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MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
EAST
- Georgia State
- South Alabama
- Coastal Carolina
- Appalachian State
- Georgia Southern
- Troy
WEST
- Little Rock
- Louisiana
- UT Arlington
- Arkansas State
- Texas State
- UL Monroe
NOTES FROM DAVID:
-It is very hard to not be big on this Little Rock team. All five starters are back from last year, and although they won 21 games you got the feeling like they could have won a few more. Markquis Nowell is one of the better players in the conference and he’s got a pretty good supporting cast around him. This is a Little Rock team that we will likely be seeing in the UTR Top 10 for much of the year.
-Georgia State is another team to keep an eye on with a lot of talent and experience coming back from a year ago. They also have some guys that can light it up from the outside.
There appears to be a big drop off after those two. Louisiana and South Alabama are the next two teams in each division. Louisiana had a rough year last year, but with a very strong backcourt coming back along with some solid looking JUCO transfers they should improve by quite a bit. South Alabama appears to be rebuilding with just one starter back and will have to rely on a lot of players who don’t have a lot of experience.
-Texas State has won 20+ games for three straight years, and while they did lose their best player as well as their head coach, it seems like they have enough pieces back to where they should be getting a little more love at media day than what they are getting.
-Coastal Carolina, UT Arlington, Coastal Carolina, and Arkansas State all appear to be destined to finish around the middle of the league. DeVante Jones at Coastal Carolina is one of the better players in the league, but I don’t think they have quite enough pieces to keep pace with Georgia State and Little Rock.
-Georgia Southern has won 20+ games for an impressive three years in a row, but with so much gone from last year’s team they appear to be in complete rebuild mode this year.
-UL Monroe and Troy could be in for long seasons.