Greyhound men picked for ninth in LSC

RICHARDSON, Texas — It’s a new day for basketball in the Lone Star Conference, with the Eastern New Mexico men’s team picked to finish just inside the top half of the 18-team league.

The LSC held an online media day Tuesday with each of the 18 schools fielding men’s teams participating through a video uploaded to YouTube.

The Greyhounds were picked to finish ninth in the conference this season, following its fourth-place finish last season when just 10 teams competed under the LSC umbrella.

Fourth-year coach Tres Segler expects a challenge entering the year.

“What we’re bringing into the league are some of the best coaches with the some of the highest-IQ systems with some very versatile players,” Segler said of the LSC expansion. “You’re bringing in the Heartland Conference, which plays a different style that the Lone Star, but like the Lone Star prides themselves on being one of the top basketball conferences in the country. You are going to have to change the way you play from night to night. On a Thursday-Saturday swing, you might play a high-IQ motion team from the Heartland and turn around on Saturday and play a football-style, physical team from the Lone Star. Are you going to be yourself and make everybody adapt to you, or be a chameleon and adapt to everybody?”

South Central Regional champ West Texas A&M received the top spot in the poll, with 27 first-place votes among the 48 voters representing coaches, sports information directors and media representatives with member schools. New member St. Edward’s was second with 14 first-place votes. Tarleton State, Angelo State (two each), Dallas Baptist, Texas A&M Commerce and Arkansas-Fort Smith (one each) took the remaining seven first-place votes.

Tarleton senior Josh Hawley and St. Edward's senior Ashton Spears were named LSC Co-Preseason Players of the Year with both earning 15 of the 48 votes.

Hawley led the Texans in scoring in 2018-19 with 17.3 points per game which ranked second in the LSC. The Irving native also led the conference in rebounds per game (6.9), total rebounds (297) and field goal percentage (.576).

Spears was second in the Heartland last year with 19.0 points and led the conference with 2.5 steals per game.

Teams will be divided into three six-team divisions, with each team playing a 22-game season featuring two games against division opponents and one game against the other 12 teams. The top 12 teams will be seeded into the conference tournament, with the top four seeds getting first-round byes. First-round games will be at school sites, followed by the next three rounds at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas. The tournament champion receives the LSC’s automatic qualification to the Division II tournament.

The conference will hold a similar media day Wednesday for the 18 women’s teams. The LSC has 19 schools, but Dallas Baptist doesn’t feature a women’s team and Texas Woman’s doesn’t field a men’s team.