TAMPA, Fla.— The Warner Royals are the pick of The Sun Conference men’s basketball coaches to win the 2019-20 regular-season championship. But the verdict was not a decisive one as Ave Maria came in just one point shy of the Royals in the balloting of the 10 Sun head coaches. 
 
The fact that the Royals and Gyrenes were fighting for the top spot comes as no big surprise as Warner is the defending TSC regular-season champ and Ave Maria won the 2018-19 conference tournament title.  Both teams represented The Sun Conference in last March’s NAIA Division II Championship Tournament. Southeastern also was part of the 32-team NAIA field as an at-large selection.
 
Warner (21-11 last season) garnered the top spot with a total of 71 points, with Ave Maria (23-9) right behind at 70 points and Coastal Georgia (17-14) sitting in third with 62 points.  Ave Maria collected the most first-place votes with four but Warner added five second-place votes to its two first-place ballots to allow it to slip by the Gyrenes in the poll.  Coastal Georgia, runnersup in the conference tournament title game last year against Ave Maria, received three first-place votes and Southeastern picked up the remaining one (coaches are not allowed to vote for their own teams).
 
Keiser placed fourth in the voting with 55 points, while Southeastern and St. Thomas tied for fifth with 49. Thomas (31), Florida Memorial (27), Webber international (22) and Johnson & Wales (14) rounded out the poll standings.
 
Warner captured the 2018-19 regular-season title with a 14-4 TSC mark and split a pair of regular-season matchups with its rivals from Ave Maria as each team won on its home court. The Gyrenes finished league play at 13-5, tying for the second-best conference mark with Southeastern.
 
Warner will be led into the 2019-20 campaign by sophomore guard D.J. Mercer who was one of five Royals to average in double figures last season with a mark of 12.7 points per game. Mercer led the team in assists with 3.7 per contest and was one of three players to play in all 32 games.
 
Sean Hanrahan enters his 13^th season as head coach at Warner. He has directed the Royals to three national tournament appearances in the last four seasons.
 
  
2019-20 Sun Conference Men’s Basketball Preseason Coaches’ Poll (first-place votes)
Warner                        71 (2)
Ave Maria                    70 (4)
Coastal Georgia          62 (3)
Keiser                          55
Southeastern              49 (1)
St. Thomas                  49
Thomas                       31        
Florida Memorial        27
Webber Int’l                22
Johnson & Wales        14