ETSU men’s basketball team was voted to win the North Division for their fifth straight share of the title. The Bucs were overwhelmingly picked in the Coaches Preseason Poll and the Preseason Media Poll.
“High expectations are good, because that means you have good players and you’ve accomplished something,” ETSU basketball coach Murray Bartow told reporters in Spartanburg, S.C., on Monday. “But I think this league is very good and has a lot of quality players, so nothing is going to come easy.”
Bucs’ point guard Tim Smith was picked as the Preseason Player of the Year. Smith averaged 17.7 points and was named the Southern Conference’s Most Outstanding Tournament Player for the second year in a row. He received all first place votes on 44 ballots turned in by the media.
Chattanooga was picked to finish second in the North Division with Elon and UNC-Greensboro following behind in votes. In the South Division Davidson was picked to win the division ahead of Georgia Southern. Davidson finished in a three-way tie for the South Division championship with College of Charleston and Georgia Southern.
Brendan Winters was the runner-up for the preseason player-of-the-year pick. Winters, a guard at Davidson weas selected to the first team All-SoCon selection along with Smith last season.
“We have a team that is practicing good,” Smith said Tuesday. “We won’t know how good we are until we start playing.”
Women’s
The men’s side is not the only action at ETSU this basketball season. The women’s basketball team has been picked to finish third in the Preseason Coaches Poll.
Senior Tiffani Mayes who was selected to the Preseason Coaches Team will lead the Lady Bucs. Mayes led the league in rebounding and was second in scoring average in the 2003-04 season.
Chattanooga is picked to finish first for the 2004-05 season again. The Lady Mocs received 10 of 11 first place votes. UTC returns six players from last years SoCon Championship team. Katasha Brown won the preseason honors for the Women’s Player of the Year. Brown was last years Most Outstanding Player in the SoCon Tournament.
Furman was chosen second returning 11 players from last season’s squad.
ETSU’s men’s and women’s teams will host a Fan Appreciation Day on Sunday at Brooks Gym at 4 p.m. The event will be free to the public and both teams will scrimmage. On Oct. 30 the Blue-Gold scrimmage game will be held at 3p.m. in Brooks Gym.

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