RAMS RANKED 10th IN NAIA PRESEASON POLL
October 26, 2009

Complete Poll

FORT WORTH, TX:  The NAIA has released its preseason men’s basketball national poll, and the Texas Wesleyan University men’s basketball team checked in at number 10.

Texas Wesleyan has become a constant player on the national level under the guidance of head coach Terry Waldrop.  Waldrop has guided the Rams to the third most wins by a four-year institution in the State of Texas over the last five years (114), trailing only the University of Texas (129) and Texas A&M University (119).  The Rams have made the NAIA National Tournament field in three of the last four years, winning the title in 2006, and reaching the Sweet 16 in 2009.

The team will have a new look this season with the departure of four seniors including 1st-team All-American Chris Berry.  However, Coach Waldrop and Associate Head Coach Brennan Shingleton have reloaded with a very talented recruiting class that includes three NCAA Division I transfer-students.  Jeremy Smith (DeSoto, TX), a 5’11” junior guard, joins the team from neighboring UT-Arlington.  Jeremy Havard (Houston, TX), is a 6’8” junior forward out of Houston Baptist University.  Jeremy Mayfield (Irving, TX), is a 6’10” junior forward that played his first two seasons at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

The Rams, who were ranked 10th in the final 2009 coaches’ poll, will open the season with a pair of neutral site games on November 6 and 7.  They will tip off the season against Evangel University at 6:00 p.m. on the 6th, and then take on LSU-Shreveport on the 7th.  Both of those games will be played on the campus of Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie, TX.  The home fans will get their first look at the new team when they host Sterling College in the Sid Richardson Center on Saturday, November 14, at 7:30 p.m.