STANDISH, Maine - The 2015-16 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Men's Basketball Preseason Poll has been released and Saint Joseph's College is ranked fourth with 72 points. The annual poll is voted upon by the league's 10 head coaches.
Led by 13th-year Head Coach Rob Sanicola '99, the Monks return a pair of starters in senior guard Craig Luschenat (Boston, Mass.) and sophomore forward Quinn Richardson-Newton (Saco, Maine), who averaged 8.3 and 9.4 points per game, respectively, last winter. The new season begins tomorrow evening when St. Joe's faces off against Hunter College in the University of New England Tournament in Biddeford. Tip-off is slated for 8:00 PM.
Saint Joseph's completed the 2014-15 season with a 13-14 overall record and a 10-8 mark in GNAC play. As the #4 seed in the conference tourney, the Monks defeated #5 Lasell College, 84-77 in overtime, in a GNAC Quarterfinal on February 24th to advance to the semifinal round for the seventh time in eight seasons as a member of the conference. The campaign came to a close with a semifinal loss at top-seeded Albertus Magnus, a team that proceeded to win its fourth-consecutive GNAC Championship, on February 26th.
Johnson & Wales University received eight first-place votes and 98 points overall to take the top spot in the 2015-16 GNAC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll.
Perennial GNAC power Albertus Magnus College, winners of four straight conference titles, finished second with 90 points in the ledger and a pair of first-place tallies.
Anna Maria College finished in the third spot with 73 points, one point ahead of fourth-place Saint Joseph's College of Maine, while Lasell College rounded out the top-five with 61 points.
Johnson & Wales returns a pair of All-GNAC First Team selections from a year ago in senior guards Tom Garrick and Quarry Greenaway. The backcourt duo combined to average 39.7 points and 14.3 rebounds per game last season en route to a GNAC Championship appearance, where the Wildcats fell to Albertus Magnus, 98-85.
Albertus Magnus, which is receiving votes in the d3hoops.com Top-25 Preseason Poll, last season witnessed four seniors garner All-GNAC honors. The Falcons will go young in 2015-16, boasting a roster of 11 freshmen and sophomores under ninth-year head coach Mitch Oliver.
Making up the remainder of the poll was Emmanuel College with 51 points, Norwich University with 33 points, Mount Ida College with 31 points, Suffolk University with 25 points and Rivier University with 16 points.
The regular season kicks off this weekend with eight GNAC teams in action. The league schedule gets underway on Tuesday, December 8, with the eight-team GNAC Tournament slated to begin with quarterfinal action on Tuesday, February 23.
Founded in 1995, the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 12 member institutions and over 3,000 student-athletes across the New England region. Each year, the GNAC sponsors and administers 17 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunities and community involvement.
2015-16 GNAC Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll:
1. Johnson & Wales (8) - 98
2. Albertus Magnus (2) - 90
3. Anna Maria - 73
4. Saint Joseph's - 72
5. Lasell - 61
6. Emmanuel - 51
7. Norwich - 33
8. Mount Ida - 31
9. Suffolk - 25
10. Rivier - 16
THANKS IN LARGE PART TO GNAC SPORTS INFORMATION OFFICE
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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 474-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.
