Men's basketball team No. 3 in Street & Smith's JUCO rankings

The Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team is ranked third in the Street & Smith's junior college preseason rankings.

The Titans are coming off a school record 31-win season and placed second in the National Championship Tournament and return three starters from that team including Ahmed Ali and Shaq Carter who were named to the 2017 JUCO Super Sophs teams.

Ali is on the second team and is coming off a freshman season in which he averaged close to 16 points per game and 4.9 assists.

Carter is on the third team after averaging nine points and six rebounds in his freshman season. Eli Abaev is also a returning starter that averaged close to five points and seven rebounds per game.

Michael Nuga, who was the backup for All-American Kareem Brewton and had big games in the state tournament last season, big man Shaq Seville and 3-point shooter Kaleel Solomon also return from last year's runner-up team.

The Titans will open the regular season Nov. 3 at the Vincennes Tourney in Indiana where they will face Shawnee Community College in the first game and then the host Vincennes University who is No. 9 in the preseason poll on Nov. 4. The home opener will be Nov. 20 against Miami Dade College at 6 p.m. Admission to Titans sporting events is free.