WCC Pre-Season Poll & All-WCC Team

Jared Stohl Named to Preseason All-WCC Team as Pilots Picked Fifth in Coaches Poll

SAN BRUNO, Calif. --- The Portland Pilots have been voted fifth in the 2010-11 West Coast Conference men’s basketball preseason poll, the league announced on Tuesday. Portland senior guard Jared Stohl was named to the WCC Preseason All-Conference team, as selected by the league’s head coaches. Gonzaga was picked to win the WCC and received 48 of a possible 49 total votes.

Loyola Marymount and Saint Mary’s followed in second and third place, respectively. Both teams garnered one first-place vote. Santa Clara was picked fourth, followed by Portland, San Francisco, Pepperdine and San Diego.

Head coach Eric Reveno and the Pilots are coming off of consecutive third-place finishes in the WCC and the best two-year run in program history. Portland matched a school-record with 21 wins last year and posted 19 victories during the 2008-09 season. Both years the Pilots were invited to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

Stohl led the nation in three-point percentage last season at .478 and is 49 points shy of joining the 1,000-point club. Other key returners are big men Luke Sikma, Kramer Knutson and Jasonn Hannibal. Sikma led the WCC in field goal percentage (.563) and was second in the conference in rebounding (7.5). Knutson is a three-year starter at center, while Hannibal made significant strides as the backup center last year. Junior guards Nemanja Mitrovic and Eric Waterford are also back and expected to be key contributors. Reveno added seven true freshmen and a sophomore junior college transfer to the 2010-11 roster.

Gonzaga, which is ranked 12th in the ESPN/USA Today Preseason Poll, has won 10 consecutive WCC regular season championships. The Bulldogs went 12-2 in conference play and 27-7 overall en route to a second round appearance at the NCAA Tournament. Senior guard Steven Gray and sophomore forward Elias Harris, the 2009-10 WCC Newcomer of the Year, were both named to the Preseason All-WCC Team after being selected to the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 List earlier this month. Gray and Harris each started all 34 games for the Bulldogs a year ago, with Harris averaging 14.9 points and 7.1 rebounds and Gray 13.6 points, 4.0 assists and 2.9 rebounds.

Loyola Marymount, which reached the College Insider.com Tournament last year for its first postseason appearance in 20 years, was picked to finish second after returning 13 players from last year’s 18-win team. Two key returners from that team – senior Vernon Teel and redshirt junior Drew Viney – were named to the Preseason All-Conference Team. Teel was a First-Team All-WCC selection a year ago after averaging 15.4 points and 5.3 rebounds, while Viney was also a first team pick after putting up 16.7 points and 7.0 boards in his first season at LMU after transferring from Oregon.

Saint Mary’s, which was picked third, is coming off its first NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in school history and the 2010 Zappos.com WCC Men’s Basketball Tournament Championship. Senior guard Mickey McConnell solidified a spot on the Preseason All-Conference Team after earning First-Team All-WCC and Zappos.com WCC Championship MVP honors in 2009-10. McConnell is joined on the Preseason All-Conference Team by sophomore Matthew Dellavedova. The 6-foot-4 Australian averaged 12.1 points and 4.5 assists per game and played in a conference-leading 36.4 minutes per contest.

Santa Clara was picked to finish fourth in the WCC on the strength of preseason all-conference selections Kevin Foster and Marc Trasolini. Foster averaged 14.7 points to earn WCC Co-Newcomer of the Year honors in 2008-09, but missed the majority of last season with a foot injury. Trasolini returns for his junior season after leading the Broncos in points, rebounds and blocked shots last season.

All eight West Coast Conference teams start non-conference action on Friday, November 12 with seven of the eight teams playing on their home floor. Conference plays starts on Thursday, January 6, highlighted by Loyola Marymount playing host to Saint Mary’s on ESPNU. A total of 14 conference games will be broadcast by ESPN2 and ESPNU, and overall, 43 of 56 WCC men’s basketball games will be aired on national or regional television.

The conference campaign will conclude at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas for the third consecutive season with the Zappos.com WCC Basketball Championships on March 4-7.

2010-11 WCC Men’s Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll
Team (First Place Votes) Points
1. Gonzaga (6) 48
2. Loyola Marymount (1) 42
3. Saint Mary’s (1) 39
4. Santa Clara 28
5. Portland 25
6. San Francisco 18
7. Pepperdine 14
8. San Diego 10

Coaches could not vote for their own team

2010-11 WCC Men’s Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team
(Alphabetical order)
Keion Bell, G, 6-3, Jr., Pepperdine University
Matthew Dellavedova, G, 6-4, So., Saint Mary’s College
Kevin Foster, G, 6-2, So., Santa Clara University
Steven Gray, G, 6-5, Sr., Gonzaga University
Elias Harris, F, 6-7, So., Gonzaga University
Mickey McConnell, G, 6-0, Sr., Saint Mary’s College
Jared Stohl, G, 6-2, Sr., University of Portland
Vernon Teel, G, 6-4, Sr., Loyola Marymount University
Marc Trasolini, F, 6-9, Jr., Santa Clara University
Drew Viney, F, 6-8, Jr., Loyola Marymount University

Stonehouse wrote:I'm hoping that by the time WCC play rolls around we'll have developed enough to be a better team than Santa Clara,

Rob's Jacket wrote:
This should be the case based on coaching alone. Keating can recruit, sure, but I haven't seen him develop anybody. Add to that the fact that he's arguably the worst in-game coach in the WCC, and I'll take the Pilots over the Broncos any day.

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:

Rob's Jacket wrote:
This should be the case based on coaching alone. Keating can recruit, sure, but I haven't seen him develop anybody. Add to that the fact that he's arguably the worst in-game coach in the WCC, and I'll take the Pilots over the Broncos any day.

They completely collapsed down the stretch against Gonzaga at home last season. Was that game ever painful to follow.

From the sound of Rev's tweets he sounds like he's ready and willing to do a lot of teaching this season. This is good news to me since he also seems to have a passion for developing players.

MesaPilot1 wrote:I hear this team has better athletes and more overall depth in no portland, I mean looking at last year who did we really lose , TJ & Robin, Nik while our best player was out majority of the season....ito,and Ethan's talent levels are marked ly less than their freshman counterparts, Eric will be battling for minutes when before his injury last yr he was pushing ito further down Revs bench....the closed scrimmage last week went well against a top Pac 10 conference school is all I'm saying.....how about you naysayers who said the Pilots had no chance last year against, UCLA, OR THE GOLDEN GOPEN ERRH's last year ....does the scrimmage ease your worries, huh?????

oldtimer wrote:I could be mistaken but...

Stonehouse wrote:
Closed-door scrimmage this weekend against a Pac-10 school this weekend. No details can be released about it, sadly.

Stonehouse wrote:

Closed-door scrimmage this weekend against a Pac-10 school this weekend. No details can be released about it, sadly.

mattywizz wrote:

Stonehouse wrote:

Closed-door scrimmage this weekend against a Pac-10 school this weekend. No details can be released about it, sadly.

Just in case you weren't sure when it was (or already happened) I highlighted it to help you out.

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:

mattywizz wrote:

Stonehouse wrote:

Closed-door scrimmage this weekend against a Pac-10 school this weekend. No details can be released about it, sadly.

Just in case you weren't sure when it was (or already happened) I highlighted it to help you out.

Based on my mad investigative journalism skills I think it went down yesterday.