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LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – Slippery Rock University was picked to finish fifth in this year's Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division men's basketball competition in a poll of the division's head coaches, which was released Thursday as part of the conference's media day event.

Defending NCAA Division II national runner-up and PSAC champion Indiana (Pa.) was selected as the team to beat in this winter's PSAC-West competition. The Crimson Hawks received seven of the possible eight first-place votes.

Clarion received the other No. 1 vote and finished second in the poll, followed in order by California (Pa.), Gannon, The Rock, Mercyhurst, Edinboro and Lock Haven.

Indiana, Clarion and Slippery Rock each had two players named to the Preseason All-PSAC-West team. Representing The Rock were seniors Jabril Bailey and Maron Brown, who each received All-PSAC-West honors last winter and are the only two starters returning from last year's squad.

Brown, The Rock's leading scorer and rebounder, earned first-team All-PSAC-West honors last winter, while Bailey, the team's No. 2 scorer and rebounder, earned a spot on the second team.

Brown led the PSAC in rebounding and ranked 13th nationally with a 10.3 per game average. He ranked eighth in the conference in scoring at 16.0 points per game, 11th in free throw shooting at 75.9% and 15th in 3-point shooting at 36.5%.

A native of Salisbury Md., and graduate of Wicomico High School, Brown had a team-high 14 "double-double" games in 2009-10, one shy of the school record set the previous season by 2009 PSAC-West "Player of the Year" Denell Stephens.

Brown, who transferred to SRU from Cecil (Md.) College prior to the 2008-09 season, scored a career-high 29 points in the season finale Feb. 27 at PSAC champion Indiana and grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds Jan. 10 at West Chester. He scored 20 or more points in nine games and had 10 or more rebounds in 16 of the 26 games in which he played.

Bailey, who transferred to The Rock from Division I Campbell University prior to the 2009-10 season, was the No. 12 rebounder in the conference last winter with a 7.4 per game average, ranked 16th in scoring at 14.6 points per game and was sixth in free throw shooting at 77.9%.

A native of New Castle, Dela., and graduate of Delcastle High School, Bailey scored a career-high 31 points Jan. 13 in a win over Mercyhurst and grabbed a career-best 14 rebounds Dec. 4, 2009 against the District of Columbia. He scored 20 or more points in seven games and grabbed 10 or more rebounds in eight of the 27 games in which he played.

Brown and Bailey led The Rock to a 15-12 overall record last winter, 4-10 in PSAC-West competition.

East Stroudsburg received four of the eight first-place votes in the PSAC-East poll and outdistanced Mansfield (1 first-place vote) and Kutztown (two first-place votes) for the top spot in that division poll.

The Rock will play East Stroudsburg, Mansfield and Kutztown, as well as Bloomsburg (#6 in PSAC-East poll), in PSAC "crossover" games in early January. Those are the only PSAC interdivisional games on The Rock's regular-season schedule.

SRU opens its 2010-11 schedule Nov. 12 at Shepherd University (W. Va.) and meets Alderson-Broaddus (W. Va.) the following evening at Shepherd before entertaining Ohio University Eastern in a 7 p.m. game Nov. 19 to open its home schedule. Click here to view the complete schedule.

Bailey and Brown are included in a group of seven Rock veterans around which third-year Rock head coach Kevin Reynolds will build the 2010-11 Green and White squad. New additions include six junior-college transfers, highlighted by three players from perennial national power Cecil (Md.) College. Click here to view the complete 2010-11 Rock roster.

The complete PSAC men's basketball preseason team rankings and all-star teams were as follows (first-place votes in parentheses):

Western Division preseason poll
1. Indiana (7)
2. Clarion (1)
3. California
4. Gannon
5. SLIPPERY ROCK
6. Mercyhurst
7. Edinboro
8. Lock Haven

Preseason All-PSAC West Team
Jabril Bailey, Sr., Slippery Rock (New Castle, Del./Delcastle); Maron Brown, Sr., Slippery Rock (Salisbury, Md./Wicomico); Jamar Harrison, Sr., Clarion (Washington, D.C./Dunbar); Lloyd Harrison, Sr., Clarion (Detroit, Mich./Southwestern); Byron Knight, Sr., Edinboro (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn Hills); Julian Sanders, Jr., Indiana (Medford, N.J./Shawnee); Darryl Webb, Sr., Indiana (Elkridge, Md./Long Reach)

Eastern Division preseason poll
1. East Stroudsburg (4)
2. Mansfield (1)
3. Kutztown (2)
4. Cheyney
5. West Chester (1)
6. Bloomsburg
7. Shippensburg
8. Millersville

Preseason All-PSAC East Team
Sharif Bray, Sr., Cheyney (Philadelphia, Pa./Central); Eric Brennan, Jr., Kutztown (Chester, Pa./West Catholic); Yuseff Carr, Sr., Mansfield (New York, N.Y./East NY Transit Tech); Julius Gray, Sr., Kutztown (Lincoln University, Pa./Oxford); Kehinde Roberts, Sr., West Chester (London, England/Bishop Shanahan, Pa.); Larry Webster, Jr., Bloomsburg (Elkton, Md./Elkton)