2026-27 SoCon Basketball Preseason Poll
1. Furman (10) 100
2. ETSU (1) 86
3. Wofford 78
4. Samford 70
5. Chattanooga 59
6. Tennessee Tech 57
7. Mercer 47
8. Western Carolina 41
9. VMI 32
10. The Citadel 21
11. UNCG 14
2026-27 SoCon Player of the Year: Rickey Bradley Jr. (VMI)
2026-27 Preseason All-SoCon Team
G- BJ Ward (ETSU)
F-Marcus Kell (Furman)
F-Charles Johnston (Furman)
G/F-Brady Shoulders (Mercer)
G-Cooper Noard (Samford)
G-Tate Darner (Chattanooga)
F-TJ Johnson (VMI)
G-Cam Lowe (Wofford)
G-Chace Watley (Wofford)
G-Rickey Bradley Jr. (VMI)
The Southern Conference held its media day virtually this year, and the poll and all-conference team were revealed via email instead of being able to learn of them at an actual event. That was truly disappointing, as I always look forward to chatting with coaches and players about the upcoming season, but I do understand the decision in some respects, as I realize it is a long trip to the Upstate of South Carolina for some of the coaches and players.
That being said, my opinion is that there should have been a media day ahead of this season especially with Tennessee Tech joining the SoCon, and which would have brought with it a high-profile basketball coach, in Tobin Anderson.
Overall, I can't complain too much because I know it is a transition time for the league office, and the focus is on finding a new leadership, with men's basketball being one of the hot items for the the new commissioner given the success of the league.
Now that is out of the way, the 2026 SoCon Tournament Champion Furman Paladins (22-13, 10-8/6th in SoCon) is the unanimous selection of the league's coaches to win the 2026-27 SoCon crown. Picked to finish second in the regular-season a year ago, the Paladins stumbled to a sixth-place finish last season, mostly due to a multitude of injuries.
When Furman knocked off East Tennessee State, 76-61, in the SoCon Title game last March, it marked the second-straight year that a No. 6 seed had won the SoCon title. A year earlier, Wofford became the first-ever No. 6 seed to claim the title when the Terriers knocked off Furman, 92-85, in the championship game.
Furman garnered a perfect 100 points as a result of receiving all 10 possible votes for the top spot in the league, and had two players selected to the preseason All-SoCon team, in 5th-year forward Charles Johnston (9.8 PPG, 9.0 RPG) and Western Carolina graduate transfer Marcus Kell (13. 6 PPG, 4.8 RPG).
The Paladins knocked off No. 3 Samford (W, 86-81), No. 7 UNC Greensboro (W, 81-75) and No. 1 ETSU (W, 76-61) to claim their second tournament title and subsequent NCAA Tournament bid in four years after having not been for 43 years prior to the 2022-23 season. The Paladins were a 15 seed in the NCAA Tournament, drawing eventual national runner-up and No. 2 seed UConn in the opening round in Philadelphia, as the Paladins put up a valiant effort before losing a tough, 82-71, campaign.
The Paladins have been to the SoCon title in four of the past five years, despite not finishing above fourth since winning the regular-season and tournament titles in 2022-23. Over the past 11 years, however, Furman has finished in the top three eight of 11 seasons and has amassed 245 wins since the start of the 2015-16 season, which is more than any other current league member.
Furman's tournament title last March marked its eighth in program history. The Paladins will open the season on Nov. 2 at the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon, as the Paladins will face Bethune-Cookman in a 8 p.m. EST contest in Rock Hill, S.C.
The Paladins will also play three preseason exhibition games, beginning Thursday night, as the Paladins travel to Tuscaloosa, AL, to face off against the Alabama Crimson Tide in a 7:30 p.m. EST contest at Coleman Coliseum.
The Paladins will also be fighting the odds, as 11 programs in the 106-year history of the league have won back-to-back crowns, as Furman looks to join the following teams that have won tournament titles in consecutive seasons, with teams that have done it more than once listed with their most recent accomplishment of that rare feat: North Carolina (1935 and '36); Duke (1941 and '42), North Carolina State (1947-51), West Virginia (1962 and '63), Furman (1973-75), VMI (1976 and '77), Marshall (1987 and '88), Chattanooga (1993-95), East Tennessee State (2003 and '04) Davidson (2012 and '13) and Wofford (2014 and '15).
No team has won the league tournament in consecutive seasons since Wofford accomplished the feat back in the 2014 and '15 seasons, which is precisely where Furman's winning began, as the Paladins became the first double-digit seed to reach the SoCon title game in the history of the tournament in 2015, losing to No. 1 Wofford, 67-64. Heading into the 2026-27 campaign, the SoCon has had 11 different tournament title winners, with the No. 1 seed in the tournament winning the title for nine-straight editions from 2016-24.
