FERRIS STATE CHOSEN AS POSSIBLE BREAKTHROUGH TEAM
Bulldogs Among Teams Featured In Annual College Basketball Preview Issue
 | Ferris State, which will attempt to win a third-straight GLIAC North Division Championship this season, is listed among the nation's possible breakthrough teams according to one publication |
The Ferris State University men's basketball team is listed as a possible breakthrough squad in the 2005-06 Street & Smith's College Basketball Magazine Division II Preview, which recently hit news stands.
The annual list of teams, which was compiled by Chuck Mistovich of the Basketball Times, includes a preseason top 10 list and 30 additional teams receiving possible breakthrough recognition. The Bulldogs, who have captured back-to-back (2003-04 & 2004-05) Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) North Division championships, are one of three league institutions featured in the additional category along with defending GLIAC South Division champion Findlay and archrival Grand Valley State.
Tarleton State (Texas) was chosen as the publication's preseason number one team with Western Washington picked second and last season's national championship team in Virginia Union chosen third overall.
Besides Findlay and GVSU, three other teams on FSU's 2005-06 schedule were also included in the magazine. Montevallo (Ala.), whom the Bulldogs will face in the Florida Gulf Coast Holiday Classic (Dec. 30) at Fort Myers, Fla., was selected as the number six overall pick. FSU will also square off this season against Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) members Saint Joseph's (Ind.) and Southern Indiana, who were each named to the possible breakthrough category.
Ferris State capped off a banner 2004-05 season with a runner-up finish in the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional Tournament (March 12-15) held in Findlay, Ohio. FSU reached the regional championship game for only the third time in school history last season.
The Bulldogs, who won their second-straight GLIAC North Division Championship with a 13-5 league mark last campaign, concluded the year with a 24-7 overall record and fell one game shy of advancing to the NCAA-II Elite Eight for the second time ever. FSU's 24 victories represented the third-most wins in school history.
Ferris State, which was ranked 23rd in the final (March 8) National Association of Basketball Coaches/Division II Bulletin Regular-Season National Poll, also advanced to the GLIAC Tournament for the second year in a row in 2004-05. Last season marked Ferris State's first appearance in the national rankings since the 1988-89 campaign.
Fourth-year FSU head coach Bill Sall returns three starters and six letterwinners this season, including a two-time second-team All-GLIAC North Division and GLIAC All-Defensive Team honoree in senior guard Dennis Springs (Toledo, Ohio/Scott).
The Bulldogs, who began preseason practices this past Saturday (Oct. 15), will officially open the 2005-06 season against Saint Joseph's Tuesday, Nov. 15, beginning at 8 p.m. (EST) in Rensselaer, Ind.
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