With a good chunk of its 27-2 team coming back from a season ago, St. Thomas Aquinas has been named the preseason No. 1 team in the Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten.

The two-time defending GMC Tournament champion Trojans – who finished third in the final rankings last year – graduate the “heart and soul” of last year’s squad in Adam Silas – now at Wofford – but bring back a senior-laden group including Sherief Guinyard, Kamal Lee, Jalen Pichardo and Terrell Pitts.

At No. 2 is Rutgers Prep, which also has a lot of key pieces back, but graduates about 20 points a game in the losses of Ryan Pettit and Ryan Zan. Pettit also led the scrappy Argonauts in steams with 130 in 30 games, as the Argonauts (26-4 last year) made it to the finals of the Somerset County Tournament, and won the Non-Public South A title over Red Bank Catholic, finishing just a win shy of the final Tournament of Champions.

Gill St. Bernard’s – with major turnover heading into this season including the loss of star Denver Anglin to graduation and four transfers – comes off a 20-7 season in which they won the SCT, and made it to the Non-Public North B finals.

Colonia begins the season at No. 4, coming off a very successful 25-5 campaign which saw them fall in the GMC Tournament final, but win the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 championship, the only public school in the CJSR coverage area to win a sectional title.

St. Joseph of Metuchen checks in at Number Five.

The high school basketball season in New Jersey opens tonight.

Below is the full preseason Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten: