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MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Eastern Washington
- Montana
- Northern Colorado
- Montana State
- Weber State
- Southern Utah
- Portland State
- Northern Arizona
- Sacramento State
- Idaho State
- Idaho
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON COACHES’ POLL:
- Eastern Washington
- Montana
- Weber State
- Portland State
- Northern Colorado
- Montana State
- Southern Utah
- Northern Arizona
- Sacramento State
- Idaho State
- Idaho
COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-If you follow this site you are well aware of this, but if you do not then you need to know that this conference has one of the greatest traditions in all of college basketball: THE HALFTIME FLOOR SWEEPERS AT THE CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT!!! For years, on Pluto TV, the opening round games of the tournament have literally no commercials to go to, so at halftime there is no halftime show/analysis/commercial breaks…just floor sweepers!
-As for the rest of the league, Eastern Washington is the near-unanimous favorite to win, which makes sense. They were the first place team a year ago and although they lost their starting center who averaged a double-double (Mason Peatling), the other four starters are back. This is potentially a team that we will frequently see in the UTR Top-Ten this year.
-Montana is a team that is regularly a force in this league, and they are picked to finish near the top again this year. They did lose quite a few pieces from a year ago, but will be replacing them with some transfer guys who should be able to contribute right away.
-Weber State, along with Montana, has been the most consistently successful team in the conference over the years, but not last year. They finished just 8-12 in league play, and with just two starters back they appear to be in reset mode. They do have some new JUCO transfers that they will be relying on this year to get them back into the top of the mix.
-Northern Colorado finished in 2nd place last year and has some big pieces back this year. They have a lot of balance and depth could finish at or near the top again.
-Montana State had some really big moments last year, particularly a big upset win at UNC-Greensboro and another early season game where they nearly knocked off Utah State on the road. They kind of crashed and burned down the stretch, though. Still, with three starters back this team’s ceiling is potentially high.
-Portland State is getting some preseason love despite the fact that their roster has been completely overhauled. In fact their top-seven scorers are gone. They will be relying on 5 D-1 transfers to try and reload this year.
-Northern Arizona was .500-ish a year ago, and looks to be .500-ish again this year.
-It is worth mentioning Southern Utah, who managed 17 wins for the second year in a row last year, which is a huge improvement from just a few years ago when they were literally the worst team in all of D-1. Coach Todd Simon has done a great job turning this program around and although just two starters return from a year ago, they still return a decent amount of experience and we should see some players step up in new leadership roles.
-And one thing that virtually everyone seems to agree on is that Sacramento State, Idaho State, and Idaho are the three worst teams in the league.