Johnson Tabbed Preseason Player of the Year; Reed Named Co-Defensive Player of the Year
Men's Basketball |

Johnson Tabbed Preseason Player of the Year; Reed Named Co-Defensive Player of the Year

LORMAN, Miss. - The Southwestern Athletic Conference released its 2017-18 preseason men's basketball teams and polls Tuesday, and senior forward Reginal Johnson from Alcorn State University was voted as the Preseason Player of the Year, while sophomore Yalen Reed was the Preseason Co-Defensive Player of the Year.
 
Johnson also earned a spot on the Preseason All-Conference First-Team, and senior A.J. Mosby was slotted on the Preseason All-Conference Second-Team.
 
Additionally, the Braves were predicted to finish fourth in the Preseason Poll. Alcorn returns two starters from last year's second-place team including Mosby and senior Avery Patterson.
 
"We're going to start the season off fresh and not focus on what happened last season – last season was last season and we lost a lot of players," said head coach Montez Robinson. "We no longer have Marquis Vance who was a two-time All-Conference First-Team Player. DeAndre Davis was our glue-guy defensively and held us together. Denzel Dulin came in last year as a graduate transfer and immediately became a leader. Those guys are gone and the biggest thing now is getting our team to play together and helping all of our new guys grow."
 
Despite not starting a single game last year, Johnson was named to the 2016-17 HBCU All-America Second-Team. He led the Braves with 15.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game while shooting .527 from the field.
 
The Monroe, Louisiana native scored at least 10 points in 30 of the last 31 games. He netted at least 20 points five times and solidified his spots on the All-Conference Second-Team, NABC All-District Second-Team and SWAC All-Tournament Team.
 
"Things didn't really go the way he wanted them to his sophomore year, which was my first year here. Then last year, he understood that we had a group of seniors that were going to play ahead of him. Though, he made the most of his opportunities and led us in scoring despite not starting. His patience has really improved and letting the flow of the game come to him," said Robinson. "He's proven to everyone that you can achieve a lot by playing within your roll."
 
Reed, from Nashville, Tennessee, shot .558 from the field last season. He started in seven games but will be relied on heavier this year with the departure of forwards Vance and Davis. Reed swatted away 18 blocks on the season.
 
"Yalen was able to start some games last year for us as a freshman which was really huge. He was able to gain a lot of confidence early. We were able to plug him in for DeAndre a lot last year and there wasn't a huge drop-off. Yalen can block shots and can switch out on guards because he's very athletic and moves well. I'm expecting a lot from him this year," Robinson said.
 
Mosby, a Cartersville, Georgia product, averaged 10.4 points per game and shot .388 from beyond-the-arc. He registered 17 double-figure scoring games and went 23-for-43 (.535) from long-range over the final eight regular season games. Mosby was the only Brave to start in every game last year.
 
"A.J. is a really quiet guy who never played the point guard spot before coming here. He was always that off-the-ball guard in high school and at JUCO. Though, by putting him in that role at the point it's forced him to be more vocal and become a leader. I thought last year he came out of his shell a little bit and accepted the role as the point guard. He carried us in a lot of games and we're looking for him to be more consistent. It's been amazing just watching him grow."
 
The Braves open the 2017-18 campaign at LSU on Friday, Nov. 10. Alcorn's home-opener is on Wednesday, Nov. 22 when it welcomes Yale from the Ivy League at 12:30 p.m.
 
PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Reginal Johnson, Alcorn
 
PRESEASON CO-DEFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
Treshawn Bolden, Jackson State
Yalen Reed, Alcorn
 
FIRST-TEAM
Guard – Demontrae Jefferson, Texas Southern                                                                                            
Guard – Paris Collins, Jackson State
Forward – Reginal Johnson, Alcorn
Forward – Kevin Scott, Texas Southern
Center – Jared Sam, Southern
 
SECOND-TEAM
Guard –  A.J. Mosby, Alcorn
Guard – Chris Thomas, Southern
Forward – Rodney Simeon, Alabama State
Forward – Lamont Walker, Texas Southern
Center – Treshawn Bolden, Jackson State
 
PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
1. Texas Southern (171)
2. Southern (131)                                                                                                                                                               
3. Jackson State (124)
4. Alcorn (117)
5. Prairie View A&M (99)
6. Alabama State (98)
7. Grambling State (75)
8. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (64)
9. Mississippi Valley State (60)
10. Alabama A&M (51)
 
#FearTheBrave
 
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