WKU Basketball: Hilltoppers voted Preseason Favorite in Conference USA

The Western Kentucky Men’s Basketball program was voted the preseason favorite to win Conference USA by the league’s coaches

The Western Kentucky Men’s Basketball program was voted the preseason favorite to win Conference USA by the league’s coaches

As you can tell they received 13 of the 14 first-place votes with UTSA getting the other first-place vote. This is the third straight year that WKU is the preseason favorite to win the league. While UTSA and others should be solid, I don’t think WKU’s got veteran-laden squads standing in their way like years past (MTSU, ODU, Marshall). We’ll be banging the NCAA or bust drum all season.

Most of the rest of the poll makes sense, The coaches properly respected a talented transfer laden UTEP squad. I am a little surprised with how low they rated Marshall, they did lose Elmore & Burks but Taveion Kinsey and Jannson Williams make me think they’re at least a top 8 team this season.

The league also voted on their Preseason All-Conference team. Charles Bassey & Taveion Hollinsworth represent WKU.

The Tops are tied with UTSA with the most players on the team at two. I personally prefer them dividing up the teams into first, second and third but these mega all-conference teams are becoming more prevalent with each passing year.

It will be interesting to see if WKU has different players emerge for the end of season list. I could see Hollingsworth, Anderson, Justice, Cooper or Williams potentially making the list depending on their role on this team. Most of these lists have 2–3 players maximum per squad.

This all stacks up as a make or break year in Rick Stansbury’s tenure. The expectations are high and the excuses are out the window. Starting with Hilltopper Hysteria tonight we’ve got a 5+month run to look forward to. Buckle up Hilltopper fans.