NEWTOWN, Pa.– Today, the Middle Atlantic Conference Office released the Preseason Men's Basketball Polls for the upcoming season. MAC Commonwealth coaches picked the defending champion Eastern University Eagles as the favorites for the upcoming season. The Eagles secured five of the seven available first-place votes to finish just ahead of Hood College in the Poll.
In winning a pair of post-season games on the road, the Eagles took a tough road to the 2024 Championship. After beating Hood, 86-72, in the Semifinal, the Eagles turned the tables on an experienced Widener team who had handed them a pair of ugly losses in the regular season with a 98-69 win in the Championship game. Widener and Hood claimed at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament.
The Eagles were picked second in each of the last two league polls and were selected ninth in 2021-22. In the program's 16 seasons in the MAC, Eastern has never been picked to win the league.
To follow through on the favorable forecast, the Eagles will have to overcome teams from Hood and York that bring back nearly their entire line-up and re-built and reloaded groups from Widener and Alvernia. They will also need to overcome history. Over the last seven seasons, the MAC Commonwealth has had seven different champions.
The 2024-25 Eagles will feature a decent amount of known and considerably more unknown. While the Eagles have hovered near the top of the league for the past three seasons, they have seen four 1000-point scorers graduate.
Jaron Fairweather and
Kaeshawn Ward both averaged over 32 minutes per game and the duo, along with fellow seniors
Kevin Reeves, and
Eljay Morris set the tone at both ends of the floor. The four averaged nearly 45 points per game.
The Eagles do return
Zubair Lee and
Arkese Claiborne from the group that started int he stretch run. Lee, a junior, is back after a very productive summer and looks to build on his 17 and 10 numbers from last year. He led the MAC Commonwealth in rebounds and free throw attempts. Claiborne looks poised to step into a more assertive role in the offense while continuing to bring length and experience to Eastern's defense.
Davin Hernandez and
Nick Mate both had big days shooting the ball and figure to see more minutes and shots this year.
Olise Onyeka and
Brian Jackson will likely contribute next to Lee on the front line, and
DaRon Sherman and
Dominic Sarigumba both took steps forward at the lead guard role.
In addition to expected growth from returners, the Eastern coaching staff is excited about the potential of their rookie group.
"Those guys are going to be very good," Pruessner said. "and we will get contributions this year, but we will need veteran leaders to take us where we want to be. We believe we put together a schedule that will prepare us for the grind of the league. There are no night's off in our league. It's fun to be picked first, and we appreciate that there is a respect for what we are building, but being picked first won't win a single game for us. We spent the last six years chasing. We know how hungry we were and expect that every team in the league will have that same drive."
League coaches gave Hood three first-place votes and picked the Blazers second. York finished third in the poll followed by Widener, Alvernia, Albright, Stevenson, and Messiah.
The Eagles will open the season against Roanoke at the Shenandoah Tip-off Tournament on Nov. 9. The Eagles open their league schedule against Stevenson on January 8.
