Friday, July 22, 2011

No respect: Virginia State University picked to finish sixth

ETTRICK, VA - Even though Virginia State reached the CIAA championship game last season — the Trojans lost 14-7 to Shaw — VSU is ranked sixth in the conference preseason poll, which was released Thursday at the CIAA kickoff press conference at Virginia State University.

"I thought we'd get a little bit better recognition," said VSU coach Andrew Faison, who was named CIAA coach of the year after guiding the Trojans to an 8-3 record.

But VSU was predicted to finish eighth last year, so exceeding expectations is nothing new to Faison or the Trojans. He said he'll just use the preseason ranking as motivation for his players, just as he did a year ago.

"It's preseason," Faison said. "It's no big deal."

The top four teams in the preseason poll — defending champion Shaw, Winston-Salem State, Saint Augustine's and Fayetteville State — come from the Southern Division. Even though VSU is predicted to finish sixth overall, the team is ranked second in the Northern Division.



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