Xavier University athletics
Xavier men picked 6th in GCAC preseason basketball poll
 For immediate release . . . October 3, 2006

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana has been picked to finish sixth in the 2006-07 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball standings, according to a preseason coaches poll announced Tuesday.

The Gold Rush, which did not play this past season because of the effects of Hurricane Katrina, received 44 points. Defending regular-season champion LSU-Shreveport, which will visit Xavier on Jan. 8, received seven of 10 first-place votes and finished first in the voting with 79 points.

Spring Hill was second with 73 points, and Mobile was third with 67. Xavier finished one point behind fifth-place William Carey.

Coaches were not allowed to vote for their teams. Nine points were awarded for a first-place vote.

A sixth-place finish would be Xavier's lowest in the GCAC since 1998-99 and the Rush's second lowest in 16 seasons.

Xavier, 24-10 in 2004-05, will play a Gold-White intrasquad scrimmage at 7 p.m. in The Barn on Oct. 20 and an exhibition game at Arkansas on Oct. 31 before opening the regular season at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 3 against Texas College in The Barn. The Gold Rush's GCAC opener will be Jan. 4 at Tougaloo.
 		 
2006-07 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Preseason Poll
 (first-place votes in parentheses)
 
No. School             Points
 1. LSU-Shreveport (7)   79
 2. Spring Hill (3)      73
 3. Mobile               67
 4. Belhaven             51 
 5. William Carey        45
 6. Xavier               44
 7. Loyola               33
 8. SUNO                 21
 9. Dillard              19
10. Tougaloo             18

Xavier University of Louisiana • New Orleans
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