Rock Hill, S.C. – The Big South Conference released its annual basketball preseason polls and honors Tuesday morning as Winthrop men's basketball was voted to finish second in the league standings.
Winthrop received one first place vote and was selected second behind preseason favorite High Point. In 2023-24 the Eagles finished fourth in the league standings at 8-8 and 17-15 overall.
Senior
Kelton Talford was voted Preseason All-Conference First Team while senior
K.J. Doucet was voted to the second team.
Talford is a two-time First Team All-Big South honoree and is coming off a season in which he averaged 14.1 points, 5.7 rebounds while shooting 62.4 percent from the floor. He finished with two double-doubles in 2023-24 and had six games with 20 or more points.
Doucet led the Eagles in scoring during non-conference action and finished second on the team with 12.4 points to go along with 4.3 rebounds and 51 made threes. Doucet had five 20-point games that included a career-high 28 at Charleston Southern on 11-of-12 shooting.
Longwood finished 13 votes behind the Eagles in third place followed by UNC Asheville, Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, Radford, Presbyterian College and USC Upstate.
2024-25 Big South Conference Men's Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team
First-Team
Kezza Giffa, High Point, Sr., G
Kelton Talford, Winthrop, Sr., F
Kimani Hamilton, High Point, Jr., F
Juslin Bodo Bodo, High Point, Soph., F
Taje' Kelly, Charleston Southern, Sr., F
Second-Team
RJ Johnson, Charleston Southern, R-Jr., G
Michael Christmas, Longwood, Gr., F
Josh Banks, UNC Asheville, 5th Year, G
A'lahn Sumler, Charleston Southern, Jr., G
K.J Doucet, Winthrop, Sr., F
| Rk - School (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1 - High Point (17) |
161 |
| 2 - Winthrop (1) |
134 |
| 3 - Longwood |
121 |
| 4 - UNC Asheville |
104 |
| 5 - Charleston Southern |
98 |
| 6 - Gardner-Webb |
63 |
| 7 - Radford |
56 |
| 8 - Presbyterian College |
54 |
| 9 - USC Upstate |
19 |
Note: points are based on a weighted system. First-place votes received 9 points, followed by 8 points for second-place, and so on.
