University of New Hampshire Athletics
10/21/2021 11:28:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jayden Martinez and Nick Guadarrama were selected to the America East Preseason All-Conference Team
BOSTON - The University of New Hampshire men's basketball team was chosen third in the America East preseason coaches' poll, which was announced on Thursday morning.
The Wildcats notched 64 points in the poll, to go along with one first place vote. Stony Brook was picked first with 77 points and five first-place votes, while Vermont was selected second with 74 points and four first-place votes.
Head Coach Bill Herrion is in his 17th season with the Wildcats, leading the team to a third-place finish in the America East standings with a 9-6 record in conference play and a 10-9 overall record in the COVID shortened 2020-21 season.
"I think being picked third and having two players on the preseason All-Conference Team, I think that shows other coaches in the league respect us," said Herrion. "With that said, the bar has been raised here in our basketball program at UNH, the expectations are higher. The bull's eye on your back gets bigger and you need to show up every night. It's not where you start the race at the beginning of the year, it's where you finish the race in March. We think we have a really good basketball team, we have a veteran experienced team with a lot of pieces coming back, so we are expecting to be good. The goal of our program is always we want to get better every day we come into the gym as a team and as individuals. For the first time in the history of UNH basketball our goal is to be playing on March 12 in the America East Championship with a chance to cut the nets down."
UNH was one of two America East teams to place two student-athletes on the preseason All-Conference Team in senior forwards Nick Guadarrama (Newington, Conn.) and Jayden Martinez (Cibolo, Texas), along with Vermont.
Guadarrama, who led the team with 14.0 points per game and ranked seventh in the league in scoring, was a Second-Team America East All-Conference selection. Martinez was a America East First-Team All-Conference honoree averaging 13.6 points per game and 8.5 rebounds per game, which led the Wildcats' roster. Martinez's 43.3% shooting from the three-point arc led all America East players.
The Wildcats open their season on Tuesday, November 9th vs. Saint Joseph's College (ME). Game time from Lundholm Gymnasium is 7 p.m.
Season, individual and group tickets are on sale now at unhwildcats.com/tickets.
The 2021-22 season begins on November 9 with conference play starting on January 2. Conference positioning will again prove key for the #AEPlayoffs. After not playing in front of fans last year, every round of the #AEPlayoffs will take place on the higher seed's home court and earning home court advantage will prove crucial once again.
The league champion will earn an automatic berth into the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship, where America East teams have won nine games all-time, including UMBC's historic upset of Virginia in 2018.
Fans will once again be able to watch every #AEHoops home game on The AE on ESPN. The majority of games will air on ESPN+ or ESPN3 while one of the five conference matchups on Jan. 6 will be nationally televised on ESPNU.
Follow the @AEHoopsNews Twitter account to stay up-to-date on #AEHoops news all season long.
2021-22 America East Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll
The Wildcats notched 64 points in the poll, to go along with one first place vote. Stony Brook was picked first with 77 points and five first-place votes, while Vermont was selected second with 74 points and four first-place votes.
Head Coach Bill Herrion is in his 17th season with the Wildcats, leading the team to a third-place finish in the America East standings with a 9-6 record in conference play and a 10-9 overall record in the COVID shortened 2020-21 season.
"I think being picked third and having two players on the preseason All-Conference Team, I think that shows other coaches in the league respect us," said Herrion. "With that said, the bar has been raised here in our basketball program at UNH, the expectations are higher. The bull's eye on your back gets bigger and you need to show up every night. It's not where you start the race at the beginning of the year, it's where you finish the race in March. We think we have a really good basketball team, we have a veteran experienced team with a lot of pieces coming back, so we are expecting to be good. The goal of our program is always we want to get better every day we come into the gym as a team and as individuals. For the first time in the history of UNH basketball our goal is to be playing on March 12 in the America East Championship with a chance to cut the nets down."
UNH was one of two America East teams to place two student-athletes on the preseason All-Conference Team in senior forwards Nick Guadarrama (Newington, Conn.) and Jayden Martinez (Cibolo, Texas), along with Vermont.
Guadarrama, who led the team with 14.0 points per game and ranked seventh in the league in scoring, was a Second-Team America East All-Conference selection. Martinez was a America East First-Team All-Conference honoree averaging 13.6 points per game and 8.5 rebounds per game, which led the Wildcats' roster. Martinez's 43.3% shooting from the three-point arc led all America East players.
The Wildcats open their season on Tuesday, November 9th vs. Saint Joseph's College (ME). Game time from Lundholm Gymnasium is 7 p.m.
Season, individual and group tickets are on sale now at unhwildcats.com/tickets.
The 2021-22 season begins on November 9 with conference play starting on January 2. Conference positioning will again prove key for the #AEPlayoffs. After not playing in front of fans last year, every round of the #AEPlayoffs will take place on the higher seed's home court and earning home court advantage will prove crucial once again.
The league champion will earn an automatic berth into the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship, where America East teams have won nine games all-time, including UMBC's historic upset of Virginia in 2018.
Fans will once again be able to watch every #AEHoops home game on The AE on ESPN. The majority of games will air on ESPN+ or ESPN3 while one of the five conference matchups on Jan. 6 will be nationally televised on ESPNU.
Follow the @AEHoopsNews Twitter account to stay up-to-date on #AEHoops news all season long.
2021-22 America East Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll
| Rk. | Team | Points | FPV |
| 1. | Stony Brook | 77 | 5 |
| 2. | Vermont | 74 | 4 |
| 3. | New Hampshire | 64 | 1 |
| 4. | Hartford | 56 | |
| 5. | UMBC | 49 | |
| 6. | UMass Lowell | 43 | |
| 7. | UAlbany | 34 | |
| 8. | NJIT | 23 | |
| 9. | Maine | 16 | |
| 10. | Binghamton | 14 |
2021-22 America East Men's Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team
Ryan Davis, Sr., Forward, Vermont
Nick Guadarrama, Sr., Forward, New Hampshire
Jayden Martinez, Sr., Forward, New Hampshire
Elijah Olaniyi, Gr., Guard, Stony Brook
Ben Shungu, Gr., Guard, Vermont
Austin Williams, Gr., Guard, Hartford
Players Mentioned
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