Greenville, SC – The men's basketball coaches have picked UNC Pembroke as champions in the 2026-27 Conference Carolinas Men's Basketball Preseason Poll, the conference office announced on Thursday.
UNC Pembroke captured the east division crown each of the last three seasons following two straight regular season titles. The Braves collected nine first-place votes and 219 points to claim the top spot in the poll. The 2025-26 tournament runners-up, Chowan University was picked second with 201 points and four first place votes. Last year's tournament champions, Young Harris College received the final three first place votes and the Mountain Lions are picked third with 197 points. Emmanuel University came in fourth with 172 points while North Greenville University rounded out the top five with 158 points.
Barton College came in sixth with 150 points and were followed by Francis Marion University's 129 points and the University of Mount Olive's 115 points. Southern Wesleyan University and Belmont Abbey College rounded out the top 10 with 103 and 102 points, respectively.
King University (99), Converse University (95), Ferrum College (61), Lees-McRae College (53), Shorter University (51), and Erskine College (15) completed the poll.
The preseason poll was voted on by the league's head coaches and they can't vote for their own school.
Southern Wesleyan finished last season with a 14-15 overall record and were 10-10 in Conference Carolinas action. They picked up several key wins including victories over Emmanuel, Shorter, Mount Olive, Barton, Chowan, King, Belmont Abbey and Francis Marion. A 77-69 victory over Erskine helped jump start an impressive second half of the season for the Warriors where they only lost five games. The Warriors will return one of their leading scorers in sophomore Malachi Cooper who finished up last season with 318 points while shooting 40.5% from the field. Southern Wesleyan will look to several new players including Conference Carolinas Players to Watch Isaiah Smith and Jeremiah Camara.
The Warriors will open up the season with an exhibition game against College of Charleston on November 2. They will then play their first regular season game of the season on November 9 as they travel to Daytona Beach, FL to take on Embry-Riddle. Southern Wesleyan will host the Conference Crossover Tournament on November 13-14 where they will welcome North Greenville, Mars Hill and Columbus State to Historic Tysinger Gymnasium. They will host their first Conference Carolinas match up of the season on November 21 as they welcome the King Tornado to Central, SC. The Warriors will take part in their final exhibition game of the season on November 27 as they travel to Spartanburg, SC to take on USC Upstate.
The 2027 Conference Carolinas Men's and Women's Basketball Championships will get underway on Sunday, February 28 and Monday, March 1. The fourth, fifth and sixth seeds in men's and women's basketball will host two games over the two days. The 12th-seeded team will battle the seventh-seeded team on February 28 at the sixth seed for the right to face the sixth seed on March 1. The 11th-seeded team will battle the eighth-seeded team on February 28 at the home of the fifth seed for the right to face the fifth seed on March 1, while the 10th-seeded team will take on the ninth-seeded team at the home of the fourth seed on February 28 for the chance to take on the fourth seed on March 1.
The 2027 Conference Carolinas Men's and Women's Basketball Championship quarterfinals are set for Friday, March 5 at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. The semifinals will be contested on Saturday, March 6, while the men's and women's basketball finals are scheduled for Sunday, March 7.
