Following Sacred Heart and Robert Morris in the top five of the poll are Wagner, Mount St. Mary's and Quinnipiac. Rounding out the preseason poll is Central Connecticut State and Saint Francis (Pa.), which are picked to tie for sixth, St. Francis (N.Y.), Fairleigh Dickinson, Monmouth and Long Island.

As well as being picked second in the preseason poll, seniors Tony Lee (Boston, Mass. / Charlestown) and A.J. Jackson (Monessen, Pa. / Monessen) earned two of the five spots on the 2007-08 NEC preseason all-conference team. It marks the second straight time Jackson has been named to the preseason squad, and he and Lee join Tristan Blackwood of Central Connecticut State, Robert Hines of St. Francis (N.Y.) and DeMario Anderson of Quinnipiac.

Lee, a 6'0", 205-pound guard, earned a spot on the 2007 All-NEC Second Team as a junior after averaging 15.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 2.8 steals per game. He led the NEC in field goal percentage by converting 59.3 percent of his shots from the floor and also ranked eighth nationally in steals per game. Lee also ranked fifth in the league in assists, seventh in rebounding and 10th in scoring. He will enter his final season in 2007-08 with career totals of 1,026 points, 526 rebounds and 270 assists as he became just the sixth player in NEC history, and first as a junior, to eclipse career totals of 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 250 assists.

Jackson, 6'6" and 240 pounds, is on the cusp of joining Lee in the 1,000-point and 500-rebound clubs at Robert Morris in 2007-08, as the forward enters the season with career totals of 973 points and 493 boards. A two-time All-NEC selection, Jackson has led the Colonials in both scoring and rebounding each of the past two seasons. In 2006-07 he averaged 16.9 points and 7.8 rebounds per game and also owns 21 career double-doubles, the most of any player in the NEC. In scoring last season Jackson ranked third in the circuit as well as second in rebounding. He earned All-NEC Second Team honors along with Lee last year after being named to the league's first team in 2006.

Robert Morris, under the guidance of first-year head coach Mike Rice, is coming off a 2006-07 campaign in which it posted an overall record of 17-11, including a 9-9 mark in the NEC. The Colonials tied for fourth in the league standings and fell to Mount St. Mary's, 78-61, in the NEC Tournament quarterfinals.

In 2007-08 RMU returns four starters, as joining Jackson and Lee are senior center Freddie Harris (Decatur, Ala. / Lawson State C.C.), who posted averages of 4.3 points and 3.0 rebounds last year, and junior guard Jeremy Chappell (Cincinnati, Ohio / Northwest). Chappell finished third on the club in both scoring (14.4 ppg) and rebounding (5.1 rpg) while finishing second on the club in three-pointers with 41 in 2006-07.