Men's Basketball | 10/31/2023 3:30:00 PM

MELBOURNE, Fla. - With the 2023-24 season less than two weeks away, the Sunshine State Conference released their Preseason Men's Basketball Coaches Poll where the league coaches predicted an eighth-place finish for Barry University.

The men enter the new campaign following a 12-14 season, going 8-12 in the Sunshine State Conference to qualify for the SSC Tournament. The Bucs return three mainstays from last season's starting lineup in Nick Anderson, James Montgomeryand Malik Stanley. Stanley represents the top returning scorer after averaging 13.6 points last year with a league-leading .889 free throw percentage while adding a team-best 3.3 assists and 5.9 rebounds that leads the returners. Montgomery started a team-high 25 games last season with an 11.1 points per game rate on a .503 field goal percentage while Anderson chipped in 13.1 points and shot a SSC-best .445 from beyond the arc.

Defending National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II Champions Nova Southeastern and Florida Southern both received 94 total votes to tie for first in the preseason poll, with FSC garnering six first-place nods versus five for Nova Southeastern. Embry-Riddle rounds out the top three in the poll with 78 votes.

Barry opens the season at home, hosting the University of Alabama-Huntsville and the University of Montevallo for the Gulf South Conference (GSC)/ SSC Crossover on Friday, Nov. 10 and Saturday, Nov. 11. UAH enters the season on the heels of a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II South Regional Final run. The Bucs begin SSC play on Wednesday, Nov. 29 at home against Palm Beach Atlantic with a 7:00 pm start time.

2023-23 SSC MEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON COACHES POLL

Rank	School	Total Votes (1st place votes)
T1	Florida Southern	94 (6)
T1	Nova Southeastern	94 (6)
3	Embry-Riddle	78
4	Saint Leo	71
5	Tampa	60
6	Palm Beach Atlantic	50
7	Rollins	45
8	BARRY	42
9	Florida Tech	31
10	Lynn	28
11	Eckerd	12