BOSTON – Three Southern Conference men’s basketball teams appear in the preseason CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25, the site announced Monday. ETSU leads the way at No. 3, while Furman is ranked 15th and UNC Greensboro is 16th.
The SoCon is one of just two leagues with three teams in the rankings, along with the Mid-American Conference.
ETSU, which went 24-10 overall and 13-5 in the SoCon last season, is the preseason pick to win the league this year. The Bucs return four starters from last season’s squad, which finished 21st in the final mid-major poll and hosted a CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament game.
Furman also returns four starters from its 25-8 team from last season, which matched ETSU in league play at 13-5. The Paladins, who set a school record for wins and appeared in the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time in school history, hosted an NIT game and finished last year ranked No. 17 in the mid-major poll.
UNCG rounds out the SoCon teams in the preseason mid-major poll. The Spartans won a school-record 29 games last year, going 29-7 overall and 15-3 in SoCon play. UNCG was the No. 1 seed in the NIT and finished No. 11 in the final mid-major poll. Junior guard Isaiah Miller is the Preseason SoCon Player of the Year.
Defending SoCon regular-season and tournament champion Wofford, which set a school record with 30 wins and finished No. 2 in last season’s final poll, is receiving votes in the preseason rankings. The Terriers were 30-5 overall and went 18-0 in SoCon play.
The Southern Conference season tips off Tuesday with seven teams in action.
Rk Team (1st) Points
1. Gonzaga (31) 775
2. Saint Mary's 735
3. ETSU 584
4. Vermont 580
5. New Mexico State 578
6. Liberty 576
7. Harvard 555
8. Belmont 405
9. Bowling Green 381
10. Missouri State 374
11. Colgate 313
12. Wright State 303
13. BYU 291
14. UC Irvine 283
15. Furman 234
16. UNCG 227
17. Charleston 214
18. Murray State 196
19. North Dakota State 189
20. Penn 177
21. UCSB 173
22. Buffalo 166
23. Toledo 162
24. Iona 159
25. South Alabama 126
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Hofstra 109, Loyola Chicago 96, Northeastern 94, NKU 91, Radford 89, Bradley 87, UTA 72, Montana 71, Pepperdine 70, Rider 61, Northern Iowa 47, Wofford 42, South Dakota State 34, Santa Clara 29, Yale 28, Kent State 26, Georgia Southern 25, Sam Houston State 25, Drake 24, Eastern Washington 21, Lipscomb 21, Weber State 20, NC Central 19, Stony Brook 19, UIC 17, Bucknell 13, North Florida 11, Akron 7, Ball State 7, Grand Canyon 6, Texas State 6, Abilene Christian 5, UNCW 5, San Francisco 5, Central Michigan 4, Charleston Southern 4, LIU Brooklyn 4, Gardner-Webb 3, Norfolk State 3, Milwaukee 3, Canisius 2, Oakland 2, Prairie View A&M 2.