Article By: Dan Ryan

The GNAC released its annual pre-season coaches’ polls earlier this week, and if the members of the Suffolk men’s or women’s basketball teams are looking for a little early season motivation, their rival coaches have provided it: both the men’s and women’s teams were picked to finish last in the GNAC.

The format doesn’t allow a coach to vote for his or her own team. On the men’s side, Albertus Magnus was voted to finish first in the conference after advancing to the semi-finals of the conference tournament last year. Finishing second in the voting was Emerson, which advanced to the GNAC quarterfinals last season. The Rams? Dead last, finishing with just 12 points, compared to a whopping 64 for first-place Albertus Magnus. Comparatively, the second-last place team, Mount Ida, finished with 18 points.

Things didn’t look much better for the Lady Rams on the women’s side of things. The Lady Rams were picked to finish eighth out of eight teams, receiving just 21 points. The team in the top spot, perennial powerhouse Emmanuel, received 72 points, 21 more than second-place Emerson. The Lady Rams finished last season with a record of 14-12.

Neither team has begun the in-conference portion of its schedule yet, but Suffolk basketball fans can bet that both the players and coaches of the men’s and women’s teams will have plenty of “bulletin board material” at their disposal, and will be seeking to prove the GNAC coaches wrong over the course of the upcoming season.

The full polls can be viewed at the GNAC’s website, www.TheGNAC.com.