ELMHURST, Ill. – The defending Summit League champion North Dakota State men's basketball team has been picked to finish fifth in The Summit League this season, according to the annual preseason poll of league coaches, sports information directors and media.
 
NDSU senior guard Lawrence Alexander was voted to the preseason All-Summit League first team, while junior guard Kory Brown claimed a spot on the second team. Alexander and Brown return the most experience on the squad, as Alexander has started all 98 games in his NDSU career, and Brown has played in all 67 contests over the past two seasons, starting 65 times.
 
Alexander was a preseason first-team selection last season before earning honorable mention honors at the end of the year.
 
Fort Wayne is the preseason favorite to win the 2014-15 Summit League title. The Mastodons received a league-high 13-of-30 first-place votes, edging out Denver by a mere 13 points in the poll.
 
Following Fort Wayne and Denver in the preseason poll is Oral Roberts, which returns to The Summit League for the first time since 2011-12. South Dakota State, which received a first-place vote, finished fourth and was followed by defending champion North Dakota State, which had four first-place votes. Omaha, Western Illinois, South Dakota and IUPUI rounded out the poll.
 
Fort Wayne, Oral Roberts and North Dakota State featured a pair of preseason all-league selections with each team having both a first and second teamer. In total, six different schools were represented on the six-man first team. Joining Preseason Player of the Year Brett Olson on the first unit is NDSU's Lawrence Alexander (11.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg), Western Illinois' Garret Covington (14.6 ppg, 4.7 rpg), ORU's Obi Emegano (19.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg), IPFW's Steve Forbes (12.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg) and SDSU's Cody Larson (13.1 ppg, 7.0 rpg).
 
Second-team selections included five players from five different schools: ORU's Korey Billbury (15.3 ppg, 6.9 rpg), South Dakota's Brandon Bos (11.9 ppg, 86.3 FT%), NDSU's Kory Brown (7.0 ppg, 4.2 rpg), Omaha's CJ Carter (13.5 ppg, 3.4 apg) and IPFW's Mo Evans (9.6 ppg, 45.1 3FG%), the 2013-14 Summit League Sixth Man of the Year.
 
NDSU will host Minot State in a home exhibition game at Scheels Arena on Nov. 5 before traveling to Austin, Texas, for the regular season opener at Texas on Nov. 14.
 
 

SUMMIT LEAGUE MEN'S BASKETBALL 2014-15 PRESEASON POLL
Place	Team	Points (1st)
1.	Fort Wayne	450 (13)
2.	Denver	437 (12)
3.	Oral Roberts	400
4.	South Dakota State	345 (1)
5.	North Dakota State	313 (4)
6.	Omaha	245
7.	Western Illinois	151
8.	South Dakota	148
9.	IUPUI	75

 















 

Preseason Player of the Year: Brett Olson, Denver
First Team
Name	School	Pos.	Year
Lawrence Alexander	North Dakota State	G	Sr.
Garret Covington	Western Illinois	G	So.
Obi Emegano	Oral Roberts	G	Jr.
Steve Forbes	Fort Wayne	F	Sr.
Cody Larson	South Dakota State	F	Sr.
Brett Olson	Denver	G	Sr.
Second Team
Name	School	Pos.	Year
Korey Billbury	Oral Roberts	G	Jr.
Brandon Bos	South Dakota	G	Sr.
Kory Brown	North Dakota State	G	Jr.
CJ Carter	Omaha	G	Sr.
Mo Evans	Fort Wayne	G	So.