STEPHENVILLE - When the Lone Star Conference announced the preseason polls for the upcoming basketball season Thursday afternoon, Tarleton State was named the favorites of the LSC by a slim margin.

The Texans, coming off a 27-6 season in which they were the co-champions of the Lone Star Conference, edged out Midwestern State by seven points in the preseason polls to earn the top spot.

Tarleton and Midwestern each received 12 first-place votes, but the Texans totaled 269 points in the voting while the Mustangs only received 262 - making them No. 1 and No. 2 in the polls, respectively.

Following Tarleton and Midwestern in the polls were West Texas A&M, who received four first-place votes, and Incarnate Word in the No. 3 and No. 4 spots, respectively. Cameron was picked to finish fifth.

Rounding out the polls were Texas A&M-Kingsville at No. 6, Abilene Christian at No. 7, Angelo State at No. 8, Texas A&M-Commerce at No. 9 and Eastern New Mexico at No. 10. Angelo State received the only other first-place vote.

Also, West Texas A&M senior Donald Sims was tabbed as the Preseason Player of the Year after averaging 14.1 points and 9.3 rebounds per game last season for the Buffs. Four other players also received one vote each.

The Texans are set to open their season Nov. 12 at 8 p.m. with a home game against Southwestern Assemblies of God.