| 2009-10 Men's Basketball Coaches Pre-Season
Poll:
|
| School
| (1st)
| Pts.
| 2008-09 All
| 2008-09 NWC
|
| Whitworth (Wash.)
| (8)
| 88
| 23-6
| 12-4
|
| Puget Sound (Wash.)
| (1)
| 63
| 25-4
| 16-0
|
| Linfield (Ore.)
|
| 63
| 12-14
| 10-6
|
| Lewis & Clark (Ore.)
|
| 54
| 16-10
| 10-6
|
| Pacific (Ore.)
|
| 37
| 9-16
| 3-13
|
| Whitman (Wash.)
|
| 37
| 9-16
| 5-11
|
| George Fox (Ore.)
|
| 25
| 8-17
| 4-12
|
| Willamette (Ore.)
|
| 25
| 12-11
| 8-8
|
| Pacific Lutheran (Wash.)
|
| 22
| 7-15
| 4-12
|
(First-place votes in parenthesis. Points awarded on
10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis).
Whitworth Tabbed as Heavy Favorite in 2009-10
Spokane, Wash. - Northwest Conference men's basketball coaches
have picked Whitworth University as the favorite to finish atop the
2009-10 standings. The Pirates will be striving to get back
to the position they held following both the 2007 and 2008 seasons.
Whitworth picked up eight of nine possible first place votes and
88 points in the poll. The Pirates return three starters from
last winter, including First Team All-NWC forward David Riley, one
of only two non-seniors on last season's first team. Also
back is senior post Nate Montgomery.
Defending champion University of Puget Sound and Linfield
College are tied for second in the poll with 63 points
apiece. Puget Sound had the other first place vote, however
the Loggers will be looking to overcome the graduation of three
First Team All-NWC honorees, including 2009 NWC Player of the Year
Jason Foster. Linfield returns Cody Tesoro and K.C. Wiser,
both Second Team All-NWC choices last year.
Lewis & Clark College is fourth in the poll with 54
points. The Pioneers welcome back Second Team All-NWC guard
Josh Kollasch.
Pacific University (Ore.) and Whitman College are tied for fifth
in the poll with 37 points apiece. The Boxers will try to
stay healthy this season and will be led by Carson (G) and Ross (P)
Bartlett. The Missionaries lost 2009's NWC-leading scorer
Chris Faidley to graduation, but return Brandon Shaw among a
talented group of young players.
George Fox University and Willamette University tied for seventh
in the poll (25 points). The Bruins return honorable mention
All-NWC post Alex Stockner. The Bearcats welcome back First
Team All-NWC post Cameron Mitchell for his final season.
Pacific Lutheran rounds out the poll with 22 points.
Junior wing Kyle McTaggert is the Lutes' leading returning scorer.
The Northwest Conference will use a conference tournament,
comprised of the top four regular season teams, to decide the
automatic (Pool A) bid to the NCAA tournament.
The season officially gets underway on November 17th with
Whitman playing at Eastern Washington and Puget Sound hosting
Evergreen State.