Both the men’s basketball coaches of the teams within the Western Athletic Conference and the media that covers those teams believe that Seattle University will challenge for the conference title in 2014-15, as the Redhawks were picked to finish in the top three by both groups in voting released Wednesday morning by the conference office ahead of the WAC Basketball Media Day at the Orleans Arena.
After the tabulation of the votes of the eight head coaches, Seattle U finished second with one first place vote and 38 total points, behind only defending WAC Tournament champion New Mexico State, which received six first place votes and 49 total points. Meanwhile, the media members who voted in the preseason media poll gave the Redhawks one first place vote and 100 total points, behind New Mexico State’s 17 first place votes and 143 points as well as Grand Canyon’s 110 points.
Also, both the coaches and the media included senior guard Isiah Umipig (Federal Way, Wash.) as a member of the Preseason All-WAC First Team. Umipig, a Second Team All-WAC honoree last year, is coming off a season in which he averaged 19.6 points and 3.6 assists per game as well as set a new school record with 106 made three-pointers in 2013-14.
In the coach’s poll, Grand Canyon finished just behind the Redhawks in third place with 35 points, followed by defending WAC regular season champion Utah Valley in fourth place with 28 points. Bakersfield is next in fifth place with 27 points, just in front of UMKC in sixth place with 25 points. Chicago State and Texas-Pan American tied for seventh place among the coaches with 11 points.
Utah Valley also finished in fourth place in the media preseason poll with 91 points, followed by UMKC in fifth place with 69 points and Bakersfield in sixth place with 60 points. Texas-Pan American finished in seventh place with 41 points, and Chicago State was picked to finish eighth by the media with 34 points.
Both groups selected New Mexico State senior Daniel Mullings as the Preseason WAC Player of the Year, as well as the exact same Preseason All-WAC First Team with Mullings, Umipig, Jerome Garrison of Grand Canyon, Martez Harrison of UMKC, and Tshilidzi Nephawe of New Mexico State.
Three players received enough votes to appear on the Preseason All-WAC Second Team from both the coaches and the media: Daniel Alexander of Grand Canyon, DK Eldridge of New Mexico State, and Zach Nelson of Utah Valley. The coaches also voted for Shaquille Boga of Texas-Pan American and Clarke Rosenberg of Chicago State, while the media included Aly Ahmed of Bakersfield and Shaquille Hines of Texas-Pan American.
The Seattle University men’s basketball team opens the regular season Friday, Nov. 14, against Texas State starting at 7 p.m. at KeyArena at Seattle Center. Season tickets are available by contacting the Seattle U Athletics Ticket Office at (206) 398-GOSU (4678).