STATESBORO – Athlon, Lindy's and Street & Smith's have high preseason praise for the Georgia Southern men's basketball team as the Eagles begin full practice sessions this week.

All three publications have Tookie Brown on the preseason All-Sun Belt team and the Eagles picked in the top-3 of the conference. 

Lindy's lists Brown as one of its top-150 players and names the senior its Player of the Year. It also selects Ike Smith to its All-Sun Belt Second Team and picks Montae Glenn on its national All-Glass Cleaning Team. The periodical picks the Eagles third in the Sun Belt and ranks the conference the 16th best in the country.

Athlon picks the Eagles third in the Sun Belt and has Glenn on its national Top-10 Offensive Rebounding List. Street & Smith's picks the Eagles second in the Sun Belt. 

The Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook released its predictions last week and named Brown to its all-conference team and Simeon Carter its Newcomer of the Year while picking GS third.

With 1,718 points, Brown is seventh among returning active career scoring leaders in the NCAA and 153 shy of becoming Georgia Southern's all-time leader in the Division I era. One of 17 players to earn first-team All-Sun Belt honors in three seasons, he is seeking to become the first to accomplish the feat all four years. 

Brown averaged 18.9 points, 4.3 assists and 4.1 in rebounds while shooting .532 percent from the field and .471 percent from long distance. He ranked third in the Sun Belt in scoring, second in field goal percentage, fifth in assists, fifth in assist/turnover ratio (1.7) and second in steals (1.8).

Glenn ranked first in the Sun Belt and second in the country in offensive rebounds (4.2/gm) and averaged nine points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks a game. The senior reached double figures in rebounds in 10 games and led the team in rebounding in 21 contests on his way to ranking fifth in the SBC in rebounds and fourth in blocked shots.

Smith averaged 12.0 points and 4.3 rebounds, and the senior reached double figures in scoring in fifteen games, scored 20-plus points four times and led the Eagles in scoring in four contests.

Carter spent two seasons at Iowa State before transferring to Georgia Southern. The redshirt junior sat out last season in accordance with NCAA transfer rules and is eligible this year.

Georgia Southern reached 20 wins for the second time in four years in 2017-18, posting a 21-12 mark, and joined Louisiana and UTA as the only three Sun Belt schools to notch double-digit conference wins in each of the last four seasons. The Eagles return three starters and five lettermen to the 2018-19 team and open the campaign with a home exhibition contest against Charleston Southern in Hanner Fieldhouse Oct. 30.

Season ticket renewals and pre-orders are on sale and start at just $100. Georgia Southern annually offers one of the best values in the Sun Belt for men's basketball season tickets and this year is no different. Season tickets in the lower reserved sections (F-J) are $175 and sell out quickly while season tickets in the upper reserved sections (7-12) are $140. General admission season tickets are $100 and courtside seats are $450 each (minimum $1,200 Eagle Fund donation required to purchase courtside seats).

Fans who purchase a men's season tickets will have a women's season ticket included for no additional charge.