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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team was picked to finish seventh out of 10 teams in the 2008-09 preseason Ohio Valley Conference poll conducted by a vote of OVC head men’s basketball coaches and sports information directors. Meanwhile, senior guard Mike Rose was named to the preseason all-conference team.

Eastern Kentucky returns three starters from last year’s squad that tallied 10 OVC victories and finished tied for fifth in the final league standings. Six of the 14 players on the roster are new to the team this season. Eastern added four freshmen and two junior college transfers.

Rose, a native of Naperville, Ill., started all 30 games last year while ranking fifth in the conference in scoring (15.3 ppg), fifth in free throw percentage (81.5 percent) and fourth in steals (1.8 spg). He became the 28th Colonel to reach the 1,000-point plateau when he scored a team-high 21 points at Tennessee Tech on Feb. 2. Rose will be shooting to become the first EKU player to earn back-to-back first team All-OVC accolades since Bruce Jones and James Tillman accomplished the feat in 1979 and 1980.

Murray State was picked as the 2008-09 OVC preseason favorite. The Racers, who received 11 of 20 first-place votes, finished second in the OVC last season (13-7) and return nine players and four starters from the team. UT Martin senior guard Lester Hudson was tabbed OVC Preseason Player of the Year after having an All-American junior season in which he finished fifth nationally in scoring (25.7 ppg).

The Colonels open the 2008-09 schedule on Friday, Nov. 14, at Florida International. Eastern Kentucky compiled a 14-16 record in 2007-08 while posting double-figure league victories for the fourth straight year.