LAS VEGAS-- The Western Athletic Conference released preseason men's basketball polls Wednesday morning during its WAC preview at the Orleans Arena. The coaches and media polls both selected defending Champion NM State as the preseason favorite.
The league's eight head coaches, who could not vote for their own team or players, gave the Aggies 49 points and seven first-place votes to beat out Grand Canyon for top spot. The Antelopes captured second place with 39 points. CSU Bakersfield came in third with 36 points and the other first-place vote, edging out Missouri-Kansas City in fourth place with 35 points. Seattle U came in fifth place with 22 points, just ahead of Utah Valley in sixth with 20 points. UT Rio Grande Valley (13) and Chicago State (10) round out the poll.
The coaches selected Missouri-Kansas City junior Martez Harrison as WAC Preseason Player of the Year. Harrison was joined by CSU Bakersfield's Aly Ahmed, NM State's Ian Baker and Pascal Siakam, and Grand Canyon's DeWayne Russell as the First Team All-WAC honorees.
Second team selections went to Joshua Braun (Grand Canyon), Hayes Garrity (Utah Valley), Shaquille Hines (UTRGV), Kevin Mays (CSU Bakersfield), and William Powell (Seattle U).
The WAC men's basketball media selected NM State as the preseason favorite to repeat as conference champions in 2015-16, but differed from the coaches on WAC Preseason Player of the Year. The media gave the nod to NM State's sophomore Pascal Siakam.
Joining Siakam on the first team All-WAC were Aly Ahmed (CSUB), teammate Ian Baker, Martez Harrison (UMKC), and DeWayne Russell (GCU). Second team honors were given to Joshua Braun (GCU), Shaquille Hines (UTRGV), Kevin Mays (CSUB), William Powell (SU), and Deshaun Sunderhaus (SU).
The Aggies received 13 first-place votes in the media poll, earning 110 points. Grand Canyon was picked to finish second with 88 points, just ahead of Missouri-Kansas City in third with 87 points. CSU Bakersfield was picked to finish fourth with 76 points and one first-place vote, followed by Seattle U in fifth with 55 points. Utah Valley was picked to finish in sixth place with 37 points, followed by UT Rio Grande Valley in seventh with 34 points and Chicago State in eighth with 17 points.
For the full releases of each poll, see the WAC's linked PDFs.
~GoRunners.com~
