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MEDIA DAY PRESEASON COACHES POLL:
- Liberty
- Jacksonville
- Jacksonville State
- FGCU
- North Florida
- Lipscomb
- Bellarmine
- Kennesaw State
- Austin Peay
- Eastern Kentucky
- Central Arkansas
- Stetson
- Queens
- North Alabama
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON MEDIA POLL:
- Liberty
- Jacksonville
- Jacksonville State
- FGCU
- Bellarmine
- Kennesaw State
- North Florida
- Lipscomb
- Austin Peay
- Eastern Kentucky
- Central Arkansas
- North Alabama
- Stetson
- Queens
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL CONFERENCE TEAM:
-Darius McGhee – SR, G – Liberty
-Kevion Nolan – SR, G – Jacksonville
-Ahsan Asadullah – SR, C – Lipscomb
-Camren Hunter – SO, G – Central Arkansas
-Michael Moreno – JR, F – Eastern Kentucky
-Chase Johnston – JR, G – FGCU
-Chris Youngblood – JR, G – Kennesaw State
-Kyle Rode – SR, F – Liberty
-Carter Hendricksen – SR, F – North Florida
-Jose Placer – JR, G – North Florida
COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-After winning 19 D1 games last season, and finishing first in the ASun, Liberty is the hands-down preseason favorites this year, and if anyone in this league can put together the kind of season to get inside the bubble, it is them. Four starters are back, including Darius McGhee, who was actually the nation’s leading scorer last year. They are strong both in the backcourt and the frontcourt. This could be a fun team to watch, and it would not shock me at all if they ran away from the rest of the conference.
-Jacksonville also returns four starters, and they finished just 1 game behind Liberty last year, so that experience should help them. I cannot quite see them keeping pace with Liberty, but having said that, they were able to do it last year.
-Jax State had the unique distinction of being one of the very few teams in the history of college basketball to earn an automatic bid without actually winning a conference championship. They fell to Bellarmine in the championship game last year, but because Bellarmine was not eligible for the NCAA Tournament due to transitioning, Jax State got the bid. This year is a complete rebuild. All five starters are gone, but they have hit the transfer portal and have some players coming in from power conferences who probably left in the hopes of getting more minutes.
-Pat Chambers begins his era at FGCU this year, and he has a pretty good team to work with. Three starters are back, along with some pretty good transfers who should give them some quality play.
-Bellarmine won the conference tournament a year ago, and should have gone to the NCAAs, but was not eligible to do so, and unfortunately for them still is ineligible. They have certainly proven themselves to be assimilated to playing at the D1 level. They are going through a bit of a rebuilding year, but they should still finish in the top half of the league.
-Kennesaw State has all five starters back, and that experience alone should help them. They had their best season last year in at least five years, and it really was not even close. It will be interesting to see if they can take another big step forward this year.
-I like Matt Driscoll as a coach and am a little surprised that North Florida has been able to hold on to him. Having said that, he has his work cut out for him this year. Four starters are back, and that experience should help them, but they won just 5 D1 games last year and were totally off the rails down the stretch.
-Lipscomb was another team that totally crashed in the second half of conference play, but they did seem to pull it together in the final few weeks. They won three of their last four before falling to Liberty in a close game in the conference tournament, so with three starters back we may see some improvements.
-Austin Peay is new to the league and has four starters back from a year ago. The expectations for the Govs are still low though. I do not think they will finish near the top, but I do think they will do better than 9th. I am a little surprised they were picked to finish this low.
-Eastern Kentucky had an unspectacular debut in the ASun last year, and it looks like it might be more of the same for them this year. They did sign a pretty good freshman PG in Leland Walker, so that should give them some much needed help in the backcourt.
-Central Arkansas has finished outside the KenPom top-300 in three of the last four years, and is not expected to do much better this season.
-North Alabama, Stetson, and Queens (who is new to D1), will all likely struggle to finish in the top ten.