Radford Selected as 2018-19 Men's Basketball Preseason Favorite
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Defending Big South champion Radford University has been chosen as the favorite in the Big South Conference’s annual men's basketball preseason poll for the 2018-19 season. The announcement was made today at the Renaissance Suites Hotel in Charlotte, N.C., as part of the league’s 2018-19 Basketball Tip-Off Media Luncheon.
The Highlanders are the preseason favorite for the first time since 2009-10. Radford collected 28 of the 33 first-place votes cast and finished with 357 points in the preseason ranking. RU returns three starters and eight letterwinners from a squad that went 23-13 overall, tied for second in the Big South at 12-6, and won an NCAA Tournament game. This is the sixth time that the Highlanders are the Big South’s men’s basketball preseason favorite, as the five previous times were 1985-86, 1987-88, 1998-99, 1999-00 and 2009-10.
Winthrop (two first-place votes) finished in second with 280 points, while new member Hampton (two first-place votes) claimed third with 253 points. Campbell was fourth with 239 points, followed by Charleston Southern in fifth at 231 -- the Buccaneers’ first preseason Top 5 since 2014-15. Gardner-Webb landed in the sixth spot with 230 points and received the remaining first-place vote, followed by High Point in seventh (192 points) and UNC Asheville in eighth (151). Presbyterian College totaled 104 points for ninth, Longwood was 10th (77 points) and new member USC Upstate finished 11th (64 points).
Big South basketball tips off Tuesday, Nov. 6 with nine games. The first conference date is Saturday, Jan. 5, and the season culminates with the 2019 Big South Men's Basketball Championship the week of March 5-10.
2018-19 Men's Basketball Preseason Poll
| Rk - Team (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1 - Radford (28) |
357 |
| 2 - Winthrop (2) |
280 |
| 3 - Hampton (2) |
253 |
| 4 - Campbell |
239 |
| 5 - Charleston Southern |
231 |
| 6 - Gardner-Webb (1) |
230 |
| 7 - High Point |
192 |
| 8 - UNC Asheville |
151 |
| 9 - Presbyterian College |
104 |
| 10 - Longwood |
77 |
| 11 - USC Upstate |
64 |
Note: points are based on a weighted system. First-place votes received 11 points, followed by 10 points for second-place, and so on.