JU Picked Second, UNF Gets a First-Place Vote in the ASUN Men's Poll — and Both Open the Season Monday
ASUN coaches voted Jacksonville University second behind defending champion Queens and gave North Florida a first-place vote of its own, in a league cut from 12 teams to eight. The Dolphins open Monday at home against Paine College; the Ospreys open on the road at California Baptist.
Two of the three teams that drew first-place votes in the ASUN men's basketball preseason poll are in Duval County. Coaches voted Jacksonville University to finish second behind defending champion Queens in the poll released October 27, the Florida Times-Union reported: the Dolphins received two first-place votes to five for the Royals, and the University of North Florida received the remaining first-place support.
The predicted order behind Queens and JU is Lipscomb, Bellarmine, Florida Gulf Coast, Stetson, UNF and West Florida, in a league reduced from 12 teams to eight this season. The coaches' optimism is a scoring bet: JU returns starting guards Hayden Wood and Evan Sterck, who combined for 18.4 points per game last season with Wood leading the Dolphins at 11.8, and coach Jordan Mincy added Stetson's leading scorer from last season, Jamie Phillips Jr., who scored 16.0 per game. UNF returns Episcopal graduate Kent Jackson at 14.8 points per game, second only to Phillips among the conference's leading returning scorers — though the coaches, in what the Times-Union called an oversight, did not name Jackson to the preseason all-conference team.
Wood and Phillips made the preseason all-conference team for JU. Stetson's Collin Kuhl, who averaged 13.1 points and 6.3 rebounds for the Hatters, is the preseason Player of the Year, and Queens' Avantae Parker, at 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game, is the preseason Defensive Player of the Year.
Both Jacksonville programs open the season Monday, November 2: JU at home against Paine College, and UNF on the road at California Baptist. JU tied for seventh in the ASUN last season at 7-11 in league play and UNF finished 11th at 5-13 — records the coaches are betting both teams leave behind in the smaller league.
