D-I Preseason Poll: Gamecocks Rolling
General News
| California
| Chapman
| Georgia Tech
| South Carolina
| Arizona
| Arizona State
| Boston College
| BYU
| Cal Poly
| Clemson
| Colorado
| Concordia
| Connecticut
| Florida State
| Grand Canyon
| Liberty
| LSU
| Michigan State
| Minnesota
| New Hampshire
| Oregon
| Santa Clara
| Stanford
| Utah Valley
| Virginia Tech
ATLANTA – After winning its first MCLA Division I national championship last spring, South Carolina has been installed as the favorite in the 2020 New Balance Division I Preseason Coaches Poll, which was released on Wednesday.
The Gamecocks (21-2 in 2019) captured 19 of the 24 first-place votes to retain a 14-point edge over their closest competition. South Carolina will open the season in Baton Rouge, La., with games against No. 25 LSU (7-8) and Texas A&M (2-0 in 2020).
California (17-1), which fell to South Carolina in the 2019 title game, is comfortably in second place. The Golden Bears grabbed the remaining five first-place votes and were 28 points clear of third-ranked Chapman (17-3).
Georgia Tech (18-2) is No. 4 after advancing to the national semifinals last spring.
The SELC, which sent four teams to nationals in 2019, has four teams ranked in the Top 10 as No. 5 Liberty (16-2) and No. 8 Florida State (9-7) join the Gamecocks and Yellow Jackets.
2020 New Balance MCLA Division I Preseason Poll
| RANK | TEAM | POINTS | 1st VOTES |
| 1. | South Carolina | 591 | 19 |
| 2. | California | 577 | 5 |
| 3. | Chapman | 549 | |
| 4. | Georgia Tech | 531 | |
| 5. | Liberty | 489 | |
| 6. | Colorado | 487 | |
| 7. | Arizona State | 424 | |
| 8. | Florida State | 418 | |
| 9. | New Hampshire | 412 | |
| 10. | Cal Poly | 388 | |
| 11. | Concordia-Irvine | 362 | |
| 12. | Michigan State | 338 | |
| 13. | Brigham Young | 281 | |
| 14. | Virginia Tech | 269 | |
| 15. | Connecticut | 266 | |
| 16. | Utah Valley | 206 | |
| 17. | Santa Clara | 190 | |
| 18. | Clemson | 163 | |
| 19. | Arizona | 151 | |
| 20. | Minnesota | 150 | |
| 21. | Grand Canyon | 113 | |
| 22. | Boston College | 86 | |
| 23. | Oregon | 76 | |
| 24. | Stanford | 59 | |
| 25. | LSU | 47 |
Others receiving votes: Washington (43), USC (32), UC Santa Barbara (30), Texas A&M (21), Colorado State (17), Northeastern (16), Texas (8), Sonoma State (4), Florida (3), Simon Fraser (2), Indiana (1).