CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Queens University of Charlotte men's basketball team finished fourth in the Conference Carolinas preseason poll as voted on by the league's head coaches. Rounding out the top four are Limestone College, Barton College, and Mount Olive College.

Limestone returns all but three players from last year's squad, including leaders in all major statistical categories. Powerful forwards in redshirt-junior Jarrell Douglass and redshirt-senior Danny Friend headline a group that finished tied for second in last year's conference regular season.

Last season, Douglass led the team with 15.8 points and 7.11 rebounds per game while shooting .522 from the field. Friend posted a solid all-around season as he was second on the club with 14.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.12 steals per outing and led the team with 1.35 blocks. He also dished out 2.31 assists.

The Saints inside presence is joined by the return of a pair of playmakers in junior guards Nick Debnam and Stewart Clark. Last season this unit was first- and second in assists per game with averages of 2.93 and 2.36, respectively. In addition to those numbers, Clark added 9.6 points and chipped in with 2.79 rebounds per game.

Joining that group this season are a pair of talented transfers in junior guard Ashton Ford and sophomore forward Ryan Bogdan. Ford is a 5-11 guard who joins the Saints after two years at Louisburg College while Bogdan comes in from Division I Quinnipiac. While there, Bogdan appeared in 16 games for a 23-10 Bobcats squad that qualified for the NCAA Tournament.

The Barton College men's basketball team looks to return to prominence this season after an injury-plagued 2009-10 campaign. The Bulldogs of 15th-year head coach Ron Lievense return four of five starters and should have former all-conference player L.J. Dunn back after a red-shirt season. Forward R.D. Dowdy also missed most of last season and should be back. Barton got off to an 11-3 start and was 7-0 in the league before injuries sparked an eight-game losing streak. The Bulldogs finished 14-14 overall and 10-10 (tied for fifth) in the league.

The Barton attack will be triggered by last year's Conference Carolinas Freshman of the Year, point guard Gerald Boston (14.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 134 assists), who also made the 10-player national All-Freshman Team by the DII Bulletin.

"I think our team has a great opportunity to be successful if we can stay injury free," Lievense said. "Gerald Boston is a tremendous point guard and R.D. Dowdy and L.J. Dunn are all-conference/all-region kind of players. Jarrett Jernigan has the potential to be a very good player for us and Jaren Haley has come back stronger this season." Senior guard Greg Mammel has been primarily a starter his first three seasons and the Bulldogs have added three freshmen, led by N.C. East-West All-Star game performer Evan Shelton, a 6-foot-6 post player.

Barton is used to success after going 103-26 from 2006-2009, when it won three conference and two regional championships and made two Elite Eight appearances on its way to winning the 2007 National Championship, so it is poised to make it back into the limelight.

Mount Olive College was picked third in this year's preseason poll.  The Trojans received two first place poll votes and are only separated by six total points from the No. 1 seed in one of the tightest preseason polls in recent history.  Mount Olive is the current three-time defending regular season conference champion and is presently ranked No. 25 in the 2010-11 Division II Bulletin Preseason Top 25.

The Trojans return three starters from last year's squad. Two-time All-Conference Carolinas forward Craig Hayes averaged 14.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game and shot 52.6 percent from the field last year. Point guard Derek Staton led the conference and ranked among the top 20 in the nation with 5.6 assists per game. Staton set school single-season and single-game assists records last year. Forward Aleks Mitrovic moved into the starting lineup early in the season and shot 55.3 percent from the floor.

Mount Olive has won the Conference Carolinas Tournament in two of the last three years. The Trojans made their sixth NCAA Tournament appearance in seven years last season. Third-year head coach Joey Higginbotham was the 2009-10 NABC Southeast Region Men's Basketball Coach of the Year and earned Conference Carolinas Men's Basketball Coach of the Year honors in each of his first two years.

At number four, the return of four starters, along with the addition of two highly touted recruits and one Division I transfer has raised expectations for the Queens Royals. The Sporting News has listed Queens as a potential breakthrough team in its 2010 men's basketball Division II preseason preview. Queens is one of only two Conference Carolinas teams to be named to the list.

Leading the Royals for the 2010-11 season will be senior guard Reggie Hopkins (Gastonia, N.C., Ashbrook), who is on pace to become the school's all-time leading scorer. First-team Conference Carolinas wing Daniel Bailey (Irmo, S.C., Hammond ) also returns.  After being selected to the NABC Division II All-District second team this past spring, the junior swingman has been named a preseason Honorable Mention All-American by The Sporting News for the second straight season.  The former Conference Carolinas Freshman of the Year nearly averaged a double-double during his sophomore campaign, while finishing in the top four in the conference in points per game (18.2/ 4th), rebounds per game (8.2/ 3rd), blocks per game (1.4/ 2nd), and field goal percentage (53%/ 2nd)

In Bailey and Hopkins, Queens returns its top two scorers, respectively.  The Royals also bring back their top five rebounders from a season ago.  Point guard Sean Eads (Greenville, S.C., Eastside) is back for his third year and will look to improve upon his solid 1.61 assist-to-turnover ratio.

The Royals were able to add some size and much needed length with their recruiting class.  Head coach Wes Long and his staff signed highly-touted freshmen Brent Evans (Beaufort, S.C., Battery Creek) (6'8”) and David Mason (Decatur, Ga., Chamblee) (6'5”), as well as Division I transfer Sam Johnson (Leicester, N.C., Asheville Christian) (6'10”). Johnson has three years of eligibility remaining. With the additional size and athleticism, an already strong rebounding unit should only get better.

The schedule will test the physical and mental toughness of the Royals.  Sixteen of the 26 regular season games will be against teams that finished last season with a .500 record or better.  The Royals will also take on the Winthrop Eagles, participants in the NCAA Division I Men's Tournament last year.  After jumping from ninth to fifth in the conference standings from the previous season, the 2010-11 season has big possibilities looking the Royals in the eyes.

Rounding out the men's poll 5-10 was: Belmont Abbey, Pfeiffer, Coker, St. Andrews, Erskine and Lees-McRae respectively.

Men's Basketball Preseason Poll (# of First place votes in parenthesis)
    1.    Limestone College                     (5)         74
    2.    Barton College                           (3)         69
    3.    Mount Olive College                   (2)         68
    4.    Queens University of Charlotte              53   
    5.     Belmont Abbey College                         48
    6.    Pfeiffer University                                  47
    7.    Coker College                                         29           
    8.    St. Andrews Presbyterian College        26
    9.    Erskine College                                       22
    10.    Lees-McRae College                            14