Men's Hoop Picked Second in Preseason Coaches Poll

The Central Connecticut men's basketball was picked to finish second in the Northeast Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll released on Tuesday.  The Blue Devils received three first place vote in the poll and were second behind St. Francis Brooklyn.  Central was 11-19 overall last season, but returns all five starters in 2014-15.

FULL NEC RELEASE

Senior guard Kyle Vinales was chosen to the Preseason All-Conference Team.  The two-time All-Conference selection enters this season 11th on the all-time CCSU scoring list with 1,514 career points in his first three seasons with the Blue Devils.  He has averaged 19.2 points per game in his career.  Vinales missed 10 games with injury a season ago, and made 10 starts.  Along with seniors Malcolm McMillan and Faronte Drakeford, and junior Brandon Peel and sophomore Matt Mobley and Khalen Cumberlander the Blue Devils return five players who started at least 19 games last season. 

The Blue Devils open the season on Friday, Nov. 14 at 3 p.m. vs. Fairfield in the Annual Connecticut 6 Classic being held at Quinnipiac.

2014-15 NEC PRESEASON COACHES POLL (first place votes in parenthesis)

1. St. Francis Brooklyn (6)
2. CCSU (3)
3. Robert Morris
4. Saint Francis U (1)
5. Mount St. Mary's
6. Bryant
7. Wagner
8. LIU Brooklyn
9. Fairleigh Dickinson
10. Sacred Heart


2014-15 NEC PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM

Kyle Vinales (CCSU)
Dyami Starks (Bryant)
Earl Brown (St. Francis U)
Lucky Jones (RMU)
Jalen Cannon (St. Francis Brooklyn)