Friday, November 11, 2011

MACON, Ga. - Seven games are slated for the opening night of men's basketball in the Atlantic Sun on Friday including two showdowns with top-25 ranked opponents. Last season, the A-Sun finished the season ranked as the 17th-best RPI conference as eight teams equaled or improved their RPI from 2009-10.

This season, the A-Sun looks to continue that progress as USC Upstate and FGCU are completely eligible for postseason play after a four-year transitional period from Division II to Division I. Adding to the mix, three new head coaches will grace the A-Sun sidelines as Casey Alexander (Stetson), Lewis Preston (Kennesaw State) and Andy Enfield (FGCU) lead their new programs this season.

Seven A-Sun men's basketball contests are schedules to be shown on ESPN Networks, while six games will be broadcasted on ASun.TV.

Atlantic Sun Opening Week Notes:
• Last season, eight Belmont student-athletes averaged at least five points per game with Ian Clark (12.2), Mick Hedgepeth (10.8) and Scott Saunders (9.9) leading the way. Belmont lost two players from last year’s squad; Jon House and Jordan Campbell.

• ETSU’s trip to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament Semifinials was the furthest an A-Sun team has progressed in postseason play since 1987. The Bucs defeated Furman and Ohio before falling to Iona.

• Andy Enfield enters his first season as the frontman at FGCU after being introduced as the second coach in program history. Enfield comes to Fort Myers after serving as an assistant coach at Florida State for the past five seasons, where he helped the Seminoles to three-straight NCAA Tournament Appearances.

• Jacksonville defeated East Carolina in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament last season, which made JU the first A-Sun team since 1996-97 to earn postseason victories in back-to-back seasons as the Dolphins defeated Arizona State in the 2010 NIT.

• Head Coach Lewis Preston enters his first season as the Kennesaw State frontman as he was introduced as Kennesaw State’s fourth head coach in program history. Preston previously served at Penn State, Florida and Notre Dame.

• Lipscomb has posted a winning record in A-Sun play in seven-straight seasons. Over that time, LU has failed once to reach double-digit conference wins (2007-08) when they posted a 9-7 league mark. Since joining the conference, the Bisons have failed to post a winning overall record only once - their first year in the league.

• For the third-straight season, Mercer hosts the General Shale Brick Basketball Championships at the University Center. As a six-seed in 2010, Mercer defeated No. 3 Belmont and No. 2 Jacksonville to reach the Championship Final, while last season the Bears made a return visit to the semifinals.

• The core of North Florida returns with six of the top-seven scorers looking to capitalize on last year’s postseason run. Jerron Granberry and Parker Smith led the team in scoring at 12.0 points per outing with Andy Diaz (10.6) and Jimmy Williams (8.4) chipping in for the Ospreys.

• Torrey Craig, the 2011 Freshman of the Year, was selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team as one of four unanimous selections. Craig averaged a team-high 14.4 points per outing and turned up his production in conference play with 16.4 each contest.

• Casey Alexander takes over as Stetson head coach after spending the past 16 years working the sidelines at Belmont as an assistant and associate head coach, where he helped the Bruins to the NCAA Tournament in four of the past six seasons.

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