Augusta State Favored to Win Peach Belt Men's Basketball Crown.

AUGUSTA, GA -- The Augusta State Jaguars have been favored to win the 2007-08 PBC Championship in a poll of the league’s head coaches released on Thursday. The Jaguars received eight first-place votes for 97 points, 11 ahead of Clayton State in second place. Columbus State was third followed by GCSU, Armstrong Atlantic State and USC Aiken. Coaches were not permitted to rank their own teams.

Augusta state returns all five starters and nine of its top 10 scorers from the 2006-07 squad that posted a 24-7 record, won the Peach Belt Conference regular-season title, hosted the NCAA South Atlantic Regional as the region’s top seed and finished the season ranked No. 18 in the nation. PBC Player of the Year Tyrekus ‘AJ’ Bowman was the leading scorer in the PBC last season with 20.5 ppg and was named an All-American. Returners Garrett Siler and Ben Madgen were also named All-Conference.

Clayton State made their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2006-07 and finished with a 24-8 overall record. However, the Lakers will have only one returning starter back for this season in senior guard Michael Sloan. Sloan averaged 12 points and three rebounds a contest last season, while shooting 42 percent from 3-point range. He set the Clayton State single-season record for 3-point baskets with 72, and needs only 173 points to reach 1,000 for his career. In addition to Sloan, Gibbons will rely heavily on returning post players Jerome Boyd and Brian Kelly.

Columbus State survived a tumultuous season and still emerged with a 17-12 record. Second-year coach Doug Branson welcomes back seniors Travis Matthews and Corris Portis and have talented new players on tap. Junior college All-American Shondre Guest will join the team from Aiken Tech. CSU also added Daniel Quinlan, a transfer from former PBC member USC Upstate. From Charleston, S.C., Quinlan averaged 13.9 ppg for the Spartans in 2007 and was named the 2006 PBC Tournament Most Valuable Player and the 05-06 PBC Freshman of the Year.

For the 2007-08 season, the Peach Belt returns to its 20-game league schedule and abandons its divisions. USC Upstate left the conference following last year for Division I, leaving 11 teams in the league. The 2007-08 season will begin with Columbus State appearing in the Disney Tip-Off Classic Nov. 9-11 and the rest of the league will begin on or about Nov. 15 with the first conference games coming on Nov. 28. The regular season will build to the PBC Tournament which moves to the new USC Aiken Convocation Center in Aiken, S.C., March 5-9.

The preseason poll is listed below. Teams were given 11 points for a first-place vote, 10 for second and so on. For a team-by-team preview, click here.

2007-08 Men's Basketball Preseason Poll