High Point is the clear favorite in the Men’s Big South Preseason Poll. High Point also dominated the preseason all-conference team with three picks.
The Panthers are the preseason favorite for the third consecutive year, as the voting panel of head coaches bestowed seven of the nine first-place votes and 79 of the possible 81 points upon HPU. The reigning Big South Regular-Season and Conference Champions return six players from a squad that set the Big South single-season record with 31 wins, as well as becoming just the second conference member to reach the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament.
This is the fifth time the Panthers are the Big South’s men’s basketball overall preseason favorite, as the four previous times were 2007-08, 2015-16, 2024-25 and 2025-26 (High Point was the top North Division pick in 2013-14). Presbyterian College followed in second place with 69 points and received the two remaining first-place votes — the program’s highest preseason ranking since becoming Big South members in 2008-09, as PC’s previous best was fourth in 2010-11.
Winthrop followed in the third spot with 57 points, just ahead of Longwood at 54 points.
UNC Asheville landed in the fifth position with 43 points, with Radford in the sixth spot with 34 points. Charleston Southern finished seventh in the ranking at 33 points, followed by USC Upstate (eighth, 21 points) and Gardner-Webb (ninth, 15 points) to round out the men’s preseason predictions.
High Point forward Cam’Ron Fletcher (St. Louis, Mo.) has been voted the 2026-27 Big South Conference Men’s Basketball Preseason Player of the Year by the league’s head coaches, it was announced this morning. Fletcher is the second HPU player in three years to be voted Preseason Player of the Year, and the program’s sixth different honoree.
Fletcher was named to the Collegeinsider.com Lou Henson Early Season Watch List in 2025-26, was the Tournament MVP of the Boardwalk Battle after averaging 22.5 points and 8.0 rebounds and was a two-time Big South Player of the Week honoree.
