Big South Announces 2017-18 Men's Basketball Preseason Awards
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Campbell junior guard Chris Clemons (Raleigh, N.C.) has been voted the 2017-18 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 Renaissance Suites Hotel in Charlotte, N.C. Clemons is the first Camel to be named Preseason Player of the Year in the award’s history (since 1996-97).
Clemons is coming off a 2016-17 season in which he finished as the nation’s second-leading scorer with 25.1 points per game, in addition to Big South First-Team All-Conference, All-Academic and All-Tournament accolades. A Second-Team NABC All-District 3 honoree, Clemons set a school and Big South-record with 51 points in Campbell’s Big South quarterfinal win over UNC Asheville. He finished the year with 904 points, 118 three-pointers and helped the Camels advance to the quarterfinals of the CollegeInsider.com postseason tournament (CIT). Clemons added 4.6 rebounds, was an 82.5 percent free throw shooter and recorded 1.9 steals per game in 2016-17. He shattered the Big South Tournament record for total points (140) and led CU to its first Big South final since 1994 and the program’s first postseason bid in 25 years. Clemons, a Collegeinsider.com Lou Henson Mid-Major All-America Team selection last year, averaged 31.3 points in three CIT games en route to CIT All-Tournament honors. He needs 540 points to become the first Big South junior to reach 2,000 career points, and received 16 first-place votes and 258 total points in the voting to earn the top spot on the preseason All-Conference team.
2017-18 Big South Conference Men’s Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team
First-Team
Chris Clemons, Campbell, Jr., G, 5-9, 185 (Raleigh, N.C.)
Xavier Cooks, Winthrop, Sr., G/F, 6-8, 185 (Wollongong, Australia)
Ahmad Thomas, UNC Asheville, Sr., F, 6-3, 215 (Danville, Va.)
MaCio Teague, UNC Asheville, Soph., G, 6-3, 190 (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Christian Keeling, Charleston Southern, Soph., G, 6-4, 175 (Augusta, Ga.)
Second-Team
Ed Polite Jr., Radford, Jr., F, 6-5, 200 (Lanham, Md.)
Ryan Kemrite, Liberty, R-Sr., G/F, 6-4, 200 (Conroe, Texas)
David Efianayi, Gardner-Webb, R-Jr., G, 6-2, 190 (Orlando, Fla.)
Kevin Vannatta, UNC Asheville, Sr., G, 6-2, 200 (Upper Arlington, Ohio)
Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz, Liberty, Soph., G, 6-1, 170 (Ponce, Puerto Rico)
Cooks is a two-time All-Big South selection and was a member of the 2017 Big South All-Tournament Team. The seventh player in Big South history with 1,000 points, 700 rebounds and 150 blocks, he averaged 16.5 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.7 blocks as a junior last season -- including 19.7 points and 13.0 rebounds in the 2017 Big South Tournament.
Thomas was the 2016-17 Big South Defensive Player of the Year in addition to First-Team All-Big South and NABC All-District 3 honors. He ranked third in the league with 18.0 points, was seventh with 6.6 rebounds and finished second with 99 steals (3.0 per game). Thomas is 11 steals shy of becoming just the sixth player in Big South history with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 200 steals.
Teague was the 2016-17 Big South Freshman of the Year and was named to the Collegeinsider.com Kyle Macy Freshmen All-American Team. He also garnered First-Team All-Big South and NABC All-District 3 recognition. Teague averaged 15.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists in his first season in Asheville.
Keeling was runner-up for Big South Freshman of Year honors in 2016-17 after he set the CSU freshman scoring record with 539 points. The only freshman in the nation to lead his team in scoring (17.3) and rebounding (7.1), Keeling posted six double-doubles and had five games with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
The Preseason All-Conference Second-Team features one Second-Team All-Conference honoree from a year ago (Kemrite), two Honorable Mention All-Conference selections (Polite and Efianayi), an All-Freshman team member (Pacheco-Ortiz) and the Big South’s NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Representative (Vannatta).