East Tennessee State (23-11, 13-5 in 2025-26/SoCon Regular-Season Champions), which won the 2025-26 regular-season and won a league-best 23 games, was picked second, getting one first place and finishing with 86 points. Head coach Brooks Savage heads into his fourth season at the helm in Johnson City with perhaps his most talented team yet, and has made it to the league tournament title game twice already in three seasons at the helm.
ETSU was recently dealt a big blow when lone returning starter and potential preseason SoCon Player of the Year forward Jordan McCullum suffered a significant lower body injury that will keep him out for the entire season it was announced by Coach Savage earlier this week. Even with that setback, the Bucs are no strangers to SoCon success, having won 10 regular-season titles and eight tournament titles.
The Bucs had a one of their portal pickups during the off-season end up on the preseason All-SoCon scroll, as BJ Ward, who joined the Bucs' program from Southeast Missouri State (SEMO) out of the Ohio Valley Conference, finishing the 2025-26 campaign averaging 10.9 PPG, 3.7 APG and 2.1 RPG, while making 33 starts for the Redhawks. He finished ranking fifth in the OVC in total assists and sixth in assists average last season and is one of 10 new Bucs to join ETSU during the off-season.
In addition to the important reinforcements added on the court, head coach Brooks Savage also made some on the sidelines, bringing on an assistant with plenty of SoCon experience as well as head coaching experience, in Dwight Perry, who spent 3.5 years leading the Terriers' basketball program and winning a tournament title in his final season at the helm in 2024-25.
As storied a tradition as the Bucs have had over the years, the 2025-26 version was the best comprehensive offensive totals in program history. The Bucs ranked 33rd nationally in effective field goal percentage (55.3%), while also ranking 27th in the nation in overall two-point field goal percentage (57.2%). ETSU finished 13-5 in the league last season to claim the league outright title and No. 1 seed in Asheville.
With McCullum sidelined with his lower body injury, the Bucs return three other players from that team that won the regular-season title a year ago, with guard Maki Johnson (), redshirt freshman Maddox Huff, and forward Brayden Crump () being the only holdovers from that title-winning team.
The coaches picked Wofford (19-13, 11-7 in SoCon in 2025-26/2nd) third in the preseason poll in what will be year two for head coach Kevin Giltner. A year ago, the Terriers were picked ninth as a defending champion, with former head coach Dwight Perry being fired a little less than two months until the start of the season.
Not only was Giltner able to retain every player from Perry's roster, he was also able to help Wofford to a second-place finish by winning 19 games a year ago. A year later, and the Terriers find themselves picked third, totaling 78 total points in the preseason coaches poll.
As with every team in the SoCon, Wofford suffered heavy production losses at season's end, with Kahmare Holmes (19.5 PPG, 5.7 RPG) being the most notable of the players to depart, as he transferred to Depaul. Wofford also lost sharp-shooter Nils Machowski (17.2 PPG, 5.7 RPG) to UConn, while Cayden Vasko (10.4 PPG, 4.5 RPG) moved on to Central Florida after spending just one season in the Hub City.
Chace Watley, who was on the verge of averaging double figures last season, averaging 9.7 PPG and 3.3 RPG, was one of three significant pieces to return off of last season's team that put together a remarkable year considering the circumstances. Watley was also one of two Terriers that were selected to the preseason All-SoCon team.
His backcourt help this season will come from Cameron Lowe, who transferred into Wofford during the off-season from NCAA Division II Black Hills State where he was an All-American after averaging 17.4 PPG and shooting a strong 39.5% from three-point range last season.
The Terriers have an intriguing upcoming exhibition game against former head coach Mike Young later this month, as Virginia Tech pays a visit to Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium for a preseason exhibition on Friday, Oct. 16.
Like Giltner, Samford's Lennie Acuff enters year two coaching in the Southern Conference at Samford (18-14, 11-7 SoCon/3rd) where the Bulldogs are picked to finish fourth with a total of 70 points.
Many wondered what Acuff's Bulldogs would do in year one post-Bucky McMillan and Samford did not disappoint, getting hot and winning eight of their final nine games of the regular-season to finish third. However, for a second-straight season, the Bulldogs ran into a red-hot Furman team en route to winning a second tournament title in a four-year span, and the Paladins posted an 86-81 win in a thrilling game, which was one of the more exciting games of the 2026 tournament.
Though Samford no longer has Jadin Booth around to electrify audiences with his perimeter shooting and overall scoring ability, the Bulldogs brought in a guy, in 5th year graduate transfer Cooper Noard that figures to make an impact right away for the Bulldogs. The preseason all-conference selection finished the 2025-26 season averaging 18.2 PPG and made 80 three-pointers. He also finished his final season at Cornell by connecting on 50% of his shots from the field, while knocking down an impressive 37.6% of his three-point shots. The Bulldogs were the 2023-24 SoCon regular-season and tournament champions and have won 111 games since the start of the 2021-22 season.
Sitting in fifth place in the coaches poll is Chattanooga (13-19, 8-10 SoCon/8th), which was picked in fifth-place, totaling 59 total points. The Mocs enter year five under head coach Dan Earl, and he led the Mocs to an NIT crown two years ago along with a SoCon regular-season title.
