Thursday was Media Day for Mens's Basketball in many conferences, the Pac-10 included, which means the pre-season media poll was released. And 33 of 35 ballots listed Washington #1.
Arizona and UCLA, who are #2 and #3 in the poll, each got one first place pick, with the Huskies #2 on both of those ballots.
Oregon St. was pegged to finish 8th., and Oregon #10.
It’s the first time Washington, the defending Pac-10 Tournament champions, who have four starters returning from their NCAA Sweet 16 squad, including All-Pac-10 junior guard Isaiah Thomas (16.9 ppg), have ever peen picked as the preseason favorite in the PCC/AAWU/Pac-8/Pac-10. Many of the Huskies’ current players were also on their 2008-09 regular season conference championship squad.
Arizona, picked to finish second, also has four returning starters.
Complete 2010-11 PAC-10 MEN’S BASKETBALL MEDIA POLL:
|
|
Team |
Points |
|
1. |
Washington (33) |
348 |
|
2. |
Arizona (1) |
296 |
|
3. |
UCLA (1) |
281 |
|
4. |
Arizona State |
215 |
|
5. |
Washington State |
191 |
|
6. |
USC |
178 |
|
7. |
California |
151 |
|
8. |
Oregon State |
120 |
|
9. |
Stanford |
98 |
|
10. |
Oregon |
47 |
(First place votes in parentheses.)
The middle of the pack could be shuffled around quite a bit, in what should be another highly competitive race for tournament positioning, but overall, it seems about right.