Southern Conference men's basketball coaches chose the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga as the preseason favorite in the North Division and Davidson in the South on Wednesday.
The coaches also selected Appalachian State senior guard Omar Carter as the preseason player of the year and named UTC senior guards Keegan Bell and Omar Wattad to the preseason all-conference team.
UTC received nine first-place votes to finish ahead of Appalachian State and Western Carolina, with coaches not allowed to pick their own teams. UNC Greensboro, Elon and Samford round out the North picks in order.
Davidson received 10 first-place votes ahead of two collected by the College of Charleston. The rest of the South, in order, were Georgia Southern, Furman, Wofford and The Citadel.
"Obviously you want to be picked to win the league," Mocs coach John Shulman said in a release. "It's an honor to have your team that highly though of. But last time I checked, they don't give you the trophy in October."