The Mocs welcome back Tate Darner, who was one of the top freshman guards in the SoCon a year ago, and is a preseason All-SoCon pick this season, averaging 9.9 PPG, 4.4 RPG and shot a solid 38% from three-point range a year ago. Chattanooga must replace its four top scorers from a year ago, including all-conference guard Jordan Frison, who garnered all-league plaudits and averaged 16.4 PPG, 3.3 RPG and dished out 4.0 APG in leading the Mocs to a disappointing eighth-place finish in the final regular-season standings after Chattanooga was tabbed as the 2025-26 preseason favorite.
The Mocs lost in the opening round of the SoCon Tournament for the first time since 2013, as No. 9 The Citadel claimed an 88-85 win over Chattanooga in the opening game of the 2026 SoCon Tournament. It marked just the eighth time in 49 SoCon Tournaments that the Mocs took part in an opening round game, falling to 5-3 in that particular round of the tournament.
The Mocs finished with a losing home record for the first time in the 42-year history of McKenzie Arena (7-8). Chattanooga, which has won a league-standard 12 tournament titles, with the most recent of those coming in 2022, opens the season on Nov. 2 at ACC member Louisville.
SoCon newcomer Tennessee Tech, who will be led by first-year head coach Tobin Anderson, was selected to finish sixth in the league and amassed a total of 57 points. Tech has not reached the NCAA Tournament since 1963, while the Golden Eagles' new head coach Tobin Anderson, is famous for pulling off one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history, leading 16th-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson past No. 1 overall seed Purdue, 63-58, in the 2023 edition of March Madness.
Mercer (19-13, 11-7 SoCon/4th) was selected to finish seventh with a total of 47 points, as the Bears enter year three under head coach Ryan Ridder. Despite losing leaders like the inside-outside tandem of point guard Baraka Okojie (transferred to George Mason) and Armani Mighty (transferred to Pitt) off last year's team, the Bears welcome the return of Brady Shoulders, who might be the top glue guy in the SoCon heading into the 2026-27 season and has been loyal to Ridder throughout, dating back to his days as the head coach at UT-Martin.
Shoulders, who plated in and started 29 games last season, averaging 9.3 PPG and 6.8 RPG, was named to the preseason All-SoCon team. He finished with 14 double-figure scoring performances a year ago, including scoring a career-high 21 points in a Jan. 3 loss at ETSU, as the Bears finished fourth in the league.
The team which upset the Bears was No. 5 seed Western Carolina (15-16, 10-8 SoCon/5th) claiming a 77-73 win in a thriller in the final game of quarterfinal Saturday at the 2026 SoCon Tournament. Like Mercer, the Catamounts are under third-year head coach Tim Craft, and also like the Bears, are selected to finish three places lower than where they finished a year ago in the eighth-place spot with 41 points.
WCU got hot down the stretch but faltered in the semifinals, blowing a 17-point halftime lead to lose to No. 1 ETSU, 69-67, in the SoCon semifinals last season. Western Carolina will play exhibitions at Appalachian State (Oct. 20) and vs. USC Upstate (Oct. 26) before opening at UNC on Nov. 2.
Rounding out the SoCon poll are No. 9 VMI (32 pts), No. 10 The Citadel (21 pts) and No. 11 UNC Greensboro (14 pts). Rickey Bradley Jr., despite not having played in an official game in 18 months, was selected as the league's Preseason Player of the Year for the second-straight season. Bradley missed the entire 2025-26 season with a lower body injury.
VMI’s (6-26, 1-17 SoCon/10th) Bradley Jr. was one of two Keydets selected to the preseason All-SoCon team, with TJ Johnson being the other. Johnson is the SoCon's leading returning scorer, averaging 18.3 PPG, while Bradley was the leading returning scorer two years ago, posting 16.3 PPG.
The Citadel (11-22, 7-11 SoCon/9th) is riding a wave of momentum not seen since Ed Conroy's first stint as the head coach, as the Bulldogs won seven SoCon, including a school-record four in overtime, as the seven league wins marked the most conference triumphs for The Citadel basketball since the 2009-10 season.
The Bulldogs lost key pieces like Christian Moore, Sola Adebisi, and Braxton Williams, but have Kenyan Davis, as well as in-league transfer Eddrin Bronson from Furman and former Wofford guard Chase Cormier.
Rounding out the poll is perennial power UNCG (15-19, 9-9 SoCon/7th) which made a coaching change just after its semifinal tournament exit, firing Mike Jones after five seasons as the head coach, which included three top two finishes and 20-win campaigns, while hiring Jerod Haase less than two weeks later. Only forward Chane Bynum and guard Clyde Bailey II remain off last year's roster, as these are the lowest expectations for the program in over a decade. One bright spot for UNCG is guard Dionte Neal--a four-star recruit that had initially entered the transfer portal--but Haase was able to convince him to return.