Central Arkansas picked to win UAC in preseason men’s basketball poll

CONWAY, Ark. — Central Arkansas went from the bottom of one preseason poll to the top of another in a year.

The United Athletic Conference released its first preseason men’s basketball coaches poll Wednesday, and UCA came out on top.

Four coaches put the Bears first. Nobody else got that many first-place votes.

John Shulman hasn’t forgotten last fall’s poll.

“Last year we were picked at the bottom of the league and we did not listen,” Shulman said.

It’s a brand-new league, so every team’s starting from scratch this winter. Somebody had to be picked first.

Anderson’s back from Utah State

Two UCA players made the 10-member Preseason All-UAC Team.

Tucker Anderson is one of them. The 6-foot-10 senior forward spent the last two seasons at Utah State.

His numbers with the Aggies were modest. Anderson played 25 games last season with eight starts and averaged 3.4 points and 1.7 rebounds in 11.8 minutes.

When he got the chance, he shot it well. He hit 40.8 percent from the field and 36 percent from 3.

The coaches still put him on the preseason team before he’s played a minute in his second run with the Bears.

“It has been great to have Tucker back at Central Arkansas,” Shulman said. “A lot of people remember Tucker from when he was here in 2023-24.”

Robinson filled up the box score

Ty Robinson’s spot is a lot easier to explain.

As a redshirt freshman, he started all 34 games and averaged 14.2 points and 5.6 rebounds.

His season totals were 483 points, 189 rebounds, 69 assists, 65 steals and nine blocks.

Nine blocks is the only number on that list that won’t scare anybody.

Robinson shot 47.2 percent overall, 37.4 percent from deep and 76.7 percent at the line.

Nobody on UCA made more 3-pointers than his 76. He led the team in steals too, along with 56 offensive rebounds and 133 defensive rebounds.

That season got him on the All-ASUN Second Team and the All-ASUN Freshman Team. Now the redshirt sophomore has a preseason honor to go with them.

“Great for Ty to get recognized,” Shulman said.

The poll had a few quirks

The vote at the top wasn’t exactly lopsided.

Little Rock got three first-place votes and still finished third.

Austin Peay got two and finished second. Blame the rest of the ballots for that.

Little Rock also landed three players on the All-UAC squad, the most of any school. The Bears and Austin Peay each had two.

Shulman’s team ignored the poll last year when nobody expected much. Now UCA gets to see how it handles the No. 1 spot.

Tuning out the praise is the next trick for the Bears.