High Point Voted 2024-25 Men's Basketball Preseason Favorite
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) –
High Point’s men’s basketball program has been chosen as the favorite in the Big South Conference’s annual preseason poll for the 2024-25 season, it was announced this morning.
The Panthers are the preseason favorite for the first time since 2015-16, as the voting panel of head coaches and media bestowed 17 of the 18 first-place votes and 161 total points upon High Point. HPU returns four starters and eight letterwinners from a squad that won a school Division I record 27 overall games last season, was the Runner-Up of the College Basketball Invitational postseason tournament, and won the Big South Regular-Season title with a 13-3 record. This is the third time the Panthers are the Big South’s men’s basketball overall preseason favorite, as the two previous times were 2007-08 and 2015-16 (High Point was the top North Division pick in 2013-14).
Winthrop followed in second-place with 134 points and the remaining first-place vote, followed by defending Big South Champion
Longwood in the third spot with 121 points.
UNC Asheville landed in the fourth position with 104 points, with
Charleston Southern in fifth-place with 98 points.
Gardner-Webb was sixth with 63 points, ahead of
Radford (56 points).
Presbyterian College (eighth, 54 points) and
USC Upstate (ninth, 19 points) round out the men’s preseason rankings.
The college basketball season tips off Monday, Nov. 4. The first conference date is Thursday, Jan. 2, as the teams will play a 16-game schedule in 2024-25. The season culminates with the 2025 Hercules Tires Big South Men's Basketball Championship March 5-9 at Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City, Tenn.
| Rk - School (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1 - High Point (17) |
161 |
| 2 - Winthrop (1) |
134 |
| 3 - Longwood |
121 |
| 4 - UNC Asheville |
104 |
| 5 - Charleston Southern |
98 |
| 6 - Gardner-Webb |
63 |
| 7 - Radford |
56 |
| 8 - Presbyterian College |
54 |
| 9 - USC Upstate |
19 |
Note: points are based on a weighted system. First-place votes received 9 points, followed by 8 points for second-place, and so on.