Oct. 28, 2008
PHILADELPHIA - After winning the Atlantic 10 Championship and advancing to the ENCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001, the Temple men's basketball team has been picked to finish second as the team to beat in the conference race, according to a poll of Atlantic 10's head coaches and media released Tuesday during Basketball Media Day. Senior guard Dionte Christmas was named to the preseason First Team all-Atlantic 10 while sophomore forward Lavoy Allen was voted on to the preseason all-defensive team.
Xavier, which reached the 2008 NCAA Elite Eight, was the pick to win the Conference. Temple received 12 first-place votes to place second in the preseason poll. Dayton was picked third followed by Saint Joseph's, Charlotte, Massachusetts , Saint Louis, Richmond, Rhode Island, La Salle, George Washington, Duquesne, Fordham and St. Bonaventure.
Joining Christmas on the first-team are Xavier's Derrick Brown, Ahmad Nivins of Saint Joseph's, Kevin Lisch of Saint Louis and Massachusetts' Chris Lowe. The second-team consists of Dayton's Chris Wright, George Washington's Rob Diggs, Ricky Harris of Massachusetts, Tommie Liddell of Saint Louis and Charlotte's Lamont Mack. On the third-team are C.J. Anderson of Xavier, Richmond's Kevin Anderson, Jimmy Baron of Rhode Island, La Salle's Rodney Green and David Gonzalvez of Richmond.
The preseason All-Defensive team consists of Brown, Lisch, Lowe, Allen and Saint Joseph's Garrett Williamson. The All-Rookie team is comprised of Melquan Bolding of Duquesne, Dayton's Paul Williams and Xavier teammates Kenny Frease, Terrell Holloway and Mark Lyons.
The 2008-09 season tips off for Temple on Nov. 14 against East Tennessee State at the Charleston Classic. The top 12 A-10 teams will advance to the 33rd Annual Atlantic 10 Championship, to be held Mar. 11-14 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.
Last season marked the 14th time in Conference history and fifth since 2000 that multiple A-10 teams earned at-large berths to the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament with Saint Jospeh's joining Xavier and Temple in the Big Dance. In addition, Charlotte, Dayton, Massachusetts and Rhode Island advanced to the NIT and Richmond earned a berth in the inaugural College Basketball Invitational.
