Oct. 25, 2006

Washington, D.C. - Fresh off a trip to the Final Four, the George Mason men's basketball team was picked to finish second in the Colonial Athletic Association in the conference's preseason poll, as voted upon by coaches, sports information directors and members of the media that cover the CAA.

The results of the preseason poll were announced at the annual CAA Media Day which took place on Wednesday at the ESPNZone in Washington D.C. Hofstra was selected in the top spot with the Pride returning one of the nation's best backcourts. Loren Stokes of Hofstra was selected preseason CAA Player of the Year.

Drexel was third in the preseason voting followed by Old Dominion, UNC Wilmington and Virginia Commonwealth. The second half of the conference was paced by Towson, followed by Georgia State, Northeastern, James Madison, William & Mary and Delaware.

A pair of Patriots received preseason All-CAA accolades as Will Thomas was named preseason first-team and Folarin Campbell was named preseason second-team. Two other schools had multiple players on the squad. Hofstra's Stokes and Antoine Agudio were both named to the first team while Drexel's Dominick Mejia was chosen to the first team and Bashir Mason was chosen to the second team.

Rounding out the preseason All-CAA teams are T.J. Carter of UNC Wilmington and Gary Neal of Towson on the first team while Arnaud Dahi of Old Dominion, Juwann James of James Madison and B.A. Walker of VCU filled out the second team.

Mason will play its lone exhibition game of the season next week when the Patriots take on Marymount on Nov. 1 at the Patriot Center at 7 p.m. Mason opens the season on Nov. 11 at Cleveland State and the Patriots play their home opener on Nov. 18 against Wichita State.