The Hatters scored nice respect on the basketball court, even before their seasons begin today. Now, they hope to meet expectations.

The men’s team hosts Webber International at noon at the Edmunds Center on campus. The women’s team follows, scheduled at 2:30.

The Stetson women’s basketball team – defending ASUN regular-season conference champion – has been picked to finish third in the 2017-2018 preseason poll among league coaches. The Hatters were picked second in a media poll.

In addition, senior Sarah Sagerer (Shörfling, Austria) was selected as the ASUN Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, and senior Brittney Chambers (Orlando, Florida) joined Sagerer on the preseason all-conference team.

Sagerer is coming off a junior season in which she earned ASUN Defensive Player of the Year and first-team all-conference honors. She ranked seventh in the NCAA with 100 blocked shots, and she led the league in rebounding (8.8 per game). Offensively, Sagerer averaged 10.4 points per game and scored in double figures 20 times. She also ranked among the league leaders in field-goal and free-throw percentages.

Chambers also had a strong junior campaign. She played in all 33 games, averaging 11.8 points and 3.2 rebounds per game while scoring in double figures 22 times. She hit 48 3-pointers, second-most on the team, and her .795 free-throw percentage ranked third in the conference. In addition, Chambers earned ASUN all-tournament team honors after averaging 12.3 points per game and shooting .521 from the floor during the postseason.

The Hatters were 26-7 last season and were NCAA postseason participants for the seventh consecutive year. Their season begins Nov. 10 at the 5,000-seat Edmunds Center on Stetson’s historic campus in DeLand, Florida.

In men’s basketball, Divine Myles, a senior guard from Mobile, Alabama, was named to the 10-player preseason all-conference team.

Last season, Myles averaged 16.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game while shooting 51 percent overall from the floor, 39 percent from 3-point range and 71 percent at the free throw line. As the team’s leading returning scorer, Myles enters the 2017-2018 season with 1,325 career points and needs 502 more points to become Stetson’s all-time leading scorer.

In addition to Myles, the Hatters feature returning starters Luke Doyle, Angel Rivera and Larry Dennis. Myles and Rivera have the opportunity to cement their status as, statistically, the greatest backcourt tandem in program history. This is Stetson’s 105th season of intercollegiate basketball.

-Michael Candelaria