NABC Divisoin II Preseason Poll
 

CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M men's basketball were ranked third in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Preseason Poll released on Tuesday afternoon. The Buffs will open the season in the Top 5 for a second consecutive season.

Northwest Missouri State is ranked first with all 16 first-place votes followed by Lincoln Memorial and WT in third. Indiana (Pa.) comes in at fourth with Florida Southern, Nova Southeastern, West Liberty, Northern State, Missouri-St. Louis and Queens rounding out the Top 10. 

The Buffs, the three-time defending Lone Star Conference Champions, enter the 2020-21 campaign with unfinished business after seeing CoVID-19 cut the 2019-20 short. WT was scheduled to host the NCAA DII South Central Regional Championships as the No. 1 seed for the third consecutive year after finishing the regular season at 32-1 including a school record 23 straight victories. 

Tom Brown enters his seventh season in Canyon with one of the top backcourts in America with Qua Grant and Joel Murray. The duo combined for 41.6 points, 11.8 rebounds and 7.7 assists per contest in 2019-20 en route to earning NABC All-American honors.

Grant, a junior from Waxahachie, was named the D2CCA Regional and Lone Star Conference Player of the Year after averaging 20.7 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. He scored in double figures in 29 games including 18 games with 20 or more points. 

Murray, a junior from Rowlett, was equally impressive on the hardwood averaging 19.9 points, 4.5 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game. He was named the LSC Tournament Most Valuable Player after his 21-point, eight rebound performance against No. 9 St. Edward's in the title game. He also ranks third in career steals and seventh in assists.