CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Coming off its first-ever Atlantic Region championship and NCAA Division II Elite Eight berth, Coach Jim Crutchfield's West Liberty University men's basketball team is ranked No. 3 in the NCAA Division II section of the 2011-12 Sporting News College Basketball Preview magazine.

Hilltopper sophomore guard Cedric Harris was selected as an Honorable Mention Preseason NCAA Division II All-American by the publication, which featured a list of the projected Top 10 teams for the 2011-12 season along with an All-America Team.

Entering his eighth season at the West Liberty helm, Crutchfield has the highest career winning percentage of any active NCAA Division II head coach at 175-40 (.814) and is coming off a school-record 33-1 campaign which saw his Hilltoppers spend the final two months of the season ranked No. 1 in the coaches' Top 25. West Liberty led the nation in an NCAA Division II-record eight statistical categories, including the fifth national scoring title in the past six seasons.

Crutchfield must replace four 1,000-point scorers – including All-Americans Corey Pelle and Jordan Fortney – but the cupboard is far from bare. Junior starter Alex Falk (13.3 ppg.) leads 9 returning lettermen for the two-time defending West Virginia Conference champions. 

Harris, a speedy 6-0 sophomore guard who averaged nearly 20 points a game as the 2009 WVIAC Freshman of the Year at Wheeling Jesuit, transferred to West Liberty during the off-season and heads a stellar class of newcomers stuffed with first-team all-staters from Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.

“One of the things that made last year's team so special is that our four senior starters came into our system as backups and developed into 1,000-point scorers on a Final Four team,” Crutchfield said. “Our returning players all received significant playing time and we brought in some impact newcomers so we're very optimistic that this year's group is ready to step up to the challenge, as well.”

Defending national champion Bellarmine (Ky.) was No. 1 in The Sporting News' rankings with Lincoln Memorial (Tenn.) edging out the Hilltoppers for the No. 2 spot. Alabama-Huntsville and BYU-Hawaii – which upset West Liberty in a thrilling national semifinal shootout last year – round out the top five.

The Hilltoppers were the only WVIAC team to crack The Sporting News rankings. Joining Harris as Honorable Mention Preseason All-Americans were Pitt-Johnstown center Patrick Grubbs and Fairmont State guard Isaac Thornton.

West Liberty is scheduled to tip off the 2011-12 season on Nov. 12 when the Hilltoppers take on East Stroudsburg (Pa.) in the Wolf Bus Lines Classic at Shippensburg (Pa.) University.

The Sporting News

NCAA Division II Men's Basketball

2011-12 Preseason Top 10

1. Bellarmine (Ky.)

2. Lincoln Memorial (Tenn.)

3. West Liberty 

4. Alabama-Huntsville

5. BYU-Hawaii

6. Benedict (S.C.)

7. Missouri Southern

8. Augustana (S.D.)

9. Metro State (Colo.)

10. UMass-Lowell

Sporting News Preseason All-Americans

First Team

Phillip Brown (Georgia Southwestern); Jet Chang (BYU-Hawaii); Braydon Hobbs (Bellarmine); Jeremy Kendle (Bellarmine); Josh Magette (Alabama-Huntsville)

Second Team

Marcus Goode (Benedict), Desmond Johnson (Lincoln Memorial); Trevin Parks (Johnson C. Smith); Taylor Rohde (Alaska-Anchorage); Cody Schilling (Augustana, SD)

Honorable Mention

Jason Adams (Missouri Southern); Daniel Bailey (Queens, N.C.); Stefan Bonneau (C.W. Post); Shammel Brackett (UNC-Pembroke); Alvin Brown (USC-Aiken); Zane Campbell (Alabama-Huntsville); Kyle Caiola (Findlay); Xavier Collier (Benedict); Dan Comas (Chestnut Hill); Jarrell Douglass (Limestone); Brent Eaton (Hillsdale); Brent Evans (Queens, N.C.); Reggie Evans (Metro State); Dwayne Fells (Cal Poly-Pomona); Gerald Fulton (Missouri-St. Louis); Patrick Grubbs (Pitt-Johnstown); Rob Gutierrez (St. Rose); Ali Haidar (Michigan Tech); Alex Hall (Drury); Trevon Hamlet (Southern Connecticut); Ahmad Harris (Bloomfield); CEDRIC HARRIS (WEST LIBERTY); Greg Hayes (Mount Olive); Mike Hollingsworth (Wayne State, Mich.); Randy Hunter (Humboldt State); Travis Hyman (Bowie State); Thomas Manzano (New Mexico Highlands); Cameron McCaffrey (Augustana); Adrian Moss (Indianapolis); Andy Poling (Seattle Pacific); Da'Ron Sims (West Georgia); Ashton Smith (Indiana, Pa.); Derek Staton (Mount Olive); Isaac Thornton (Fairmont State); Liki Turner (Francis Marion); Odell Turner (Wingate); Clayton Vette (Winona State); Anthony Young (Kentucky Wesleyan)