CHARLOTTE, NC— The Winthrop men's basketball team has been voted to finish third in the Big South Conference as it released preseason poll, Monday morning its annual Basketball Tip-Off Media Breakfast. Winthrop junior Keon Johnson and sophomore Xavier Cooks earned preseason all-conference honors as well.

The Eagles received three first place votes and a total of 281, finishing 20 points behind Coastal Carolina (picked 2^nd) and 39 points from preseason favorite High Point. Winthrop is coming off a 19-13 season in which it made its second consecutive appearance in the Big South Conference Tournament championship game. There was a log jam in the league standings in 2014-15 and the Eagles finished league play with 12 wins and tied for third place with

Johnson was named to the All-Big South Preseason First Team while Cooks was named to the second team. Johnson, a 2013-14 All-Big South Freshmen Team selection, averaged 11.5 points and is the top scorer returning to the team this year. Cooks, a 2014-15 All-Big South Freshman Team selection, averaged 7.8 points per game and led the team in rebounding at 6.1 per game. Cooks also broke the program's freshman record in total blocks with 47.

Winthrop opens the 2015-16 season on Nov. 14 at 4 p.m. when it hosts Hampton in its annual "Homecoming" game.
 

2015 Big South Preseason Poll/Preseason All-Conference Teams

Rk Team (first-place votes) Points 1. High Point (17) 320 2. Coastal Carolina (10) 301 3. Winthrop (3) 281 4. Radford 188 5. Gardner-Webb 187 6. Longwood 172 7. UNC Asheville 164 8. Charleston Southern (1) 140 9. Presbyterian College 132 10. Campbell 119 11. Liberty 42

First-Team John Brown, High Point, R-Sr., F (6-8, 210 - Jacksonville, Fla.) Elijah Wilson, Coastal Carolina, Jr., G (6-4, 205 - Wilmington, N.C.) DeSean Murray, Presbyterian College, Soph., F (6-5, 225 - Stanley, N.C.) Tyrell Nelson, Gardner-Webb, Jr., F (6-7, 235 - Charlotte, N.C.) Keon Johnson, Winthrop, Jr., G (5-7, 160 - Mansfield, Ohio) Second-Team Lotanna Nwogbo, Longwood, R-Sr., F/C (6-8, 255 - Lithonia, Ga.) Badou Diagne, Coastal Carolina, Sr., F (6-7, 220 - Dakar, Senegal) Adam Weary, High Point, Sr., G (6-3, 205 - Memphis, Tenn.) Xavier Cooks, Winthrop, Soph., G/F (6-8, 185 - Wollongong, New South Wales) D.J. Mason, Campbell, Sr., F (6-6, 220 - Clarkton, N.C.)