2016-17 Men's Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team Announced
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Winthrop senior guard Keon Johnson (Mansfield, Ohio) has been voted the Big South Conference Men’s Basketball Preseason Player of the Year by the league’s head coaches and media panel, it was announced today at the conference’s Basketball Tip-Off Media Luncheon at the Embassy Suites Hotel and Convention Center in Concord, N.C. Johnson is the first Winthrop player to earn the preseason honor since Torrell Martin in 2006-07.
Johnson is coming off a season where he was a First-Team All-Conference selection after averaging 18.7 points, including 20.2 in Big South play. Last year’s runner-up for the Player of the Year award, he was the Big South’s third-leading scorer in 2015-16 and was second in league-game scoring. A three-time Big South Player of the Week selection a season ago, Johnson was the first Winthrop player to average 20.0 points in Big South games, and finished the year with 13 20-point efforts, including five games with 30 points. He shot 45.1 percent overall from the floor, was 78-of-199 from three-point range ( =39.2 percent) and was an 83.3 percent shooter from the charity stripe in 2015-16. Johnson, named NABC First-Team All-District 3 last season, also averaged 4.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists for the Eagles. He poured in 10 three-pointers and 36 points in a victory at Charleston Southern last season, and made at least four 3-pointers in a game seven times. His 165 free throws were the most in the conference as well as the second-highest total in Winthrop history. Johnson received 19 of the 30 first-place votes and finished with 284 points in the balloting to earn the top spot on the preseason All-Conference team.
2016-17 Big South Conference Men’s Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team
First-Team
Keon Johnson, Winthrop, Sr., G
Tyrell Nelson, Gardner-Webb, Sr., F
Xavier Cooks, Winthrop, Jr., G/F
Chris Clemons, Campbell, Soph., G
John Dawson, Liberty, R-Sr, G
Second-Team
Ahmad Thomas, UNC Asheville, Jr., F
Armel Potter, Charleston Southern, Soph., G
Kevin Vannatta, UNC Asheville, Jr., G
Miles Bowman Jr., High Point, R-Sr., F
Ed Polite Jr., Radford, Soph., F
Nelson was an All-Conference and All-Tournament team honoree last season for the Runnin’ Bulldogs. He averaged 14.2 points, 7.6 rebounds and shot 55.9 percent from the field. Nelson was second in the Big South with 12 double-doubles, as well as second in rebounding and third in field goal percentage. He averaged 19.0 points and 10.0 boards in the Big South Tournament.
Cooks earned Second-Team All-Conference honors a year ago after being an All-Freshman Team selection in 2015. He scored 14.5 points and grabbed 6.9 rebounds last season, and contributed 49 blocks and 49 assists. Cooks posted a 52.5 field goal percentage and shot nearly 40.0 percent from beyond the arc. He averaged 17.0 points and 8.3 rebounds in the Big South Tournament.
Clemons was the 2015-16 Big South Freshman of the Year as he ranked fourth in the conference with 18.5 points per game and was tops with 3.07 three-pointers per outing. His 84.4 free throw percentage was second in the league, and he ranked in the top 10 in steals, three-point percentage and field goal percentage. Clemons also earned Second-Team All-Conference accolades last season.
Dawson earned Honorable Mention All-Conference honors in his first year at Liberty last season. He paced the Flames with 13.4 points and 5.3 rebounds, and finished with 17 double-figure scoring games. Dawson had 20 points at Longwood and a career-high 22 points vs. Radford, and hit the game-winning layup against High Point on Jan. 23.
The Preseason All-Conference Second-Team features two members of last year’s All-Tournament Team (Thomas, Bowman), two All-Freshman Team members from last season (Potter, Polite), and a 2015 All-Freshman Team honoree (Vannatta).