Preseason Picks II
Pac-10
Champ- UCLA
Locks- 2. Washington St., 3. Oregon
Bubble- 4. Stanford, 5. USC, 6. Arizona, 7. Washington, 8. Cal
The Rest- 9. Arizona St., 10. Oregon St.
WCC
Champ- Gonzaga
Contender- St. Mary’s
The Rest- San Diego, Santa Clara, San Fran, Portland, Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount
Gonzaga still has the most talent in the league but will be vulnerable. Derek Raivio is gone but Josh Heytvelt returns as do five other rotation players. However, St. Mary’s should give Gonzaga a run for its money and I wouldn’t be surprised to see San Diego, Santa Clara, or San Francisco knock off the Zags at home.
Big West
Champ- UCSB
Contenders- Cal Poly, CS Fullerton, CS Northridge, Pacific, UC Irvine
The Rest- UC Davis, UC Riverside, Long Beach St.
UCSB returns four starters including Alex Harris who led the league in scoring last year and Chris Devine, leading rebounder and second in scoring. Cal Poly though returns a good portion of last year’s squads and they should be competitive but I like the Gauchos to win it all.
Horizon
Champ- Butler
Contenders- Wisconsin-Milwaukee
The Rest- Wisconsin-GB, Wright St., Loyola (IL), Detroit, Valparaiso, Youngstown St., Illinois-Chicago, Cleveland St.
Butler is easily the class of the conference again with AJ Graves and Mike Green returning along with four other key rotation guys. Wisconsin-Milwaukee brings back mostly everyone and would win this league if Butler weren’t in it. Valpo will be an intriguing team this year. They return their top 7 scorers but their upgrade in conferences will probably be too significant to let them be competitive.
Ivy
Champ- Columbia
Contenders- Brown, Cornell, Yale, Penn
The Rest- Princeton, Dartmouth, Harvard
Columbia has all but one player returning from last year’s team that went .500 in Ivy League play. Brown, Cornell, and Yale all return a decent portion of their squads and if Columbia stumbles then they will all be right there. As for the Quakers, I expect a down year after losing Mark Zoller and Ibrahim Jaaber but you can never count out Penn.
Champ- UCLA
Locks- 2. Washington St., 3. Oregon
Bubble- 4. Stanford, 5. USC, 6. Arizona, 7. Washington, 8. Cal
The Rest- 9. Arizona St., 10. Oregon St.
WCC
Champ- Gonzaga
Contender- St. Mary’s
The Rest- San Diego, Santa Clara, San Fran, Portland, Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount
Gonzaga still has the most talent in the league but will be vulnerable. Derek Raivio is gone but Josh Heytvelt returns as do five other rotation players. However, St. Mary’s should give Gonzaga a run for its money and I wouldn’t be surprised to see San Diego, Santa Clara, or San Francisco knock off the Zags at home.
Big West
Champ- UCSB
Contenders- Cal Poly, CS Fullerton, CS Northridge, Pacific, UC Irvine
The Rest- UC Davis, UC Riverside, Long Beach St.
UCSB returns four starters including Alex Harris who led the league in scoring last year and Chris Devine, leading rebounder and second in scoring. Cal Poly though returns a good portion of last year’s squads and they should be competitive but I like the Gauchos to win it all.
Horizon
Champ- Butler
Contenders- Wisconsin-Milwaukee
The Rest- Wisconsin-GB, Wright St., Loyola (IL), Detroit, Valparaiso, Youngstown St., Illinois-Chicago, Cleveland St.
Butler is easily the class of the conference again with AJ Graves and Mike Green returning along with four other key rotation guys. Wisconsin-Milwaukee brings back mostly everyone and would win this league if Butler weren’t in it. Valpo will be an intriguing team this year. They return their top 7 scorers but their upgrade in conferences will probably be too significant to let them be competitive.
Ivy
Champ- Columbia
Contenders- Brown, Cornell, Yale, Penn
The Rest- Princeton, Dartmouth, Harvard
Columbia has all but one player returning from last year’s team that went .500 in Ivy League play. Brown, Cornell, and Yale all return a decent portion of their squads and if Columbia stumbles then they will all be right there. As for the Quakers, I expect a down year after losing Mark Zoller and Ibrahim Jaaber but you can never count out Penn.
posted by Andrew at 3:59 AM
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