TRAFFORD, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - After going 24-4 last season and winning its first Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Men's Basketball championship a season ago, Geneva College was selected as the favorite when the league's preseason poll results were announced Tuesday morning.

Voted on by the conference's 11 head coaches, the preseason poll, as well as the league's Players to Watch list was also released Tuesday.

Geneva was picked first on 10 coaches' ballots and scored 100 points to secure the top spot in the balloting. Entering his 29th year as head coach of the Golden Tornadoes, Jeff Santarsiero was selected as the 2024 PAC Coach of the Year for the first time in Geneva's 13-year tenure in the conference. He led the GTs to a 24-4 record, including an 18-2 mark in the PAC, before wins over Grove City College in the semifinals and Saint Vincent College in the championship game to earn the PAC crown and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Geneva would fall to the University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) in the first round of NCAAs, 97-83.

Taking second in this year's preseason poll was last season's runner-up, Saint Vincent. The Bearcats, who put together an impressive 23-5 record last year which included a bid to the ECAC Tournament, earned the final first-place vote and 85 points. Third place in the poll went to Chatham University, as the 2023 PAC champions finished 18-9 a season ago and totaled 75 points.

Waynesburg University posted 67 points to come in fourth place, while Washington & Jefferson College was fifth with 63. They were followed by Grove City in sixth (58), Bethany College in seventh (46), Thiel College in eighth (31), a tie between Franciscan University and Westminster College for ninth (28) and Allegheny College (24).

This year's Players to Watch list includes four First Team All-PAC players from a season ago, six others who earned all-conference and the PAC Newcomer of the Year. Defending champion Geneva brings back a pair of First Team All-PAC players in graduate student Ryan Rachic and senior guard/forward Trevor Tipton. The pair led the GTS in scoring last season with Rachic averaging 15.9 points per game, while Tipton averaged 15.8. In addition, Rachic averaged a team-high 7.5 rebounds per game and Tipton led the PAC in three-point percentage (45.0) and threes per game (2.8).

Last season's PAC Defensive Player of the Year will be back on the floor for Waynesburg in graduate student Antone Baker, who was also a First Team All-PAC selection. The 6-5 forward excelled on the defensive end of the floor, leading the PAC with 49 blocks and 1.9 rejections per game, while also ranking seventh with 1.7 steals per game. In addition to his defensive work, Baker also led Waynesburg in scoring (17.9), rebounding (8.0) and field goal percentage (56.1).

The PAC's top scorer from last season was W&J junior Alex Acosta and he returns to lead the Presidents. The 6-6 forward earned First Team All-PAC after scoring 18.4 points per game to lead the conference. Acosta was also the league leader in field goal percentage at 62.1 percent, ranked fourth with 8.6 boards a game and blocked 1.5 shots per contest to rank sixth.

For the first time in their program's history, Franciscan had the PAC Newcomer of the Year in guard Sawyer Butler, who is back for his sophomore campaign. Butler made an immediate impact for the Barons, as his 64 steals set a new single-season program record and also tied for the most in the PAC. In addition, his 2.91 steals per game average ranked first in the league and seventh in all of NCAA Division III. Additionally, Butler led the Barons in scoring with 15.0 points per game, most by any freshman in the conference.

This will be the second season the PAC will play a six-team PAC Championship Tournament with the top two seeds receiving byes. This year's conference postseason will tip off on Tuesday, February 25 with its quarterfinal round. The semifinals are scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 27 and this year's championship game is slated for Saturday, March 1.

This year's championship tournament winner will receive the league's automatic qualifying bid to the Division III Championship. Team selections for the Division III Championship are scheduled to be announced Monday, March 3, with first and second round matchups scheduled for Friday-Saturday, March 7-8.  
 

2024-25 PAC Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll
School (first-place votes)	Points	2023-24 Record (PAC)
1. Geneva College (10)	100	24-4 (18-2 PAC)
2. Saint Vincent College (1)	85	23-5 (17-3 PAC)
3. Chatham University	75	18-9 (15-5 PAC)
4. Waynesburg University	67	14-12 (11-9 PAC)
5. Washington & Jefferson College	63	9-16 (8-12 PAC)
6. Grove City College	58	14-13 (9-11 PAC)
7. Bethany College	46	9-17 (8-12 PAC)
8. Thiel College	31	8-17 (7-13 PAC)
T9. Franciscan University	28	8-16 (5-15 PAC)
T9. Westminster College	28	10-14 (8-12 PAC)
11. Allegheny College	24	6-19 (4-16 PAC)

