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Falcons coming off NCAA
Sweet 16 appearance last winter

WINTHROP, Mass. – Defending league champion Albertus Magnus College has been ranked first in the 2014-15 GNAC Men' Basketball Preseason Poll, as voted upon by the league's 10 head coaches.  

The Falcons, who received 98 points and eight first-place votes, are ranked No. 8 in the country according to the D3hoops.com national poll. Last season, they defeated WPI and Purchase in the NCAA Division III Tournament to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history.

For the complete coaches' poll results, please see below.

Albertus Magnus finished 28-3 overall last season and 17-1 in the GNAC and will return senior Victor Ljuljdjuraj, who was named to the 2014-15 D3hoops.com Preseason All-America Third Team. The Yorktown Heights, N.Y. native last season averaged 15.9 points per game while shooting 55.3 percent from the floor. The 6-8 forward also led the GNAC in blocks (3.5) and was second in rebounding (10.7) a year ago.

Also back is senior guard Eian Davis, who averaged 15.8 points per game last year and led the GNAC with 7.7 assists per game for Albertus Magnus, which opens up the 2014-15 campaign this Saturday, November 15 against Lyndon State in the Stockton College Tournament.

Johnson & Wales University finished second in the poll with 90 points and one first-place vote, a year after earning the No. 2 seed in the GNAC Tournament. The Wildcats went 23-7 overall and 15-3 in league play last season.

Saint Joseph's College of Maine (18-10, 15-3 GNAC), which fell to Albertus Magnus in last winter's GNAC Championship game, finished third in the voting with 79 points one first-place vote.

Lasell College (18-12, 12-6 GNAC) and Suffolk University (9-17, 6-12 GNAC) tied for fourth in the poll with 52 points apiece to round out the top-five.

Anna Maria College (9-17, 7-11 GNAC) ranked sixth in the poll with 47 points, just ahead of Rivier University (10-16, 7-11 GNAC), which collected 45 points.

Making up the remainder of the 2014-15 poll was Emmanuel College (6-19, 4-14 GNAC) with 37 points, Norwich University (6-20, 4-14 GNAC) with 32 points and Mount Ida College (5-20, 3-15 GNAC) with 18 points.

The GNAC will announce its 2014-15 Women's Basketball poll on Friday morning.

Founded in 1995, the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 12 member institutions and over 3,000 student-athletes across the New England region. Each year, the GNAC sponsors and administers 17 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunities and community involvement.

2014-15 GNAC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll
1. Albertus Magnus (8) - 98 
2. Johnson & Wales (1) - 90
3. Saint Joseph's (ME) (1) - 79
T4. Lasell - 52
T4. Suffolk - 52
6. Anna Maria - 47
7. Rivier - 45 
8. Emmanuel - 37
9. Norwich - 32
10. Mount Ida - 18   

– #theGNAC –