BROOKLYN – For the first time in its program's history, the Saint Francis men's basketball team was selected first in the NEC Preseason Coaches' Poll. The poll, voted on by the league's head coaches, was revealed on Wednesday at NEC Social Media Day at the Barclays Center. Saint Francis was a unanimous first-place selection, receiving all nine first-place votes from the league's other coaches.

"It's not about where you start, it's about where you finish," said head coach Rob Krimmel. "It's certainly exciting for our group to be in this position but our focus is to get better each and every day so we are playing our best basketball come March."
 
Saint Francis is coming off an appearance in the NEC Championship game against Mount St. Mary's in 2017, despite being picked ninth in that Preseason Poll, and returns 13 players, including four starters, from last year's squad.
 
Saint Francis was followed in the poll by Fairleigh Dickinson, Wagner, Mount St. Mary's, Sacred Heart, LIU Brooklyn, Robert Morris, Bryant, Central Connecticut State and St. Francis Brooklyn. 
 
The Red Flash was strongly represented on the Preseason All-NEC team, with junior guard Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) and sophomore guard Keith Braxton (Glassboro, N.J./The Lawrenceville School) earning two of the five spots.
 
Braxton was the NEC and ECAC Rookie of the Year in 2016-17 after averaging 13.1 points and leading all Division I freshmen with 8.6 rebounds per game.  The Second Team All-NEC selection ranked among the Top 10 in the NEC in rebounding, field goal percentage (53.2), assists (3.1) and steals (1.4).  Braxton earned seven NEC Rookie of the Week awards, one shy of the conference record, posting 23 double-figure performances and nine double-doubles.  .
 
Blackmon was a Third Team All-NEC selection, leading SFU in scoring with 13.7 points per game.  He led the NEC in three-point percentage and ranked sixth in the nation, hitting 50 percent of his attempts.  He scored in double digits in 23 games, including six 20-point games.  His top performance of the year included a career-high 25 points at Wagner on January 26. 
 
Saint Francis is coming off a 17-17 record, including 11-7 in NEC games, its most conference wins since 1995-96.  SFU entered the NEC tournament as the No. 4 seed and knocked off No. 5 seed Bryant, 100-78 and No. 3 seed Wagner, 71-70, on its way to the NEC Championship game, where SFU fell 71-61 at top-seed Mount St. Mary's.  Saint Francis received an invitation to the CollegeInsiders.com Tournament (CIT), for the second time in the last three years, and earned a 78-76 win over Jacksonville in the Hugh Durham Classic in the First Round.