CHARLOTTE, NC—The Winthrop men's basketball team has been selected as a unanimous choice to win the Big South Conference in 2016-17 and senior
Keon Johnson was voted as the Preseason Player of the Year, as announced at Big South Media Day Tuesday afternoon.
Winthrop received all 30 first-place votes and became the first unanimous preseason favorite since the 2006-07 Winthrop team. The Eagles were also the unanimous favorite in 2005-06. It is just the fourth time in league history a team was a unanimous vote as the preseason favorite and it's the third time the unanimous preseason favorite also had the preseason player of the year as the Eagles had both in 2005-06 and 2006-07. Torrell Martin was selected as the Preseason Player of the Year in both seasons.
Junior
Xavier Cooks joined Johnson on the Preseason All-Conference First Team. Johnson averaged 18.7 points per game last season, which tied for the fourth best scoring average in the program's history. He did become the first ever Eagle to average 20 or more points per game in league play (20.2). Cooks averaged 14.7 points and a team-high 7.1 rebounds. He was also second on the team in blocks with 54 and fourth in the league with 1.69 blocks per game.
Last season the Eagles were 23-9 on the year and tied for first place in the league with a 13-5 mark as they earned the top-seed for the conference championship tournament. Winthrop advanced to its third straight Big South Title game but fell 77-68. Johnson and Cooks are two of three returning starters for the Eagles, who return three experienced front court players.
Liberty was voted to finish second followed by defending tournament champion Asheville, Gardner-Webb, High Point, Radford, Charleston Southern, Campbell, Longwood and Presbyterian College.
| Rk |
School (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1. |
Winthrop (30) |
300 |
| 2. |
Liberty |
236 |
| 3. |
UNC Asheville |
227 |
| 4. |
Gardner-Webb |
218 |
| 5. |
High Point |
182 |
| 6. |
Radford |
128 |
| 7. |
Charleston Southern |
121 |
| 8. |
Campbell |
101 |
| 9. |
Longwood |
82 |
| 10. |
Presbyterian College |
55 |
Note: points are based on a weighted system. First-place votes received 10 points, followed by 9 points for second-place, and so on.
2016-17 Big South Conference Men's Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team
First-Team
Keon Johnson, Winthrop, Sr., G
Tyrell Nelson, Gardner-Webb, Sr., F
Xavier Cooks, Winthrop, Jr., G/F
Chris Clemons, Campbell, Soph., G
John Dawson, Liberty, R-Sr, G
Second-Team
Ahmad Thomas, UNC Asheville, Jr., F
Armel Potter, Charleston Southern, Soph., G
Kevin Vannatta, UNC Asheville, Jr., G
Miles Bowman Jr., High Point, R-Sr., F
Ed Polite Jr., Radford, Soph., F