2024-25 PAC Men's Basketball Players to Watch

1 = 2023-24 First Team All-PAC / 2 = Second Team / HM = Honorable Mention
Allegheny
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Ht.	Hometown/High School
Luke Barker	Sr.	G	6-1	New Castle, Pa./Struthers (Ohio)
Ryan Lang	Jr.	G	6-0	Sarver, Pa./Knoch

 

Bethany
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Ht.	Hometown/High School
Will Brooks	So.	G	6-4	Rock Hill, S.C./Northwestern
Cole Dailey (2)	Jr.	F	6-6	East Liverpool, Ohio/East Liverpool
Ben Guffey	So.	G	6-1	Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park
Troy Hixson	Jr.	G	6-1	Grove City, Ohio/Bishop Ready
Colin Meany	So.	G	6-0	Fairview Park, Ohio/Fairview Park

 

Chatham
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Ht.	Hometown/High School
Simon Boyer (2)	Sr.	G	6-3	Hampton, Va./Hampton Roads Academy
Blaine Gartley	Sr.	G	5-10	Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon
Diaun Pinkett (2)	Jr.	G	6-1	McKees Rocks, Pa./Montour
Luca Robinson	Grad.	F	6-4	Los Angeles, Calif./Hart
Lovenson Xavier	Jr.	G	6-2	Naples, Fla./Community School of Naples

 

Franciscan
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Ht.	Hometown/High School
Sawyer Butler	So.	G	6-2	Beaver, Pa./Beaver
Karl Yonkeu	So.	F	6-4	Manchester, N.H./Holy Family Academy
Josh Zimmerman	Grad.	G	6-3	Steubenville, Ohio/Steubenville
Travis Zimmerman	Jr.	F	6-6	Wheeling, W.Va./Wheeling Park

 

Geneva
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Ht.	Hometown/High School
Jonathan Bertovich	Jr.	G	5-9	East Palestine, Ohio/Heartland Christian
Mark Rachic	Sr.	G	6-1	Prince Frederick, Md./Calvert
Ryan Rachic (1)	Grad.	F	6-5	Prince Frederick, Md./Calvert
Trevor Tipton (1)	Sr.	G/F	6-4	Glenside, Pa./Philmont Academy
Payton Triplett	Sr.	C	6-5	Uniontown, Ohio/Lake Christian

 

Grove City
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Ht.	Hometown/High School
Jonah Bock	Sr.	G	6-1	Erie, Pa./McDowell
Isaac Cherry	So.	F	6-6	Cleveland, Ohio/Nordonia
Mike Christenson	Jr.	G	6-5	Oakton, Md./Trinity
Chase Yarberough (2)	Sr.	G	6-2	Lititz, Pa./Warwick

   

Saint Vincent
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Ht.	Hometown/High School
Mike Iuzzolino (HM)	Sr.	G	6-1	Sewickley, Pa./Canterbury-Conn.
Osyon Jones	Grad.	G/F	6-4	Orlando, Fla./Bishop Moore
Dev Ostrowski (2)	Jr.	G	6-3	East Lyme, Conn./East Lyme

 

Thiel
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Ht.	Hometown/High School
Jonah Biggers	So.	F	6-4	Baltimore, Md./Calvert Hill
Mike Brown	Jr.	G	5-10	Clinton, Md./Gwynn Park
Marlon Ellerbee	Grad.	G	6-1	Temple Hills, Md./Oxon Hill

     

W&J
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Ht.	Hometown/High School
Alex Acosta (1)	Jr.	F	6-6	Acworth, Ga./North Cobb
Matthew Carte	So.	G	6-2	Ravenswood, W.Va./Ravenswood
Brandon Jakiela	Jr.	G	6-3	McDonald, Pa./South Fayette
Nathan Plotner	So.	F	6-7	Parkersburg, W.Va/Parkersburg South
Matt Seidl	Jr.	G	6-3	Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills

     

Waynesburg
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Ht.	Hometown/High School
Antone Baker (1)	Grad.	F	6-5	Maple Heights, Ohio/Maple Heights
Jaylen Davis	Sr.	F	6-7	Cleveland Heights, Ohio/Cleveland Heights
Korey Mitchum	Sr.	G	6-2	McHenry, Md./Southern Garrett
PJ Suggs	Sr.	F	6-4	Twinsburg, Ohio/Twinsburg

 

Westminster
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Ht.	Hometown/High School
Jaxon Hendershott	Jr.	G	6-0	Salem, Ohio/West Branch
Mick Hergenrother	Jr.	G	6-0	Canfield, Ohio/Cardinal Mooney