The Lions’ leading scorer from last year, Brian Edwards, returns along with three of the other top five scorers from the 2013-2014 campaign. Edwards and the Lions were picked to finish 9th in the league in the USA South preseason poll released Wednesday.
Fayetteville, N.C. – The Piedmont College men’s basketball team was tabbed to finish ninth in the USA South preseason poll which was released earlier Wednesday. The poll, as voted on by the 11 men’s basketball coaches in the league, had the Lions earning 33 points to edge out Covenant and William Peace.
Maryville College was selected as the preseason favorite for the second year in a row receiving 10 of the 11 available first place votes and earned a perfect 100 as coaches are not allowed to vote for their own team. The Scots won the regular season league title but were booted from the conference tournament in the first round in the 2013-2014 season.
The Lions return 13 players from last year’s roster including all five starters from the end of the 2013-2014 season and four of the top five scorers from a season ago. Head Coach Greg Neeley enters his second season at the helm after boosting the Lions win total by nine games in his first year and leading the team to finish two spots ahead of the original preseason ranking.
Taking the other available first place vote was Averett who came in second in the poll with 82 points, while rounding out the top five were Ferrum in third place with 76 points, N.C. Wesleyan in fourth with 73 points and taking the final spot in the top five was LaGrange with 65 points.
Spots six through eight were only separated by 5 points as Greensboro came in sixth with 44 points, Huntingdon took seventh with 42 points and Methodist was picked to finish eighth with 39 points. Piedmont was selected ninth followed by Covenant with 30 points and William Peace in 11th with 21 points.
The Lions will begin the 2014-2014 season with a non-counting exhibition against Division I Mercer University on November 14 at 7 p.m. in Macon, Georgia. The Bears are a season removed from a trip to the NCAA Tournament round of 32 after defeating the third-seeded Duke Blue Devils in the opening round for the program’s first NCAA tournament win. Piedmont will begin the regular season just four days later on November 18 on the road at Presbyterian College.
The USA South conference championship tournament will again be on campus and hosted by the higher seed for all three rounds of the tournament. The tournament will begin on Thursday, February 26, 2015 and conclude on Saturday, February 28, 2015. The top eight seeded teams at the end of the regular season will advance to the tournament.
