Halloween is a pretty good day for the Pioneers as Transylvania has been voted as the men’s basketball frontrunner in the 2005-06 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, released Oct. 31. The Pioneers, defending HCAC co-champions, received six first-place votes in the coaches’ preseason poll. They garnered 62 points overall in the poll outdistancing fellow defending co-champion Hanover.
Hanover received the remaining two first-place votes and 52 total points. Franklin was picked third with 43 points in the poll. Bluffton (41 points), Mount St. Joseph (29), Manchester (26), Anderson (21) and Defiance (14) round out the poll.
Transylvania captured its first HCAC championship last season by tying for first place in the standings with Hanover. The Pioneers finished with a 20-6 overall record and 11-3 mark in the HCAC.
Returning are a pair of first-team all-HCAC selections. Junior forward Joey Searle led Transy in scoring last year with a 14.5 average and added 5.4 rebounds per game. Senior forward Matt Finke returns after posting 12.6 points and 6.5 boards per contest.
Transylvania, led by last season’s HCAC Coach of the Year Brian Lane, returns four starters and lost just two players to graduation.
Hanover, ranked ninth in the D3hoops.com preseason Top 25, will look to return to the NCAA Division III Sweet 16 again this season. The Panthers advanced deep into last season’s tournament and will return three starters from that squad. They completed the 2004-05 season with an 11-3 conference record and 25-6 overall mark.
Heh heh heh…
“I vant to vin your converence!”
So if the GNAC coaches poll comes out tomorrow, should we expect Emmanuel to be the pick? 🙂
Most regular D3hoops.com readers know I’ve been one of the biggest Hanover supporters on the site the last couple years. The recent Illinois Wesleyan/Hanover games have been Division III basketball at its best and I have a ton of respect for the Panther program.
That being said, I was surprised at the big gap in votes between Hanover (336) and Transylvania (68) in the Preseason Poll. On paper, based on how last year’s race ended up and on returnees it seems clear that Transy is the HCAC favorite.
I was shocked Hanover received a 1st Place vote. I think the 2005-06 Panthers will be very good (top 15 possibly) but they did lose Matt Moore, Tommy Dennis, and Ryan Lanning – three huge members of the team that won at IWU last year.
The HCAC race should be a fun one to watch.
I think part of it is that Transy doesn’t have wins like the ones against Illinois Wesleyan that it can point to to validate it outside the conference. Last year’s best non-conference win was against Maryville (Tenn.), a quality program but not at the IWU level. Transy had a shot against Wooster last year but lost. If it had won that game, we might be having a different conversation now.
Dcollinge: If it’s the women’s poll, I would say it’s a lock!