MONTICELLO – The University of Arkansas at Monticello men’s basketball team has been picked to finish fourth in the Gulf South Conference West Division.
 
UAM, which finished fourth last year, ended the season with a loss to GSC East champ North Alabama in the quarterfinals after beating Montevallo in the opening round of the GSC Championship Tournament.
 
The votes were spread apart for UAM, which returns seven lettermen (three starters). UAM received one first place vote, three second place votes, and one vote each for fifth, sixth an seventh places.
 
Ouachita Baptist was voted the pre-season favorite, followed, in order, by Christian Brothers, Delta State, UAM, Harding, Arkansas Tech, Southern Arkansas and Henderson State.
 
Senior center Raymond Wright (New York, N.Y.) was named to the five-member pre-season All-GSC West team. Wright is UAM’s returning leading scorer at 16 points per game during the 2007-08 season. Wright also led the team in rebounding with an average of 9.4 boards per contest.
 
Wright joins Christian Brothers’ Nick Kohs, Delta State’s Earnesto Green and Ouachita Baptist’s Ed Keyes and Jaranimo Marks as this season’s pre-season picks.
 
The Weevils open their season on Tuesday, November 11 in the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer against the University of Massachusetts. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.

FULL GSC PRE-SEASON RELEASE (PDF)