BROOKLYN, N.Y. - LIU men's basketball seniors Ty Flowers and Eral Penn were voted Preseason All-Northeast Conference picks, it was announced by the league office Tuesday at the 2021 Virtual Basketball Media Day. Additionally, the team was picked to finish fourth in the conference standings in the league's preseason coaches' poll.

Wagner was picked to finish first, garnering seven first place votes. Bryant and defending NEC champion Mount St. Mary's, who met in last year's conference final, took second and third, respectively, in the poll. The Bulldogs earned two first place votes with the Mount securing one first place nod. LIU finished fourth, followed by Merrimack and Sacred Heart in the fifth and sixth spots, respectively. St. Francis Brooklyn was picked seventh. Saint Francis U, Fairleigh Dickinson and Central Connecticut rounded out the field in that order.

Following a roller coaster 2020-21 season that saw the Sharks post a third consecutive .500 record in NEC play, optimism is running high in the LIU camp as fifth-year head coach Derek Kellogg clearly has title aspirations with the level of talent returning in Brooklyn this fall. Having assembled one of the most imposing front courts in recent NEC memory, LIU will be difficult to contend with in the paint and on the boards. The Sharks sport a pair of preseason All-NEC picks in 6'9" stretch four Ty Flowers and 6'7" power forward Eral Penn. Flowers, a wiry, 6'9" southpaw who can score from every spot on the floor is a three-time All-NEC honoree, while the high-flying Penn was the lone player in the NEC to average a double-double last season on his way to first team All-NEC accolades. Look for 6'8" Hofstra grad transfer Isaac Kante to add even more muscle after he himself averaged a double-double for the Pride last season.

Analytically Speaking (courtesy of the NEC release):
 - Known for his athleticism and sound instincts, Eral Penn tied for the league lead last season in combined steals and blocks with 63. Penn is the first NEC player since former Mount St. Mary's forward Chris Wray in 2017-18 to finish in the top-four in both categories within the same season.
 - While Kyndall Davis certainly passed the eye test with his athleticism in his debut season, the 6-5 sophomore was a linchpin, along with Penn, in Derek Kellogg's underrated defensive attack. Opponents shot 7.0 percent worse on their two-point attempts when Davis was in the game during the 2020-21 campaign.
 - Kellogg has always been an up-tempo coach and last season was not an exception. According to Hoop Math, a league leading 38.7 percent of LIU's possessions were considered as transition opportunities. They were also ninth nationally in tempo, registering 73.7 possessions per game.

The 2021-22 conference season begins on December 29 with teams returning to a traditional round-robin schedule. The eight-team NEC Tournament will take place on March 2 (quarterfinals), 5 (semifinals) & 8 (championship), with each game taking place at the home of the higher seed.