FRISCO, Texas - Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin and Nicholls have been selected as the preseason favorites to win the Southland Conference men's basketball regular-season championship by a vote of the league's coaches and sports information directors, the conference office announced Wednesday.

Sam Houston State received the most first-place votes in the coaches' poll and tied for the most first-place votes in the SID poll. The Bearkats were picked in both polls to successfully defend its division title from a season ago, collecting seven first-place votes and 61 points in the coaches' poll and five first-place votes and 58 points in the SID poll. The coaches picked Stephen F. Austin to defend its East Division title with 58 points, while the SIDs think Nicholls will improve last year's second-place divisional finish to win the East Division this season.

The coaches and SIDs predicted the same order of finish in the West Division. Behind Sam Houston, the coaches and SIDs picked Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to finish second followed by UTSA, UT Arlington, Lamar and Texas State. Four coaches and four SIDs picked the Islanders to win the division. UTSA garnered one first-place vote in the coaches' poll and two in the SID poll, while one SID picked UT Arlington to win the West.

The two groups of pollsters differ in their East Division forecasts. In the coaches' poll, Stephen F. Austin, the 2008-09 Southland Conference regular-season and tournament champion, edged Nicholls by a slim two-point margin, 58-56 as the East Division favorite and overall No. 2 pick. Nicholls received four first-place votes and 56 points, while Southeastern Louisiana was picked third, garnering three first-place votes and 48 points. Northwestern State, McNeese State and Central Arkansas round out the six coaches' picks in the East Division.

Nicholls earned the same number of points that Sam Houston did in the SID poll, so the publicists did not identify a clear-cut favorite for the regular-season championship. Southeastern Louisiana and Stephen F. Austin each collected 54 points in the SID poll, though the Lions received four first-place votes to the Lumberjacks' three. McNeese State, Northwestern State and Central Arkansas complete the East Division picks.

The top two teams in each division automatically qualify for the 2010 State Farm Southland Conference Basketball Tournament, March 10-13, at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas. The four teams with the next-best winning percentages round out the tournament's field of eight. However, Central Arkansas is ineligible for tournament consideration because of its transition from NCAA Division II to Division I.

Southland Preseason Men's Basketball Polls