The 2016-17 Women's Basketball USA South preseason coaches poll saw the Piedmont College Women's Basketball team earn the No. 2 pick in the West Division standings. Each coach only votes for teams in their division with head coaches not voting for their own teams. This year the conference welcomes new league members Agnes Scott College, Salem College and Wesleyan College.
The Lady Lions are coming off a stellar 20-8 campaign in 2015-16 making it all the way to the USA South title game before losing to eventual champion Maryville. Piedmont had a remarkable 14-game win streak through the season including going a perfect 8-0 during the month of January.
Coming in atop the USA South West Division poll was Maryville College (48 points), the four-time defending USA South regular season champions and 2016 Tournament Champions. The Scots had six of the eight first place votes in the West Division poll with Piedmont taking the other two first place votes. Coming in behind Piedmont (43 points) was LaGrange College in third place with 36 points.
Covenant College placed fourth in the poll (29 points) with Huntingdon College (27 points) rounding out the top five. The three newcomers to the league fill the final spots with Salem in sixth (20 points), Agnes Scott in seventh (14 points) and Wesleyan in eighth (seven points).
Greensboro College, under the direction of eight-year Head Coach Randy Tuggle was picked to be the East Division favorite. The Pride finished last season in the fourth spot of the USA South standings and were bounced from the Conference Tournament in the first round.
The women's basketball regular season gets underway on Tuesday, Nov. 15 as nearly all of the League's 16 teams are in action.
The 2017 USA South Tournament will once again take place on campus sites. The top-six seeded teams from each division will advance to the tournament. The top-two overall seeds from each division will host first and quarterfinal matches on Friday, Feb. 17 and Saturday, Feb. 18. The winners of the quarterfinal contests will travel to the highest remaining seed who will host the semifinals and finals to be played on Feb. 24-25.
