Monmouth men’s basketball selected third, women fifth in MAAC Preseason Polls

WEST LONG BRANCH – The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) revealed their preseason rankings on Tuesday night, and the Monmouth Hawks figure to be a factor in both men’s and women’s basketball this season.

The Monmouth men’s basketball team was selected to finish third in the MAAC while the women were voted fifth as voted on by the league’s head coaches.

King Rice’s squad are coming off back-to-back seasons as regular season champions, but Iona, who was selected as pre-season favorite, walked out of the Times Union Center both times with the MAAC Tournament Championship and NCAA Tournament bid.

The Gaels garnered 116 points, including nine first place votes while Manhattan was selected second and received the remaining two first place votes. The Hawks netted 101 points followed by Fairfield and Niagara. Siena, who upset Monmouth in the semi-finals a season ago, is sixth with Rider, Saint Peter’s, Canisius, Marist, and Quinnipiac rounding out the men’s poll.

Junior guard Micah Seaborn was a unanimous selection to the All-MAAC Preseason First Team. He is joined by Manhattan’s Zane Waterman, Niagara’s Matt Scott, Canisius’ Jermaine Crumpton, and Farifield’s Tyler Nelson, who was also a unanimous selection and was voted Preseason Player of the Year.

The women were selected to finish fifth in the conference with 71 points, but return seven players who averaged at least 12 minutes per game and have been trending upward in the MAAC the last three seasons under head coach Jenny Palmateer. Quinnipiac was a unanimous first place selection after a trip to the Sweet 16 last season. Marist was picked second followed by Iona and Fairfield. Monmouth is fifth followed by Rider, Canisius, Siena, Niagara, Manhattan and Saint Peter’s.

Sophomore guard Kayla Shaw was named to the All-MAAC Preseason Third Team. Shaw established a new program-record with 93 three-pointers last season as a freshman. She is joined by Samantha Cooper of Fairfield, Maura Fitzpatrick of Marist, Kaylee Stroemple of Niagara, and Stella Johnson of Rider.

Quinnipiac’s Aryn McClure was voted MAAC Women’s Preseason Player of the Year.

The Hawks begin the 2017-18 campaign on Friday, Nov. 10 with a double-header at the OceanFirst Bank Center. The women will host Sacred Heart at 6 p.m. while the men will follow against Bucknell at 8:30 p.m.