The Lone Star Conference’s preseason polls and awards for basketball were announced on Oct. 29, and the season began for both the Lady Buffs and Buffs teams Nov. 14.

The preseason polls done by the LSC, according to www.lonestarconference.org, reflect the opinions of LSC head coaches and sports information directors, plus various media representatives throughout the region.

In men’s basketball, the Tarleton State University Texans claimed the top spot in the preseason polls with 12 first place votes and 156 points, and the Midwestern State University Mustangs were close behind with five first place votes and 155 points. TSU and MSU have faced each other the last three years in the finals of the LSC Championship Tournament.

Coming in third was the Angelo State University Rams with 134 points and one first place vote, followed by Texas A&M-Commerce with 117 points and three first place votes. Cameron University came in fifth, with Texas A&M-Kingsville, Eastern New Mexico University and West Texas A&M University claiming sixth, seventh and eight place in preseason, respectively.

MSU’s Xavier Blackburn was named preseason Player of the Year. Blackburn earned six out of the 22 first place votes.

“The Lone Star Conference has typically been one of the best, if not the best conference in the nation, year in and year out with some of the teams,” Tom Brown, the Buffs’ new head coach, said. “Midwestern, Tarleton, Angelo. I don’t want to leave anybody out, but those teams have been some of the best in the conference and best in the nation, so it’ll be very challenging for us.”

In women’s basketball, the Lady Buffs were the number one team, receiving 21 of the 26 first place votes and 227 points. This comes on the heels of the Lady Buffs winning the regular season and LSC championship tournament last year and making it to the National Championship game against Bentley University, where the Lady Buffs narrowly fell to the Falcons.

MSU was second with three first-place votes and 198 points, with TSU coming in third with 180 points. Texas Woman’s University was fourth, receiving the final two first-place votes. ASU picked up fifth place accolades, with Cameron, Eastern New Mexico University, A&M-Commerce and A&M-Kingsville coming in sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively. The women’s preseason Player of the Year was MSU’s Andrea Carter, with WT’s Chontiquah White coming in a close second.

“I think there are some unknowns,” Mark Kellogg, Lady Buffs second-year coach, answered during an online media day when asked about the conference and his expectations from it. “There’s some coaching changes and graduations at certain schools, but you know, this league’s great and if you get through it, you’re going to be prepared for the post season. I think we found that out last year, we got through it and we were every bit prepared as the teams we face.”

The Lady Buffs lost their season opener in a heartbreaker to University of Texas at Permian Basin, and the Buffs fell in their first two games in the Al Kaly Classic in Pueblo, Colorado.