Florida Southern College women’s basketball has been selected to finish third in the Sunshine State Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, the SSC office announced on Tuesday. The Moccasins, who finished 30-4 a year ago and won the SSC’s regular-season and tournament titles for a second-straight year, received 78 points and one first-place vote. Tampa was picked to win the conference with 96 points and four first-place votes, while Nova Southeastern was tabbed second with 91 points and the remaining four first-place votes.
Eckerd was selected fourth in the poll, while Rollins rounded out the top five. Embry-Riddle, Lynn, Barry, Florida Tech, Saint Leo, and Palm Beach Atlantic finished in slots 6-11, respectively. This year’s poll marks just the third time since 2000-01 that the Spartans have been selected to finish in first, and the first time since the 2014-15 season that Tampa is the favorite to win the Sunshine State Conference.
“It says a lot about our program for the SSC coaches to select us to finish third despite losing key players from last year’s team,” said Florida Southern head coach Betsy Harris. “We are the youngest and least experienced team in the conference, but I know these young ladies are up to the challenge, and we know everyone will give us their best game.”
The preseason SSC favorite has gone on to win the conference’s regular-season title just twice in the last seven years, with Florida Southern winning a year ago and Nova Southeastern earning the crown in 2015-16. Only seven times in the past 19 years as the top team in the preseason coaches poll gone on to win the SSC Tournament title.
Florida Southern returns nine players from last year’s squad that advanced to the South Region title contest, but must replace two of the top players in school history with the departures of former all-Americans Anja Fuchs-Robetin and Camille Giardina. The duo combined for more than 3,600 points in their careers with the Mocs and was responsible for more than 48.0 percent of the team’s scoring in 2018-19.
The Moccasins kick off the regular season at home on Nov. 8 against Alabama-Huntsville in the annual GSC/SSC Challenge. Southern is home for its first four games of the season as it will also host Lee (Nov. 9), Flagler (Nov. 13) and Flagler (Nov. 16).
Below are the full results of the 2019-20 SSC preseason coaches poll. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own team (points: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, first-place votes in parentheses).
2019 SSC WOMEN’S BASKETBALL PRESEASON COACHES POLL
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| Rank | School | Points (FPV) |
| 1 | Tampa | 95 (6) |
| 2 | Nova Southeastern | 91 (4) |
| 3 | Florida Southern | 78 (1) |
| 4 | Eckerd | 74 |
| 5 | Rollins | 58 |
| 6 | Embry-Riddle | 54 |
| 7 | Lynn | 46 |
| 8 | Barry | 45 |
| 9 | Florida Tech | 32 |
| 10 | Saint Leo | 19 |
| 11 | Palm Beach Atlantic | 13 |