SSC Tabs Tampa Third in Men's Basketball Preseason Poll

TAMPA, Fla. - Sunshine State Conference men's basketball coaches voted the University of Tampa third as Nova Southeastern University as the preseason favorites for 2025-26. The defending national champions are hunting a fifth consecutive regular-season championship. The Sharks racked up the maximum 100 points in the poll, taking 10 first-place votes.

Florida Southern was picked second in the conference with 85 points. Tampa and Lynn finished third and fourth in the ranking with 75 and 70 points, respectively. Palm Beach Atlantic rounds out the Top-5 with 58 points from league coaches and the final first-place vote. Rollins settles in sixth with 51 points, while Embry-Riddle (50 points) and Barry (49 points) land in seventh and eighth place. Rounding out the 2025-26 poll are Saint Leo (35 points), Eckerd (21 points), and Florida Tech (11 points).

Entering his third season as head coach, Linc Darner and his Spartans are coming off a 20-11 season. Last year, Tampa won 20 games for the first time in 11 years and earned an invite to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014. Darner returns several key players from last season, led by point guard Trey Lane. Lane is coming off a season where he averaged 12.6 points per game and led all Spartans with 4.8 assists per game and 2.2 steals per game. Ryan Blount also returns as he posted 11.9 points per game as a true freshman in 2024-25.

2025-26 SSC MEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Nova Southeastern has made it to the championship game three years in a row, winning it all in 2023 and 2025. The Sharks are the defending champions in the South Region, SSC postseason, and SSC regular season, and they have just three conference losses in the last three seasons.

Last year's postseason tournament run for the Sharks brought the league a 14th Final Four and 24th Elite Eight appearance. During the postseason, they defeated SSC foes Embry-Riddle (81-73) in the Regional Semifinals and Florida Southern (98-66) in the Regional Final.

The 2025-26 season begins with Florida Southern once again hosting nine schools in Lakeland for the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic on Saturday, November 1st, and Sunday, November 2nd. The remaining league teams get started Friday, November 14th, or Saturday, November 15th. Conference play begins on Saturday, November 22nd.

Below are the full results of the 2025-26 SSC preseason coaches' poll. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their teams (points: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, first-place votes in parentheses).

2025-26 SSC MEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON COACHES POLL

See Also: SSC All-Americans | All-SSC Teams | SSC Champions | National Champions | Record Book

Previous SSC Men's Basketball Polls & Champions