HELENA, Mont. – The Frontier Conference has released its 2026-27 men's and women's basketball preseason coaches' polls. Both the Carroll College men's and women's basketball teams were selected fourth in the preseason tally by the league's 12 coaches.
Coming off a pair of NAIA tournament appearances, both the Carroll men and women were selected fourth in the initial poll by the league's coaches.
Both sides lost some of the most productive players in the Frontier Conference from last season, but head coaches Rachelle Sayers and Dan Pearson are both excited about their 2026 recruiting classes, with multiple players they believe will step in and contribute right away.
The Carroll women (19-11, 17-5) finished in a tie for third with Rocky in the 2025-26 final standings and enter this year in the four-spot behind preseason favorite Dakota State, Rocky and Montana Tech. All four teams were participants in last year's national tournament, and all appear primed for a return trip should they make it through one of the nation's most competitive conference slates with similar records.
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The Carroll men (20-10, 17-5) finished in a tie for second place in last year's final standings with Bellevue, yet find themselves at No. 4 in the preseason poll behind Rocky, Bellevue and Montana Tech. Carroll enters the season off the heels of its first NAIA tournament appearance under head coach Dan Pearson and has multiple All-Frontier selections returning to the lineup looking to advance even further in 2026-27.
Both the men and women will officially begin their seasons this weekend, each playing a pair of nonconference games. The men will head to California for matchups with Stanton and Hope International, while the women head to Spokane for the Northwest Crossover, where they will compete against CCC schools Eastern Oregon and Evergreen State.
The 22-game Frontier Conference schedule – 11 games at home and 11 games on the road – will begin in mid-November and run through February.
The Frontier Conference basketball postseason tournament is scheduled for Feb. 26-March 1, 2027, at the Butte Civic Center in Butte, Mont. The women's basketball postseason tournament kicks off its quarterfinals round on Saturday, Feb. 27 (four games), followed by the semifinals on Sunday, Feb. 28, and the championship game on Monday, March 1, at 8:30 p.m. (Central Time)/7:30 p.m. (Mountain Time).
The league awards two automatic bids to the NAIA national tournament, with the first automatic bid to the regular-season title winner. The second automatic berth will be awarded to the Frontier Conference tournament champion. In the event the regular-season champion is the tournament champion, the second berth will be awarded to the tournament's runner-up.
2026-27 Frontier Conference women's basketball coaches' preseason poll
2026-27 Frontier Conference men's basketball coaches' preseason poll
First-place votes are listed in parentheses.
Be sure to visit www.carrollathletics.com later this week for a season preview for both teams and for complete coverage of the Fighting Saints all season long.
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