St. Mary’s Men’s Basketball Receiving Early Accolades

St. Mary's City, Md. - With their season-opener just three weeks away, the St. Mary's College of Maryland men's basketball team is already receiving praise for the 2009-10 season as the Seahawks collected preseason nods from three separate organizations.

The Seahawks are coming off their first 20+ win season under the mentorship of fifth-year head coach Chris Harney, racking up a record-setting 21-5 overall record and the program's first-ever Capital Athletic Conference regular-season title with a 14-2 league mark.  Last season, the squad fell to Marymount (Va.) University in conference semifinals and just missed an at-large bid for a second trip to the NCAA tournament.  The Seahawks also obtained the program's highest-ever national ranking as D3hoops.com ranked them No. 14 early on in the season.

For the second straight season, St. Mary's has been named a ‘possible breakthrough' team by Chuck Mistovich of Basketball Times in his preview of the NCAA Division III which is featured in the 2009-10 College Basketball edition of Sporting News magazine.

DIII News, the monthly newsletter of Division III men's basketball, predicted the Seahawks as the No. 19 team in the country as well as the top team in the conference.  D3hoops.com was not far behind DIII News, ranking SMCM No. 20 in its Top 25 preseason poll.

Harney stated he does not put much stock in preseason polls.  "We're proud of everything we've built and the hard work our guys are putting in but also realize that the preseason ranking means nothing.  We need to be sure the guys understand that where you finish at the end of the year is important; where you rank at the first of the year is simply respect."

In addition, returning starter Camontae Griffin (Baltimore, Md./Dunbar) picked up preseason recognition after earning D3hoops.com All-Mid-Atlantic Region Third Team honors as well as first team All-CAC laurels a year ago.  Both Mistovich and DIII News selected Griffin as an honorable mention All-American, while DIII News named Griffin the preseason CAC Player of the Year.

In his first season with the Seahawks, Griffin led the team with 20.4 points per game, pouring in 31 points twice.  He also registered a .471 field goal percentage and a .782 free throw percentage.

The Seahawks will kick off the new season on November 20 at McDaniel College in the first round of the Pride of Maryland Championship presented by M&T Bank as the defending champions after edging Johns Hopkins University, 84-81, in last year's championship game.