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October 25, 2007
High Hopes for Rhody Hoops; Picked 2nd
The days of URI hoops being an also-ran in the Atlantic 10 could be over. The Rams were picked second in the A-10 at today's media day in Atlantic City, NJ. Rhody received five first place votes to finish behind clear favorite Xavier.
Will Daniels was an A-10's first-team pick in the vote by the league's coaches and selected media members. The league does not pick a pre-season Player of the Year but Daniels, a senior forward, is a leading contender for that award.
Here is the A-10's official release..
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - For the second consecutive year, Xavier is the overwhelming choice as the team to beat in the Atlantic 10 men's basketball race, according to a poll of the Atlantic 10's head coaches and media released at today's Media Day at Boardwalk Hall, the site of the 2008 A-10 Championship.
The Musketeers received 42 of the 59 first-place votes cast by the panel of coaches and media members. Xavier (25-9/13-3) returns three starters from last year's team which shared the regular season title with Massachusetts and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Leading XU will be senior guards Drew Lavender (11.2 ppg., 4.8 apg.) and Stanley Burrell (12.4 ppg., 2.4 apg.), who were named to the preseason All-Conference first- and second-teams, respectively. The Musketeers have won 20 or more games in ten of the last 11 seasons and have advanced to the NCAA Tournament in six of the past season years.
Rhode Island garnered five first-place votes and placed second in the preseason poll. The Rams (19-14/10-6) welcome back four starters and 95.5 percent of the team's scoring from a year ago, including first-team preseason All-Conference pick Will Daniels (17.4 ppg., 5.6 rpg.) and junior guard Jimmy Baron (14.6 ppg., 2.2 rpg.), who led the A-10 with 97 three-point field goals a year ago.
Saint Joseph's (18-14/9-7) was tabbed third and will be led by preseason first-team selection Ahmad Nivins (16.6 ppg., 7.6 rpg.), who led the Conference in field goal percentage (.631) last season. Fordham (18-12/10-6) earned a pair of first-place votes and was chosen fourth, the highest the Rams have been selected in the preseason since joining the Conference in 1995-96.
Led by first-year head coach Rick Majerus, Saint Louis (20-13/8-8) was selected fifth in the poll, while Dayton (19-12/8-8) garnered a pair of first-place votes and was tabbed for seventh. Defending A-10 champion George Washington (23-9/11-5) was picked seventh, while 2007 regular season co-champion Massachusetts (24-9/13-3) received a first-place vote and was selected eighth, followed by Temple (12-18/6-10), Charlotte (14-16/7-9), Duquesne (10-19/6-10), Richmond (8-22/4-12), La Salle (10-20/3-13) and St. Bonaventure (7-22/4-12).
In that same poll, the coaches and media selected the preseason All-Conference teams. The first-team is comprised of Daniels, Lavender, Nivins, Fordham's Bryant Dunston and Brian Roberts of Dayton. The second-team consists of Burrell, Temple's Dionte Christmas, the 2007 recipient of the Chris Daniels Most Improved Player Award and the league's leading scorer (20.0 ppg.), Maureece Rice of George Washington and teammates Tommie Liddell and Kevin Lisch of Saint Louis. On the third team are Pat Calathes of Saint Joseph's, Massachusetts' Gary Forbes, Leemire Goldwire of Charlotte, Stout and Temple's Mark Tyndale.
The preseason All-Defensive team consists of Lisch, Dunston, Stout and teammates Kieron Achara and Shawn James of Duquesne. The All-Rookie team is comprised of George Washington's Xavier Alexander, Lavoy Allen of Temple, Dante' Jackson of Xavier, Charlotte's Phil Jones and Chris Wright of Dayton.
Posted by Kevin 
at 11:55 AM | Permalink
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