CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The UNC Asheville men's basketball team was picked to finish in second place in the Big South Conference's annual preseason poll for the 2009-10 season in a vote of the league's head coaches and media panel.
Radford, last year's Big South regular-season and tournament championship, received 23 of 24 first-place votes and 239 out of a possible 240 points to repeat in 2009-10. The Bulldogs were picked ninth in last year's poll but finished fourth with a 10-8 league record. Asheville was selected second with 191 points. It is the Bulldogs' highest placement in the preseason poll since being tabbed the favorite in 2002-03.
"I'm OK with being picked second," stated Bulldog coach Eddie Biedenbach. "It's nice to be picked high because it gets people excited about our basketball program. It also says that the experts and other schools have some respect for our program.
"However, we have a lot of work to do before we can even think about finishing that high," added Biedenbach. "Our league is really balanced this year from top-to-bottom. We have a nice team coming back but so does everyone else. You also have schools that have players sitting out that are going to be eligible this year that will make a big difference."
Winthrop was third in the voting with 179 points and receiving the remaining first-place vote, while Gardner-Webb was fourth with 42 points.
VMI is predicted fifth (125 points), just ahead of No. 6 High Point (124 points). Liberty finished seventh in the poll at 119 points, followed by Coastal Carolina at No. 8 (118 points). Charleston Southern came in at No. 9 (53 points). Presbyterian, not eligible for this year's tournament, received the 10th and final spot in the poll with 42 points.
The Bulldogs return three starters and eight lettermen from last year's club that went 15-16. Junior forward John Williams is Asheville's leading scorer as he averaged 12.9 points per game. He was also the Bulldogs top rebounder with a 6.6 mark. Williams also blocked 76 shots.
Asheville also brings back sophomore guard Matt Dickey, who made the Big South All-Rookie team last season. Dickey averaged 10.9 points per game. The lone senior back is 6-6 guard Sean Smith. The senior guard averaged 10.8 points last season and knocked down a team-leading 74 treys.
The Bulldogs will be presented to the public this Friday night at Jammin' at the Justice that will run from 6-7 p.m. Asheville's only exhibition game will be on Nov. 9 against Brevard at Justice Center. The Bulldogs open the season at Charlotte on Nov. 13.
Courtesy: UNC Asheville
