2000-2001 Women's Basketball Coaches Pre-Season Poll:
| School |
(1st) |
Pts. |
'99 NWC |
'99 all |
| George Fox (Ore.) |
(7) |
86 |
14-2 |
23-5 |
| Pacific Lutheran (Wash.) |
(2) |
68 |
14-2 |
20-6 |
| Whitworth (Wash.) |
|
66 |
12-4 |
18-8 |
| Linfield (Ore.) |
|
59 |
12-4 |
17-9 |
| Willamette (Ore.) |
|
45 |
6-10 |
13-12 |
| Puget Sound (Wash.) |
|
31 |
4-12 |
9-16 |
| Pacific (Ore.) |
|
23 |
4-12 |
11-14 |
| Lewis & Clark (Ore.) |
|
19 |
3-13 |
8-17 |
| Whitman (Wash.) |
|
16 |
4-12 |
8-17 |
(First-place votes in parenthesis. Points awarded on 10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis).
George Fox Tabbed as NWC Women's Hoops Favorite NWC Women's Basketball Coaches
In a vote that nearly matches the 1999-2000 final Northwest Conference women's basketball standings, NWC coaches have picked George Fox University to repeat as champion in 2000-2001. The Bruins, who tied with Pacific Lutheran for the title last season, advanced to the final 16 in last season's NCAA tournament. Led by 2000 NWC Player of the Year Katie Greller (Sr., P), the Bruins received seven of nine possible first place votes.
Pacific Lutheran (68 points) was a narrow choice for second place over Whitworth (66 points). The Lutes advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2000 and received the other pair of first place votes. Whitworth, which finished 18-8 after losing to PLU in the first round of the playoffs, was ahead of PLU on more ballots but finished behind the Lutes in the poll because of the weight of the first place votes.
Linfield was selected fourth with 59 points. The Wildcats were the fourth NWC team to make the NCAA tournament last season, losing at George Fox in the first round.
Willamette University was selected fifth by the coaches with 45 points, followed by Puget Sound (31), Pacific (23), Lewis & Clark (19) and Whitman (13).
This season the Northwest Conference has an automatic (Pool A) bid to the NCAA tournament. That bid will go to the winner of the NWC tournament. The top three teams in the conference will qualify for the NWC tournament. The third place team will play at the second place team. The winner will play at the conference champion for the right to the automatic bid. Regardless of that outcome, the regular-season winner will retain the title of conference champion.
Several teams begin play on November 17th.