FRISCO – Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team was selected to finish 10^th in the preseason Southland Conference poll on Thursday morning.
 
The Lions tied with New Orleans for 10^th place out of 12 teams. Both the Lions and the Privateers had 54 points each in the poll, which is voted on by the conference's head coaches and sports information directors, who cannot vote for their own teams.
 
In the 2023-24 season, the Lions went 13-20 overall and 6-12 in Southland Conference play, finishing in seventh place, and beat Northwestern State for the first postseason win since joining Division I.
 
Reigning conference champion McNeese was picked to finish first in the SLC poll, followed by conference newcomer Stephen F. Austin.
 
The Lions begin the 2024-25 season at Iowa on November 7, while the first home game comes on November 13 against Southern at 6:30 p.m. Season tickets can be purchased at LionAthletics.com/Tickets.  
 
2024-25 Southland Men's Basketball Preseason Poll

Rank	Team, Points (First-Place Votes)
1	McNeese, 242 (21)
2	Stephen F. Austin, 208
3	Nicholls, 205 (3)
4	Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 191
5	Lamar, 143
6	Southeastern, 121
7	UIW, 117
8	UTRGV, 112
9	Northwestern State, 90
T10	A&M-COMMERCE, 54
T10	New Orleans, 54
12	HCU, 48

 
2024-25 Preseason All-Conference Team
FIRST TEAM

Christian Shumate	McNeese	Sr.	F	Chicago, Ill.
Garry Clark	Texas A&M-Corpus Christi	Sr.	F	St. Louis, Mo.
Jamal West Jr.	Nicholls	Sr.	F	Baltimore, Md.
Qadir Copeland	McNeese	Jr.	G	Philadelphia, Pa.
Joe Charles	McNeese	Sr.	F	Carencro, La.

 
SECOND TEAM

Javohn Garcia	McNeese	Sr.	G	Columbus, Ohio
Keon Thompson	SFA	Jr.	G	Merriville, Ind.
Robert Brown III	Nicholls	Sr.	G	Albany, N.Y.
Jalin Anderson	UIW	Gr.	G	Jackson, Tenn.
Brandon Murray	McNeese	Sr.	G	Germantown, Md.