(BEAVERTON, Ore.)  The Division II Bulletin released its monthly (October/November) newsletter and the Bowie State University men's basketball team is ranked 8th in the Division II Preseason Poll.

Coming off its first Division II national championship, Bellarmine College is the No. 1 team in the 2011 Division II Bulletin Preseason Top 25 ranking.  Rounding out the top five are Alabama-Huntsville, BYU-Hawaii, Missouri Southern and Findlay.

The second five includes Lincoln Memorial, Tarleton State, Bowie State, Colorado School of Mines and the College of St. Rose.

The Bowie State University men's basketball program continues to gather momentum and looks to follow up a highly successful 2010-2011 campaign in its third year under head coach Darrell Brooks.

“I really think we can be very good this season. We're deep and pretty athletic and I really like our experience this year. If we can rebound and defend, we can be a good basketball team,” Brooks said.

Last season, the Bulldogs reached the second round of the NCAA Division II Tournament and won the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association North Division crown with an 11-1 mark, while finishing a CIAA best 16-2 in the conference and 23-6 overall. The Bulldogs reached the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time in six seasons last year. 

The future looks bright for the Bulldogs, who will have four seniors returning including senior 7-foot forward/center Travis Hyman, who had a CIAA high 104 blocks last season to go along with 15.2 points per outing after earning CIAA Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2010. Senior point guard Darren Clark was amongst the conference leaders in assists with 114 last season while starting 28 of 29 contests and averaging 15.1 points per game. Senior guard Jay Gavin, who started all 25 games he appeared in, returns after averaging 8.6 points along with senior forward Ali Djim.

The Bulldogs will be bigger than they have in recent seasons with the addition of junior transfer Branden Doughty (6-8, 210 / Coppin State), junior junior college transfers Demeatric Scott (6-7, 210 / Hagerstown Community College) and Najee White (6-8, 238 / Hagerstown Community College) to go along with freshman Joel Clemons (6-7, 211 / National Christian Academy).

As a team, the Bulldogs led the CIAA in scoring at 81.3 points per game while yielding 74.8 points per game. The Bulldogs led the conference in blocks last season with 163.

The Bulldogs will open the 2011-2012 season with an exhibition against George Washington University (11/6). The team will kick off the regular season at the Clarion Classic and will face West Virginia State University – Friday, November 11th. The team will begin its home schedule Tuesday, December 6th against California University of Pennsylvania.

D-II PRESEASON TOP 25
Team (2010-2011 Record)
1) Bellarmine (33-2)
2) Alabama-Huntsville (29-5)
3) BYU-Hawaii (22-9)
4) Missouri Southern (26-5)
5) Findlay (24-4)
6) Lincoln Memorial (27-3)
7) Tarleton State (26-4)
8) Bowie State (23-6)
9) Colorado School of Mines (24-6)
10) St. Rose (22-9)
11) Central Oklahoma (30-4)
12) Alaska Anchorage (24-10)
13) Southern Indiana (24-6)
14) West Liberty (33-1)
15) Queens (N.C.) (21-8)
16) Indiana (Pa.) (26-6)
17) Benedict (21-8)
18) Georgia Southwestern (20-9)
19) Metro State (22-8)
20) Kentucky Wesleyan (19-10)
21) Humboldt State (26-4)
22) Augustana (27-4)
23) C.W. Post (21-10)
24) Seattle Pacific (20-10)
25) Winona State (20-10)