Coaches' PollThe New York University men's basketball team is ranked second in the University Athletic Association (UAA) preseason coaches' poll, earning three first-place votes.
The Violets return four starters from last year's 16-10 team, including First Team All-UAA forward
Evan Kupferberg. The 6-6 junior averaged 17.5 ppg and 9.2 rpg last season, ranking second in the UAA in both. Other returning starters include junior guard
Max Ralby, junior forward
Patrick Burns and junior center
Costis Gontikas. Ralby averaged 5.8 points and 4.4 assists as the starting point guard last season. Gontikas averaged 12.5 points and 6.0 rebounds, and recorded 22 blocks, earning All-UAA Honorable Mention. Burns made 12 starts and averaged 5.1 points and 3.3 rebounds.
Sophomore guard
Joe Timmes, sophomore forward
Alec Papesch and senior guard
Iyoha Agho should be part of the rotation, as well.
Nine newcomers join the squad, a group which consists of four guards – sophomore Division I transfer
Enrico Bueno Leite (Colorado State University), and freshmen
David Katz,
Leon Tambue and
Ross Udine -- and five forwards – junior
Jose Canario (NYU-Poly) and freshmen
Francesco Cordioli,
Coby Lefkowitz,
Nathaniel Liberman, and
Landon Kupferberg.
The Violets open their season at home in the NYU Tip-Off Tournament this Saturday against John Jay College. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 pm. A live broadcast of the game can be found
here and live stats can be found
here.
