Men’s basketball checks in sixth in Landmark preseason balloting

HUNTINGDON, Pa. – The Juniata College men's basketball team finished sixth in the final 2010-11 Landmark Conference standings and that's where the Eagles were picked to finish in 2011-12, according to the results of preseason voting that were released Wednesday.

Sort of.

Juniata, 12-13 overall and 5-9 in the Landmark a year ago, earned 43 points in the voting conducted among the Landmark's coaches and sports information directors.

However the third through sixth teams in the poll were separated by only five points, meaning that after the two front-runners, the race for the final two spots in the Landmark tournament could be wide open.

Defending champion University of Scranton (20-6, 11-3 Landmark) was picked to finish atop the Landmark with 77 points, while Catholic University of America (21-9, 9-5 Landmark) received 64 points in the voting.

The log-jam begins with third-place Susquehanna University (11-14, 7-7 Landmark), who received 48 points, followed by fourth-place Drew University (10-12, 9-5 Landmark) with 47 points.  The United States Merchant Marine Academy (14-12, 8-6 Landmark) placed fifth with 45 points, followed by Juniata.

Seventh place was held down by Goucher College (6-15 Landmark, 4-10 Landmark) with 21 points, while Moravian College (9-16, 3-11 Landmark) was eighth with 19 points.

Juniata returns four of five starters from a year ago, as well as three of its top reserves from last season; altogether, the Eagles return nearly 90 percent of their offense from last season, and 88 percent of their rebounding.  Senior guard Dan Sekulski (Douglassville, Pa./Daniel Boone) leads the list of returnees with 13.8 points and 3.4 boards last season.

The Eagles open their 2011-12 campaign on Tuesday, Nov. 15, when they host Carnegie Mellon University at 7:30 p.m. at the Kennedy Sports + Recreation Center. 

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