The Piedmont College men's basketball team was picked to finish 11th of 11 teams earlier today as the USA South Athletic Conference released its preseason poll. The USA South poll, as voted on by the 11 coaches of men's basketball in the league, had the Lions earning just 14 total points in the poll to take the final poll spot.
Maryville College, who finished 7th in last year's final regular season standings, was picked to win the league in 2013-14 accumulating 93 total points in the poll to take first place. The Scots picked up a half dozen first place votes while four of the five remaining top place picks went to the teams who finished 2nd and 3rd in the poll, Ferrum College and LaGrange College, who earned 85 and 78 points respectively.
Piedmont returns six from the 2012-13 squad that was forced to cancel the remainder of its season after only seven games due to injuries and player dismissals. The Lions do return a pair of starters in Alton Honors and Jessie Jenkins for the 2013-14 season which will be the first for new Head Coach Greg Neeley who is fresh off a USCAA National Championship run at his last post, Warren Wilson College, where he led the Owls to a 19-10 record in just one year.
In 4th place in the poll was Greensboro with 73 points followed by Methodist University who had 68 points. North Carolina Wesleyan, who earned the final first place vote, was 6th in the poll with 67 points with a 30-point separation coming after the Battling Bishops in the poll as two tied for 7th place, Averett and Covenant (37 points each).
The poll was finished out by Huntingdon in 9th place (28 points), William Peace in 10th place (25 points), and the Lions who took the final place in the poll.
Piedmont begins the 2013-14 season with a non-counting exhibition against NCAA Division I member Kennesaw State University on November 4th. The Lions start regular season play 11 days later when they travel to play in the prestigious Shrine Tournament hosted by Marietta College. The USA South Championship Tournament will be held at the home of the top seed in the event at the end of the regular season on the final weekend of February in 2014.
Fans will be able to follow all home action this season live on the Mane Event Broadcasting Network which will provide video broadcasts of all home contests. WCON's Michael Harvey will once again provide radio broadcasting for the Lions basketball team with coverage found both on the radio as well as online at wconfm.com.
Saturday
July 5th, 2025
7:59PM
