UNC Greensboro was picked to win the Southern Conference’s men’s basketball North Division title and defending league champion Davidson was named favorite to repeat as South Division champion in a vote of the conference’s 11 head coaches.
UNC Greensboro, which posted a 16-14 record (12-6 in SoCon play) a year ago earned 10 of 11 first-place votes. Coaches were not permitted to vote for their own teams. Appalachian State (25-8, 15-3 in 2006-07), which set a school record for victories last season, earned one first-place vote and is picked to finish second in the North Division. Following the Spartans and Mountaineers are Western Carolina (11-20, 7-11), Chattanooga (15-18, 6-12) and Elon (7-23, 5-13).
Defending league champion Davidson (29-5, 17-1) earned 10 first-place votes. Georgia Southern (15-16, 7-11) is predicted to finish second in the South Division. College of Charleston earned one first-place vote and is picked for third place followed by Wofford (10-20, 5-13), Furman (15-16, 8-10) and The Citadel (7-23, 4-14).
Most Valuable Player at the 2007 SoCon Tournament, Davidson’s Stephen Curry was named the preseason Player of the Year by the coaches. Curry led the league in scoring (21.5 ppg) as a freshman and helped lead the Wildcats to the NCAA Tournament.
Davidson had three players voted on to the preseason all-conference squad. In addition to Curry, guard Jason Richards and forward Thomas Sander were named to the team by the conference coaches. Wofford had two players, guards Shane Nichols and Drew Gibson, recognized. Appalachian State (Donte Minter), College of Charleston (Jermaine Johnson), Georgia Southern (Louis Graham), UNC Greensboro (Kyle Hines) and Western Carolina (Nick Aldridge) had one player each named to the preseason squad.
Southern Conference Coaches Predicted Order of Finish
(Coaches were not permitted to vote for their own teams)
North Division
Team (First Place Votes) - Total Votes
UNC Greensboro (10) - 60
Appalachian State (1) - 47
Western Carolina - 42
Chattanooga - 35
Elon - 26
South Division
Team (First Place Votes) - Total Votes
Davidson (10) - 60
Georgia Southern - 48
College of Charleston (1) - 43
Wofford - 35
Furman - 24
The Citadel - 15
First place votes in parenthesis.
Preseason Player of the Year
Stephen Curry, Davidson
Preseason Coaches All-SoCon Team
Stephen Curry (Davidson)
Kyle Hines (UNC Greensboro)
Nick Aldridge (Western Carolina)
Louis Graham (Georgia Southern)
Jason Richards (Davidson)
Donte Minter (Appalachian State)
Jermaine Johnson (College of Charleston)
Thomas Sander (Davidson)
Shane Nichols (Wofford)
Drew Gibson (Wofford)