Feb. 3, 2010

click here for feature on Chris Sale of FGCU

click here for CBI Atlantic Sun preview

click here for coaches' preseason All-Atlantic Sun team

FGCU received 10 first-place votes and easily claimed the top spot in the 2010 Atlantic Sun Preseason Coaches Poll, in voting by the league’s head coaches and released by the conference office.

The Eagles finished with 120 points, 14 better than second-place Jacksonville. The Dolphins are the defending conference champion.

FGCU was also the pick of the coaches to win the postseason tournament.

Stetson garnered 82 points to come in third, one point ahead of fourth-place Kennesaw State. UNF was fifth with 69 points. Mercer received the other first-place vote and tied Lipscomb for sixth with 62 points, followed by Belmont, ETSU, Campbell and USC Upstate.

FGCU, Kennesaw State and UNF have all completed their transition to Division I and for the first time are eligible for spots in the Atlantic Sun Championship and the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

2010 Predicted Order of Finish

(2009 A-Sun/overall records, points, first-place votes)

1 FGCU (23-7, 36-18) 120 (10)

2 Jacksonville (19-11, 37-22) 106

3 Stetson (16-14, 27-30) 82

4 Kennesaw State (20-9, 30-22) 81

5 UNF (15-15, 23-31) 69

T6 Mercer (12-15, 23-23) 62 (1)

T6 Lipscomb (17-13, 24-32) 62

8 Belmont (15-15, 29-29) 53

9 ETSU (10-20, 25-28) 45

10 Campbell (7-19, 27-24) 34

11 USC Upstate (7-23, 17-37) 12