​Three men’s basketball teams got first-place votes from ASUN coaches in their preseason poll.Two of them are in Duval County.ASUN coaches voted Jacksonville University to finish second in the conference behind defending champion Queens in the poll released on Oct. 27. The Dolphins got two first-place votes to five for the Royals and the University of North Florida got the other first-place votes.After Queens and JU, the predicted order of finish by the coaches was Lipscomb, Bellarmine, Florida Gulf Coast, Stetson, UNF and West Florida.Why are the coaches rating JU and UNF so high?JU tied for seventh last season with a 7-11 ASUN record and UNF was 11th with a 5-13 mark. With the league reduced from 12 to eight teams this season, it still might be mystifying why the coaches are so high on the Dolphins and Ospreys.It’s likely because both schools can score. Jacksonville has starting guards Hayden Wood and Evan Sterck returning, a pair who combined for 18.4 points per game with Wood leading JU at 11.8 points per game.JU coach Jordan Mincy also added Stetson’s leading scorer from last season, Jamie Phillips Jr., who scored 16.0 per game.The Ospreys return Episcopal graduate Kent Jackson (14.8 per game), second only to Phillips among leading returning scorers in the conference. In an oversight, the ASUN coaches did not name Jackson to the preseason all-conference team.Wood and Phillips made it for JU, along with Avantae Parker, Nasir Mann and Jordan Watford of Queens; Mateo Esmeraldo, Titas Sarguinas and Takai Simpkins of Lipscomb; Kenyon Goodin of Bellarmine; and Collin Kuhl of Stetson.Kuhl, who averaged 13.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game for the Hatters last season, is the preseason Player of the Year. Parker was named the preseason Defensive Player of the Year. He had 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocked shots per game.JU will open the season Nov. 2 at home against Paine College, while UNF goes on the road to play California Baptist.This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: JU, UNF get first-place votes from ASUN coaches in men’s preseason poll