Fairfield Chosen as Men's Basketball Favorite
MAAC Sports
EDISON, N.J. - Fairfield University, in search of its first league title since 1997, is the preseason favorite to win the 2011 MAAC Men's Basketball Championship, according to the MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
Fairfield received six of the first-place votes and 96 points, followed by reigning three-time champion Siena College, which received three first-place votes and 91 points. Saint Peter's College picked up the remaining first-place mark and finished in third with 77 points. Iona College followed in fourth place with 73 points, while Rider University took fifth with 51 points. Loyola University Maryland received 47 points to finish sixth, followed by Canisius College (45 points) in seventh, Niagara University (40) in eighth, Manhattan College (19) in ninth and Marist College (11) in 10th to round out the poll.
Last season, the Stags made their first appearance in the MAAC Championship final since 2003 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2010 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. Fairfield returns three starters from that squad, including preseason All-MAAC First Team pick Derek Needham. Needham, the 2010 MAAC Rookie of the Year, finished fourth on the MAAC scoring chart last season with 16.4 points per game while dishing out 5.2 assists per outing. Also returning this season is senior forward Yorel Hawkins, who only played 19 games last season due to a knee injury. At the time of his injury, he was tied for second on the team in both points (14.6 ppg) and rebounds (5.5 rpg). Head coach Ed Cooley will also look to seniors Greg Nero, Warren Edney and Lyndon Jordan as well as junior Ryan Olander and sophomore Colin Nickerson to help lead the squad to the top of the MAAC standings.
Siena returns two starters and 11 letterwinners after capturing its third consecutive MAAC Championship crown and a spot in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship. The Saints, who averaged a league-high 75.1 points per game last season, will be led by seniors Ryan Rossiter and Clarence Jackson. Rossiter recorded 13.8 points and a league-best 11.1 rebounds per game during his junior campaign, while Jackson averaged 13.6 points per game and shot over 35 percent from three-point range. Head coach Mitch Buonaguro will also rely on the efforts of juniors Kyle Downey, Kyle Griffin and Owen Wignot along with sophomore O.D. Anosike as the Green and Gold look to become the first program in MAAC history to win four straight MAAC championship titles.
|
2010-2011 MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll
|
|
1.
|
Fairfield (6)
|
96
|
|
2.
|
Siena (3)
|
91
|
|
3.
|
Saint Peter's (1)
|
77
|
|
4.
|
Iona
|
73
|
|
5.
|
Rider
|
51
|
|
6.
|
Loyola
|
47
|
|
7.
|
Canisius
|
45
|
|
8.
|
Niagara
|
40
|
|
9.
|
Manhattan
|
19
|
|
10.
|
Marist
|
11
|