Dumas, Okoroha on preseason All-GCAC team
October 20, 2008

     NEW ORLEANS — The only seniors on the Xavier University of New Orleans men's basketball team — guard Shaun Dumas and forward Kelechi Okoroha — have been chosen to the preseason All-Gulf Coast Athletic Conference team by the league's head coaches.
     Dumas, 5-foot-11 and from New Orleans, is a two-time All-GCAC selection and made the preseason team for the third consecutive year. Dumas averaged 10.5 points and a team-leading 4.9 assists and 2.4 steals for the Gold Rush in 2007-08. He helped Xavier reach the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I National Championship for a school-record fourth consecutive time and was an honorable-mention NAIA All-American.
     Okoroha, 6-4 and from Missouri City, Texas, averaged 9.7 points and 5.1 rebounds this past season and shot a team-leading 60.1 percent from the floor. He was a two-time GCAC Player of the Week as a freshman and an Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar in 2007-08 (second team) and 2006-07 (third team).
     Xavier, Belhaven, LSU-Shreveport and Spring Hill were the only schools with two players on the preseason team.
     Xavier, 24-10 this past season, will open its 2008-09 schedule at 5 p.m. on Oct. 31 against Southern Polytechnic at The Barn. Xavier will play its first six regular-season games at home.

2008-09 Preseason All-Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Team
Name              School         Height  Class      Position    Hometown
Sean Bennett      Loyola          5-11   Junior     Guard       Mandeville, La.
Michael Bridges   Dillard          6-4   Junior     Guard       Jackson, Miss.
Jeremy Cable      Tougaloo         6-6   Senior     Forward     Jackson, Miss. 
Marcus Coleman    Spring Hill      6-0   Junior     Guard       Mobile, Ala.
Shaun Dumas       Xavier          5-11   Senior     Guard       New Orleans, La.
Tyrone Hamilton   LSU-Shreveport   6-0   Senior     Guard       Shreveport, La.
Dexter Middleton  William Carey    6-3   Senior     Guard       Brookhaven, Miss. 
Dax Miller        Belhaven         6-2   Senior     Guard       Little Rock, Ark.
Kelechi Okoroha   Xavier           6-4   Senior     Forward     Missouri City, Texas
Jeremy Price      Spring Hill      6-1   Senior     Guard       Dallas, Texas
Jared Stevenson   LSU-Shreveport   6-1   Junior     Guard       Quitman, La.
Donte Walker      Mobile           6-2   Sophomore  Guard       Lake Charles, La. 
Korey Whiting     Belhaven         6-3   Senior     Forward     Stafford, Va.