UWA’s Samuels makes Preseason All-GSC

University of West Alabama point guard Steven Samuels was named to the 2012-13 GSC Pre-Season Men’s Basketball Team and the Tigers were picked to finish fourth in the upcoming season by league coaches.

Samuels is UWA’s first Pre-Season All-GSC player since 2010 after he led the Tigers in scoring (14.1) and rebounding (6.4) while playing in just 17 games last season. The remainder of the preseason team consists of guard Jaime Smith and forward Zane Campbell of Alabama-Huntsville. Forward Terry Leake of Delta State and Christian Brothers guard Harry Green.

“Steven came here as a good player and he is going to continue to get much, much better,” UWA head coach Mike Newell said. “We threw him to the wolves last year and he still averaged good numbers. This is a great honor for him and our program to have a preseason all-conference pick for the first time in a while.”

For the third consecutive year, Alabama-Huntsville was selected as a GSC Men’s Basketball Pre-Season Coaches’ Poll Favorite. The Chargers are a unanimous selection by the league’s head coaches for the second year in a row, securing seven first-place votes en route to 49 total points.

“I believe our team is one those teams that is going to keep on getting better,” Newell said. “We are going to be better in December than we were in November and better in January than we were in December, and then on down the line.”

Christian Brothers is second (36) after finishing as both the GSC and Regional runner-up last season. Third-place West Georgia (30) collected 30 points, while UWA earned the one remaining first-place vote to rack up 29 points and a fourth place prediction. North Alabama (26) finished in the No. 5 spot, while Delta State and Valdosta State finished in a tie for sixth (20). West Florida rounds out the Pre-Season list by garnering 14 points.

“We are bigger and deeper this year,” Newell said. “We had no depth last year and we didn’t have very much size. We couldn’t score the ball. We have recruited kids who can score.”

The Tigers open the season Nov. 11 at Alabama as part of the 2K Classic.