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10/20/10
Coaches & Media Pick Weber State to 3-Peat
Last season WSU went 13-3 in the regular season and went to the NIT which was its third post season in 4 years. In back-to-back seasons Weber had conference titles and Big Sky MVP's in Kellen McCoy and Damian Lillard.

For the second time in 3 years the coaches poll has tabbed Weber as #1. Of the 8 possible first place votes WSU received 6 (4 last year); a coach can't vote for his own team. In the media poll WSU received 21 (23 last year) of the possible 28 first place votes.

Coming in at second in the coaches to no surprise to the die-hard Big Sky fans is NAU who returns NBA prospect Cameron Jones who considered leaving college early then decided to play his senior year. Jones will be complemented with all-conference hopefuls in Eric Platt, Shane Johannsen and Gabe Rogers. Rogers was 1 of the top performing Freshmen in the Big Sky last season. The 'Jacks have had a rough couple years plagued with injuries and off the court issues. A couple solid recruiting classes with players like Reid Wallace and Stallon Saldivar should help NAU get back to having winning seasons and finishing in the top 4.

Montana has been picked by the coaches in each of Rahe's 4 seasons to finish second which never happened. This year UM is third in both polls. The Griz are expected to have the best bigs in the 'Sky but replacing two-guard Anthony Johnson is easier said than done. Will Cherry at the point and some promising new recruits will give the Griz what is needed to contend for its first regular season championship since 2000.

Since the Big Sky Conference started in 1964, 10 times there has been a team win back-to-back regular season titles in basketball. Six of these 10 were the Wildcats.

Coaches' Poll
Team - First-place votes
1. Weber State 6
2. Northern Arizona 1
3. Montana 2
4. Northern Colorado
5. Montana State
6. Eastern Washington
7. Portland State
8. Idaho State
9. Sacramento State

Media Poll
Team - First-place votes
1. Weber State 21
2. Northern Colorado 2
3. Montana 4
4. Northern Arizona 1
5. Montana State
6. Eastern Washington
7. Portland State
8. Idaho State
9. Sacramento State

In 2009-10 WSU was picked 1st in both polls and finished 1st. In 2008-09 WSU was picked 4th/5th by the 2 polls and won the regular season Big Sky Championship. In 2007-08 Weber was picked to finish 1st/2nd and the 'Cats finished 3rd. In Rahe's first season, 2006-07 the 'Cats were picked to finish 6th/7th and won the title after finishing last place the season before.

I find it interesting that the only variation between the two polls is the swapping of UNC and NAU between 2 and 4.

I don't believe Sac will be in last place. Look for us somewhere in the 4-6 range as Katz gets the players up to speed. Look for the Hornets to challenge for the title in 11-12 or 12-13.

ya as for sac, why would i assume ISU won't be 9th?????? they had 8 seniors and got 8th last yr. seriously, no teams do that.

they will be 9th.

are the media voters smoking something voting for UNC #2 and giving them 1st place votes? lost will figures and yahosh and a new coach! too many unknowns for me right now; its not that i dont think UNC could make a run but right now i dont know...

EWU is hurting; this could devistate them if Dean is out for the year

EWU’s Dean sidelined with stress fracture

Posted by Steve
Oct. 20, 2010 12:46 p.m. • 0 comments
The 2010-11 college basketball season has not started off well for Eastern Washington men’s coach Kirk Earlywine and his Eagles.

Less than a week into practice, Earlywine has lost sophomore point guard Glen Dean for an indefinite time because of a stress fracture in his foot. And promising freshman Geoffrey Allen has been lost for the season with a broken wrist that will keep him in cast for about three months.

You can read more in the story released by EWU sports information department here. Here is a link to the story on the Eagles’ injury woes that will appear in Thursday morning’s S-R.

i'd go with:

1. Weber State
2. Northern Arizona
3. Montana
4. Northern Colorado
5. Montana State
6. Portland State
7. Eastern Washington
8. Sacramento State
9. Idaho State


if this scenario does ewu still go to the big sky tourney? psu has been banned for the 2010-11 season.

