Tampa, Fl. -- The Sun Conference has announced the 2026-2027 Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll, as voted on by the nine league head coaches.

The College of Coastal Georgia, led by second year head coach Tim MacAllister, was picked fifth. After defeating top ten Keiser in their final game of last season, expectations are the rise for the Mariners. Coastal Georgia returns six players who started at least one game a year ago, along with a number of talented additions. The Mariners open their season at home on Saturday, October 24th at 3:30pm, hosting Columbia International University. 

"The league has been really, really good over the last five, six, even ten years, getting multiple bids in each of these tournaments. I think that this year is even stronger than maybe last year and that's saying something, having had three teams get to the tournament, every team win a game and obviously Ave getting to the Fab Four. The league returns a good amount, but also a lot of really good coaches who have recruited well. I would say that Keiser returning a huge amount of their production warrants them being first. Ave, just the respect that everyone has for what they did in the last several years, makes a ton of sense. St. Thomas went out and took a Division I that was an all-conference guy in his league. I think it's a really, really strong league top-to-bottom. I think this is a league that could get four to five to six bids, potentially, depending upon how things shake out," MacAllister shared. "I don't really put a ton of stock into preseason predictions, but I do think it speaks to the depth of our league. We're in a great position right now going into these first couple of games. Once we get to league play we will see an extremely strong league that can compete with anybody in the country."

Sun Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll
1. Keiser, 64 (8 first-place votes)
2. Ave Maria, 53
3. St. Thomas, 51 (1 first-place vote)
4. Southeastern 44
5. Coastal Georgia 35
6. Florida Memorial 32
7. Warner 17
8. New College of Florida 16
9. Webber International 12

View Coastal Georgia's 2026-2027 Men's Basketball schedule here.