Georgia State’s back-to-back defending Sun Belt champion Men’s Basketball team has been selected to finish second in the conference, according to the coaches preseason polls.
UL Lafayette, lead by senior star forward Shawn Long, was selected to win the conference. Long was also selected as the preseason conference player of the year.
The Panthers finished the 2014-15 season 25-10, which included a 15-5 Sun Belt record and clinched their first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2001 by winning the conference title game over in-state rival Georgia Southern. At the NCAA tournament, Georgia State defeated the No. 3 seeded Baylor Bears before losing to Xavier in the round of 32 teams.
This season, the Panthers have three preseason All-Sun Belt players: Kevin Ware, Markus Crider and Jeremy Hollowell. Crider is the team’s leading scorer and rebounder that is returning from last season. Ware led the team scoring wise in last season’s conference title game. The 2015-16 season will be Hollowell’s first with the Panthers, one year after transferring from Indiana University’s historic program.
All 11 coaches in the Sun Belt voted for their preseason first, second and third teams along with their preseason rankings.
The Men’s Basketball program season begins Nov. 13 against Middle Georgia College in the GSU Sports Arena.
Here are the results from the voting, courtesy of Georgia State Sports Communications.
(First place votes in parenthesis)
| Rank | Team | Points (1st Place Votes) |
| 1 | UL Lafayette | 119 (9) |
| 2 | Georgia State | 108 (2) |
| 3 | UL Monroe | 97 |
| 4 | Arkansas State | 71 |
| 5 | Little Rock | 68 |
| 6 | Appalachian State | 64 |
| 7 | South Alabama | 56 |
| 8 | UT Arlington | 48 |
| Texas State | 48 | |
| 10 | Georgia Southern | 28 |
| 11 | Troy | 19 |
Preseason First Team All-Conference
Anthony Livingston (Arkansas State, Jr., F, Interdisciplinary Studies)
Shawn Long (UL Lafayette, Sr., F/C, General Studies)
Ken Williams (South Alabama, Junior, Guard, Interdisciplinary studies)
Emani Gant (Texas State, Senior, Forward)
Wesley Person (Troy, Sophomore, Guard, Global Business)
Preseason Second Team All-Conference
Frank Eaves (Appalachian State University, Senior, Guard, Management)
Markus Crider (Georgia State, Senior, Forward, Speech)
Kevin Ware (Georgia State, Senior, Guard, Religious Studies)
Josh Hagins (Little Rock, Senior, Guard, Health Science)
Majok Deng (UL Monroe, Senior, Forward, General Studies)
Preseason Third Team All-Conference
Jeremy Hollowell (Georgia State, RS-Junior, Forward, Interdisciplinary Studies)
Roger Woods (Little Rock, Senior, Forward, Criminal Justice)
Devonta Walker (UL Lafayette, Sr., F, General Studies)
Jay Wright (UL Lafayette, Jr., G, General Studies)
Nick Coppola (UL Monroe, Junior, Guard, Risk Management and Insurance)
Preseason Student-Athlete of the Year
Shawn Long (UL Lafayette, Sr., F/C, General Studies)
