rounding out the nine members in the Eastern Division were Lock Haven, Bloomsburg and Mansfield, respectively.
PSAC WEST
Earning the top spot in the PSAC Western Division Poll with seven first-place votes is Indiana (Pa.). The Crimson Hawks are your defending PSAC Champions and open this season at No. 18 in the NABC National Preseason Poll. It’s the 13th straight time they begin the season in the Top-25. IUP returns three starters from their 2019-20 PSAC Championship squad in Armoni Foster, Ethan Porterfield and Dave Morris.
The Crimson Hawks were set to play Winston-Salem State prior to the postseason being cut short. Following winning the PSAC Title, they were selected first in the Atlantic Region being able to host the tournament.
Picked to finish second in the PSAC West was Mercyhurst. The Lakers come into the 2021-22 being one of the few teams who played in the 2020-21 season. Mercyhurst was 12-1 last season and made the NCAA Atlantic Region Tournament, winning over Fairmont State, but falling in the next round to No.1 Hillsdale. The Lakers were picked 12th in the NABC Preseason Top 25.
Third selected in the PSAC West was Pitt-Johnstown. The Mountain Cats received a pair of first-place votes in the poll as well. The Mountain Cats had an impressive 2019-20 season with a record of 22-9 overall and 15-7 in league games finishing third in the PSAC West. John Paul Kromka led the team in points per game averaging 15.5 per contes and he narrowly missed averaging a double-double per contest pulling down 8.3 boards per game. Kromka returns for the Mountain Cats and will be a big factor this season.
Behind the Mountain Cats in fourth is Cal U. The Vulcans were 19-11 overall and 14-8 in the PSAC last season finishing fourth and earning a spot in the PSAC Tournament. Brent Pegram was one of the top scorers in the PSAC playing in all 30 games and tallying 20.0 points per contest. Pegram will be back in the lineup this year as well.
Picked to finish fifth in the West is Gannon. The Golden Knights, like Mercyhurst, also played some matchups in 2020-21 finishing with a 10-4 record. In those few games, Chris Clancy and Braden Olsen traded off scoring efforts with Clancy posting 13.5 ppg and Olsen scoring 13.4 ppg.
Slippery Rock comes into the poll picked to finish sixth in the PSAC West. The Rock were 15-14 overall and 11-11 in league games in 2019-20. The Rock will look at a relatively new roster losing top scorers like Micah Till, Will Robinson Jr. and Jared Armstrong.
Rounding out the PSAC West poll is Clarion, Edinboro and Seton Hill, respectively.
The 2021-22 regular season will begin Friday, November 12th with PSAC play set to start December 3rd.
2021-22 Men's Basketball Preseason Polls
EAST
1. Shippensburg (7)
2. East Stroudsburg
3. West Chester (1)
4. Millersville (1)
5. Kutztown
6. Shepherd
7. Lock Haven
8. Bloomsburg
9. Mansfield
WEST
1. IUP (7)
2. Mercyhurst
3. Pitt-Johnstown (2)
4. Cal U
5. Gannon
6. Slippery Rock
7. Clarion
8. Edinboro
9. Seton Hill
ABOUT THE PSAC
Headquartered in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference is an NCAA Division II Conference comprised of 18 institutions in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The member institutions are Bloomsburg University, California University of Pennsylvania, Clarion University, East Stroudsburg University, Edinboro University, Gannon University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Kutztown University, Lock Haven University, Mansfield University, Mercyhurst University, Millersville University, The University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, Seton Hill University, Shepherd University, Shippensburg University, Slippery Rock University and West Chester University.