The annual Southland Coaches Preseason Poll was released on Wednesday morning, and the Ladyjacks of Stephen F. Austin were chosen by coaches around the league as the consensus pick to win the conference title in 2020-21. SFA garnered a total of 275 votes in the poll along with 14 of the 26 total first-place votes eligible in the poll, which consulted each of the league’s head coaches and sports information directors.
SFA was followed by rival Sam Houston State, who received a total of 257 votes, including five first-place tallies. Abilene Christian was chosen in third with 250 votes (4), followed by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (216-3) and Southeastern Louisiana (160 votes) to round out the top five. Central Arkansas (6th-157), New Orleans (7th-153), Lamar (8th-144), Nicholls (9th-127) and UIW (10th-126) were picked to fill out the rest of the top 10, while Houston Baptist, McNeese and Northwestern State rounded out the poll, in order.
Released concurrently with the preseason poll was the Southland Preseason All-Conference Teams, which saw SFA heavily represented in the form of three total selections to the 10-woman allotment. Juniors Stephanie Visscher and Aiyana Johnson both took their rightful place on the league’s Preseason First Team, while sophomore Zya Nugent earned a spot on the Second Team after a breakout campaign in 2019-20.
