HIGH POINT, NC – The Queens University of Charlotte Royals, having won a combined 40 games over the past two seasons, are coming off of a season where they went 13-3 in league play to win the Eastern Division Title, and 19-10 overall.
 
“We are excited about getting the 2012-13 season started with official practice today,” said Queens head coach, Wes Long. “Conference Carolinas is always a very competitive league, with tremendous teams at the top and great competition throughout. Every night is a tough battle, and we are lucky that we have some guys who have experienced some success in this league over the past few years. We will be working hard to get better every day, and we're looking forward to a terrific season.”
 
This season the Royals will look to some new faces to perform after graduating five players that made up Head Coach Wes Long's first recruiting class since taking over the program in 2008. However, Queens will not lack experience, especially in the frontcourt. Senior forward Antonio Stabler (Garner, N.C., Wakefield) and junior center Brent Evans (Beaufort, S.C., Battery Creek) combined for 21.1 points and 10.0 rebounds per game, and the two will be asked to increase their production on the floor as well as taking on a leadership role. The remaining four frontcourt contributors provide the Royals with length and athleticism.
 
In the backcourt, the Royals will rely on a talented cast of freshmen and sophomores to carry the load. Trey Ervin (Kernersville, N.C., Mount Tabor) got his feet wet a season ago by backing up departed guards Preston Newlin and Sean Eads. In limited playing time, Ervin showed a knack for finding the open man and looked under control during his time on the floor. Brandon Nichols (Fayetteville, N.C., Jack Britt) returns as the best perimeter defender on the team, and he can run the point in a pinch. The rest of the backcourt, while talented, is made up of newcomers.

A key loss for the Royals is four-time all-conference team member Daniel Bailey, who finished his career at Queens as the second all-time leading scorer and rebounder. Bailey's production will be replaced by committee.
 
The Barton College Bulldogs are coming off a 20-10 season where they finished 9-7 in league play before rolling to the Conference Carolinas Tournament Championship. Barton, which has made six NCAA Tournament appearances in head coach Ron Lievense's 17 years, returns just one full-time starter from that team, but that player is former league freshman of the year Gerald Boston, a sensational senior point guard who is three-time all-conference and is coming off a junior year where he garnered Conference Carolinas Tournament MVP and all-region honors.
 
King College came in ranked second in the preseason poll. Last season the Tornado surprised Conference Carolinas after being picked fifth in the preseason poll but ended up having one of the best seasons in school history by posting an overall record of 23-8, winning the regular season conference title with a record of 14-2, and advancing to the program's first NCAA Tournament during its first year of postseason eligibility.

Reigning Conference Carolinas Coach of the Year George Pitts has three of his top four leading scorers returning this season, Eddie Piccinini, Logan Lyle, and Michael Fortune. Piccinini scored a team-high 16.5 points per game and was named to the all-conference second team last season.  Lyle was named freshman of the year and averaged 13.5 ppg while making 88 three-pointers for the season. Fortune played a dual role both as a starter and adding depth on the bench with 12.6 ppg. The trio was a large part of a team that finished No. 1 in the country in three-point makes per game.
 
Mount Olive finished third in the preseason poll, and returns two full-time starters and four key reserves from last year's squad, which posted its seventh 20-win season in the last nine years and reached the championship game of the 2012 Conference Carolinas Tournament. Ranked No. 6 in the Southeast Region heading into the conference tournament, the Trojans narrowly missed earning its seventh NCAA Tournament bid in the last nine years.
 
Junior point guard Dory Hines, the 2010-11 Conference Carolinas Co-Freshman of the Year, ranked 10th in the nation last year with six assists per game. Hines also had the ninth best assist-to-turnover ratio in the nation. Senior forward Mahamed Ibrahim reached double figures in 13 games last season, including a career-high 27 points against Queens. Ibrahim was 7-for-11 from three-point range in that contest.
 
Belmont Abbey finished fifth in the poll followed by Coker, Limestone, Pfeiffer, Erskine, Lee-McRae College, and North Greenville, respectively.