Yeah, I'm pissed that NCAA put a year of no post-season on PSU, based on our outgoing coach's merss. Our acedemic record's been perfect since he left but we're still stuck with it. It won't prevent us from playing hard, though. We'll be up around 4th or 5th by the end of season.

Weber is somewhat of a mystery I'd expect after losing 4 starters. But I guess that Lillard is so good and he can carry the team. I hear they figure he's a pretty sure bet for the NBA. And they must have done well recruiting to get that much respect.

Boys
1. Montana State
2. Weber State
3. Montana
4. Northern Colorado
5. Sac State
6. Portland State
7. Northern Arizona
8. Eastern Washington
9. Idaho State

Girls
1. Portland State
2. Eastern Washington
3. Sac State
4. Montana
5. Idaho State
6. Montana State
7. Weber State
8. Northern Colorado
9. Northern Arizona

I'm sure many of you will agree that this will be Joe O'Brien's last year @ ISU.

I think any of the top 5 could win the league. This could be one of those years (like '07) where 11-5 is good enough to do it.



Oh, & here are the women's polls:

• Coaches
  
  1. Montana
  2. Eastern Washington
  3. Portland St.
  4. Montana St.
  5. Idaho St.
  6. Sac State
  7. Northern Arizona
  8. Northern Colorado
  9. Weber St.
  
  
  Media
  
  1. Montana
  2. Eastern Washington
  3. Portland St.
  4. Montana St.
  5. Sac State
  6. Idaho St.
  7. Northern Arizona
  8. Northern Colorado
  9. Weber St.

Not a whole lot of disagreement here. I would flip PSU/MSU and I think ISU may be overrated given the loss of Iacovita.

weberwildcat wrote:ya as for sac, why would i assume ISU won't be 9th?????? they had 8 seniors and got 8th last yr. seriously, no teams do that.

they will be 9th.

That was my thinking as well. Dean would be a huge loss for EWU, although they do have other young players. With PSU ineligible for post season, Sac just needs to finish better than 2 other schools not named PSU. I think ISU and EWU could fit that description. My expectations are a 500 season for the Hornets.

I also agree with what you said about UNC. They may still be competitive, but they have no where to go but down given what has left that program over the offseason.

webfan wrote:Weber is somewhat of a mystery I'd expect after losing 4 starters. But I guess that Lillard is so good and he can carry the team. I hear they figure he's a pretty sure bet for the NBA. And they must have done well recruiting to get that much respect.

Weber only lost 3 starters and 2 of them to graduation

Hansen, Panos and Sessions.

Our starters last year were Lillard, Sessions, Bullinger, Panos and Hansen, Lillard and K-Bull are still here

It would be a mistake to flip PSU/MSU. PSU lost Faucher but has a very good point guard transfer who redshirted last year coming in. A new jr transfer forward coming in who's good on the boards. The rest is the same who won the tournament last year. I'd put PSU at a solid three and probably two.

frinq wrote:It would be a mistake to flip PSU/MSU. PSU lost Faucher but has a very good point guard transfer who redshirted last year coming in. A new jr transfer forward coming in who's good on the boards. The rest is the same who won the tournament last year. I'd put PSU at a solid three and probably two.

And finished fifth in the regular season.

And won the tournament. Nothing to sneeze at. Or have you slipped into the men?

frinq wrote:And won the tournament. Nothing to sneeze at.

True, but that was still Murrell's worst team @ PSU. I think they'll be pretty good this year, but a step below UM, MSU, & EWU. It still remains to be seen if her recruits can be as good as Elliott's (i.e. Kahle & Faucher). They look decent on paper, but Faucher will be hard to replace just as Kahle was.

You're right about replacing Faucher. It could be argued that we won the tournament only because of her. We'll probably be stuttering early in the season looking for the replacement. Eryn Jones is a fine shooter but looked slow at point last year. VanBrocklin Is coming in after sitting out last year. She's a transfer from Boise State and played a lot at point as a freshman there, did reasonably well (admittedly, not the best team in the world). We've added a a CC transfer, Sams, to our forwards, and she might turn out to be very good. A couple freshmen, but they probably won't be much use this year. Yes, a lot of questions. We play Western Oregon tonight (D-II) to start the schedule, and some of those questions might - or might not - be answered.