IRVING, Texas – Defending regular-season champion UAB was selected the preseason favorite to repeat in 2016-17, according to a vote by the league's men’s basketball coaches.
 
First-year head coach Robert Ehsan returns four starters from last year’s squad that finished 26-7 overall and will enter the season riding a school-record, 25-game home court win streak. Blazer juniors Chris Cokley and William Lee were selected to the 10-man C-USA All-Preseason Team after earning All-Conference USA second- and third-team honors, respectively, in 2016. Cokley averaged 13.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game last season, while shooting 57.3 percent from the field. Lee swatted 2.9 shots per game to rank eighth in the NCAA for blocks en route to being named the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year.

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Middle Tennessee was chosen second by the coaches as the Blue Raiders pulled off one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history, with a solid 90-81 victory over No. 2 seed Michigan State last season. Coach Kermit Davis, who registered his 400th career victory last season, led MT to a 25-10 mark and its first C-USA Championship title. Senior forward Reggie Upshaw Jr. and junior guard Giddy Potts represents the Blue Raiders on the league’s preseason squad. Upshaw was an All-Conference USA third teamer and earned MVP honors at the C-USA Championship. He averaged 13.7 points and 8.5 rebounds per contest last season, while also amassing team highs for assists (76) and steals (51). Potts led the nation in three-point percentage, hitting treys at a school- and conference-record clip of 50.6 percent. As a sophomore, he averaged a team-best 14.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.
 
WKU received the third highest number of votes under first-year head coach Rick Stansbury. The Hilltoppers return only three letterwinners from a year ago. However, one includes all-preseason selection Justin Johnson. The junior forward led his team in scoring (14.9 ppg) and rebounding (7.9 rpg) and registered 10 double-doubles on the season.
 
Marshall joins UAB and Middle Tennessee with two selections to the all-preseason squad in senior forward Ryan Taylor and junior guard Jon Elmore. The Herd was picked to finish fourth as a team, with four starters back from a season where it finished tied for third in the C-USA standings. Taylor became the sixth player in Marshall history to record at least 1,300 points and 700 rebounds for his career in the 2015-16 season and he leads C-USA with 27 career double-doubles. Elmore returns as the team’s top scorer, averaging 15.2 points per game as the VMI transfer became eligible mid-season.
 
Rice sophomore guard Marcus Evans is the youngest member of the all-preseason team, but made an immediate impact as the top freshman scorer in the nation, averaging 14.5 ppg. The 2016 C-USA Freshman of the Year is also the only returning member of the All-Conference First Team and earned a spot on the C-USA All-Defensive Team as he led the league with 2.2 steals per game.
 
Louisiana Tech senior forward Erik McCree is a repeat member of the preseason team and finished the 2015-16 season with a nod on the All-Conference USA Second Team. McCree tallied eight double-doubles, with ten 20-points games on the season a year ago.
 
North Texas junior forward Jeremy Combs rounds out the preseason team. Combs registered 14 double-doubles, which ranked 34^th nationally, and has 17 in his career. Last season, Combs finished the 2015-16 season averaging 14.9 ppg and 10.5 rpg. He pulled down 325 total rebounds, which was the sixth-best mark in single-season school history, and shot 60.1 percent, which was seventh best in school history, last season.
 
Conference USA will open its 22nd men’s basketball campaign on Friday, November 11, and the season will culminate with the 2017 Conference USA Basketball Championship, March 8-11 in Birmingham, Alabama. UAB will serve as the host school for the third year in a row. The men’s championship game is slated for Saturday, March 11 at 8:30 p.m. EST/7:30 p.m. CST, and will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
 
2016-17 C-USA MEN’S BASKETBALL PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
Student-Athlete | School | Class | Pos. | Hometown
Erik McCree | Louisiana Tech | Senior | F | Orlando, Florida
Jon Elmore | Marshall | Junior | G | Charleston, West Virginia
Ryan Taylor | Marshall | Senior | F | Indianapolis, Indiana
Giddy Potts | Middle Tennessee | Junior | G | Athens, Alabama
Reggie Upshaw Jr. | Middle Tennessee | Senior | F | Chattanooga, Tennessee
Jeremy Combs | North Texas | Junior | F | Dallas, Texas
Marcus Evans | Rice | Sophomore | G | Chesapeake, Virginia
Chris Cokley | UAB | Junior | F | Savannah, Georgia
William Lee | UAB | Junior | F | Plantersville, Alabama
Justin Johnson | WKU | Junior | F | Hazard, Kentucky
 
 
2016-17 C-USA PRESEASON POLL (#) first-place votes

1. UAB (10)
2. Middle Tennessee (4)
3. WKU
4. Marshall
5. Old Dominion
6. UTEP
7. Louisiana Tech
8. Charlotte
9. Rice
10. North Texas
11. FIU
12. Florida Atlantic
13. Southern Miss
14. UTSA