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MEDIA DAY PRESEASON COACHES POLL:
- Liberty
- Eastern Kentucky
- Jacksonville State
- Bellarmine
- Lipscomb
- FGCU
- North Florida
- Stetson
- North Alabama
- Jacksonville
- Kennesaw State
- Central Arkansas
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON MEDIA POLL:
- Liberty
- Eastern Kentucky
- Bellarmine
- Lipscomb (tied 3rd)
- Jacksonville State
- North Florida
- FGCU
- Stetson
- North Alabama
- Jacksonville
- Central Arkansas
- Kennesaw State
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL CONFERENCE TEAM:
-Darius McGhee – SR, G – Liberty
-Ahsan Asadullah – JR, C – Lipscomb
-Dylan Penn – Sr, G – Bellarmine
-Braxton Beverly – SR, G – Eastern Kentucky
-Jomaru Brown – JR, G – Eastern Kentucky
-Kevin Samuel – SR, C – FGCU
-Kevion Nolan – JR, G – Jacksonville
-Darian Adams – SR, G – Jacksonville State
-Carter Hendricksen – Jr, F – North Florida
-Rob Perry – Jr, G – Stetson
COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-The conference has bloated out its membership with the additions of Eastern Kentucky, Jax State, and Central Arkansas, and is aggressively looking to expand even more in the future to as many as 16 (or even 17!) full members. Much of this is being done for football purposes. The league currently does not currently sponsor football but plans to do so soon.
-Liberty has been the class of the league the last several years and I do not foresee that changing. They’ve won more than 20 games each of the last five years, including 23 wins last year despite the shortened season. Darius McGee returns as one of the top players in the conference. I don’t know if the Flames are good enough to push for a spot inside the bubble and make the NCAA Tournament if they fail to win the ASun conference tourney, but I do expect them to once again run away from the pack.
-Eastern Kentucky joins the league this year. They won 22 games a year ago and Coach A.W. Hamilton appears to have this program on the rise. Three starters are back, including Braxton Beverly. This is a team that loves to pressure: they can be a lot of fun to watch and at times a big headache to play against.
-Bellarmine is in their second year of transition but is already good enough to make some noise in this league despite the fact that they aren’t full blown D1 yet. The Knights (like Grand Canyon, and Northern Kentucky, and North Dakota State, and several other programs that recently transitioned) could make a lot of noise very quickly once they complete that transition. As for now, it wouldn’t shock me at all if we saw them qualify for the CIT.
-Lipscomb had a so-so 15-win season last year, and with three starters back (including Ahsan Asadullah) we should see improvement this year. They once again look to have both balance and depth.
-If there is a dark horse in this league I think it’s Stetson. The Hatters seemed to play better down the stretch last year than they did out of the gate and have all five starters back. They appear to have a solid backcourt and the overall experience could result in them being successful.
-Jacksonville State is also new to the league: while they are typically a transfer-heavy program where we often see quite a bit of turnover, all five starters are actually back from a season ago. That experience alone is reason for Coach Ray Harper and company to be optimistic about this year.
-I happen to think that Matt Driscoll is a fantastic coach who has done a great job with North Florida, but last year they team went through a bit of a setback where they won just eight games. However, with four starters back and a coach who seems to be able to improve players over time, I expect to see the Ospreys take a big step forward this year.
-The success and excitement of some of those great Dunk City teams feel like they’re a long way away from where FGCU currently is. They were below .500 in conference last year, and have won just ten total games the last two years. Three starters are back along with TCU grad transfer Kevin Samuel in the frontcourt, so hopefully that experience translates into some improvement.
-North Alabama has four starters back but is still going through the growing pains of transitioning. They won just seven games a year ago and could be in for another tough haul this year.
-Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, and newcomer Central Arkansas look to be bringing up the rear. Jacksonville does have some experienced players returning and I would guess they are the best out of this group of three…but I still think they’ll be closer to the bottom of the standings than the top.