Sept. 13, 2005
NORFOLK, VA--Defending Colonial Athletic Association champions, OldDominion University Monarchs are ranked 21st by LINDY'S BASKETBALL magazinewhich came out this week. ODU returns all but one letterwinner, including four starters led by 2005 CAA Player of the Year, Tournament MVP, All-Academic and honorablemention All-American Alex Loughton. Loughton ranked 12th by the publication among the nation's top twenty collegiate centers.
The magazine picks ODU to repeat as league champions followed by GeorgeMason, Hofstra, VCU and UNC Wilmington rounding out the top five picks. Loughtonis again selected as CAA Player of the Year and fellow senior Isaiah Hunter is on the second team. Hunter also earned second team All-CAA and NABC All-District honors last year. The last time ODU was ranked in the top 25 by a pre-season publication was 1995-96 by Street and Smith's magazine (#25).
LINDY'S PRE-SEASON BASKETBALLTOP 251.Duke, 2. Connecticut, 3. Michigan State, 4. Gonzaga, 5. Texas, 6. Villanova,8. Oklahoma, 9, Iowa, 10. Alabama, 11. Louisville, 12. Stanford, 13. BostonCollege, 14. Wisconsin, 15. North Carolina State, 16. Ohio State, 17. WestVirginia, 18. Georgetown, 19. Kentucky, 20. Nevada, 21. Old Dominion;22. Illinois, 23. Washington, 24. Wake Forest, 25. UCLA.
LINDY'S PRE-SEASON TOP 20 COLLEGIATE CENTERS1.Shelden Williams (Duke), 2. Josh Boone (Uconn), 3. Paul Davis (Michigan State), 4. Nick Fazekas (Nevada), 5. Eric Williams (Wake Forest), 6. GlenDavis (LSU), 7. David Padgett (Louisville), 8. LaMarcus Aldridge (Texas),9. Terence Dials (Ohio State), 10. James Augustine (Illinois), 11. JermareoDavidson (Alabama), 12. Alex Loughton (ODU), 13. Yemi Nicholson(Denver),14. Matt Haryasz (Stanford), 15. D.J. White (Indiana), 16. Tyler Hansbrough(North Carolina), 17. Rashaun Freeman (Umass), 18. Joseph Jones (Texas A&M),19. Kevin Bookout (Oklahoma), 20. Daniel Kickert(St. Mary's.).