MIDDLETOWN, Pa. – On Thursday, Nov. 7, the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) held its first-ever men's basketball opening tip season preview webcast. The broadcast featured all ten head men's basketball coaches answering questions about the upcoming 2013-14 campaign and culminated with the unveiling of the league's preseason rankings.
The poll was voted on by the conference's ten coaches and Penn State Harrisburg was picked to finish ninth of the CAC's ten teams. The full preseason rankings are as follows:
2013-14 CAC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll
|
Team (first-place votes) |
2012-13 Record |
Points |
|
1. St. Mary's (Md.) (9) |
27-4 |
81 |
|
2. Christ. Newport (1) |
22-6 |
71 |
|
3. Wesley |
20-8 |
61 |
|
4. Mary Washington |
14-13 |
57 |
|
5. Salisbury |
19-8 |
55 |
|
6. Marymount (Va.) |
7-18 |
29 |
|
7. Frostburg State |
10-16 |
27 |
|
7. York (Pa.) |
7-19 |
27 |
|
9. Penn St. Harrisburg |
12-15 |
22 |
|
10. Southern Virginia |
17-7 |
20 |
Penn State Harrisburg head coach Don Friday spoke about his expectations for his first season at the helm of the program.
"Right now everybody in our program is really a freshman, in terms of what we're trying to do with our system but I've been really blessed with two guys in Kenny Stone and Will Doyle, our seniors," he said when asked about his squad's preseason progress. "They've really helped make my transition easier and they've been great intermediaries per say with helping me learn our kids, learn their personalities, different motivation points."
"They've really been good in terms of taking the message we're spreading to the locker room, to the court, into the classroom here and just trying to make Penn State Harrisburg a better campus overall," he continued.
Along with Stone (Philadelphia, Pa. / Scotland) and Doyle (Franklin, Va. / Tidewater Academy), Friday mentioned newcomers Winton Lyle (Washington, D.C. / Bullis School), Logan Stovall (Palmyra, Pa. / Palmyra Area) and Marquese Daniels (Wyncote, Pa. / Philadelphia Electric & Technology Charter) as players he expects to make an impact on the court this year.
As far as Friday's thoughts on Penn State Harrisburg's transition to the new conference and the league's prowess as a whole, he had nothing but good things to say about the CAC and the competition it provides.
"What I do see in this league is the depth…the footprint of the league is terrific because it's going to be able to allow us all to recruit some different areas…and the whole strength of the conference affiliation, to be able to say you can package great academics with a top flight athletic conference, every one of us is going to make our programs better," he said.
To view Thursday's webcast in its entirety, click here.
Penn State Harrisburg's upcoming campaign gets underway next weekend when the Lions take part in Gettysburg's Tip-Off Tournament. The Blue & White open the tourney by facing DeSales on Friday night, Nov. 15.