Preseason Polls, teams, rankings, etc

[northernGNAChoopfan]

The preseason GNAC coaches poll should be out this week along with preseason team... Which doesn't mean much. Last years preseason rankings only had 3 teams within close range of where they actually finished and Wiggs was not the POTY that he was voted in the preseason. So. Not sure if anyone would argue that Tanner Omlid will not be the preseason POTY for GNAC, but it's a lot of pressure... The only statistical blemishes for Omlid from last season were his FT shooting last season and he has a little tendency to get in foul trouble. Other than that, he's really hard for most D2 athletes to contend with when he's playing defense and offensively he's well versed and plays completely within himself to make it look pretty simple and fundamental. I'm guessing it'll be tight between WWU and WOU for the coaches poll, but after lots of teams lost veteran guys late in the offseason, it's a toss up after that. Returning players that I'll have my eye on are Maurice Jones for NNU, Kamal Tall for MSUB, who was looking pretty good in the post late last season, Chavez for SMU, Edwards for CU... Alaska schools will be huge questions marks for the league and generally matter a lot-it's a brutal road trip when they are good. Put up any polls for any conference or who in the conference is cracking national polls preseason too. I know very little about what the CCAA and PacWest bring back this season.

[lv2hoop]

Re: Preseason Polls, teams, rankings, etc

The preseason GNAC coaches poll should be out this week along with preseason team... Which doesn't mean much. Last years preseason rankings only had 3 teams within close range of where they actually finished and Wiggs was not the POTY that he was voted in the preseason. So. Not sure if anyone would argue that Tanner Omlid will not be the preseason POTY for GNAC, but it's a lot of pressure... The only statistical blemishes for Omlid from last season were his FT shooting last season and he has a little tendency to get in foul trouble. Other than that, he's really hard for most D2 athletes to contend with when he's playing defense and offensively he's well versed and plays completely within himself to make it look pretty simple and fundamental. I'm guessing it'll be tight between WWU and WOU for the coaches poll, but after lots of teams lost veteran guys late in the offseason, it's a toss up after that. Returning players that I'll have my eye on are Maurice Jones for NNU, Kamal Tall for MSUB, who was looking pretty good in the post late last season, Chavez for SMU, Edwards for CU... Alaska schools will be huge questions marks for the league and generally matter a lot-it's a brutal road trip when they are good. Put up any polls for any conference or who in the conference is cracking national polls preseason too. I know very little about what the CCAA and PacWest bring back this season.

I'd lean toward WWU and WOU as the preseason favorites. I'd also put SPU somewhere near the top, but I still think they're reeling from the loss of their previous coach Ryan Looney.

I think UAF might make another push this winter too. Overall though I believe that parity will be the name of the game in the conference and that road wins will come at a premium. Good luck to all of the teams as things fire up here in the next few weeks!!!

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Re: Preseason Polls, teams, rankings, etc

http://http://thepacwest.com/news/20...-favorite.aspx

Pac West preseason poll and team...

http://www.gnacsports.com/mbasketbal...eseason-squad/

GNAC preseason team... Good picks. Can't argue with any of them, except that I would have had Jasinsky on that team from WWU. I wonder what the coaches know about UAA's two reps from their DI dropdown senior picks. The Pacific DI squad that lost players to UAA over the off-season has it's very own message board that hosted some interesting chatter about these players over the summer when they all announced departing to UAA. We'll see.

[tsull]

Re: Preseason Polls, teams, rankings, etc

Pre-season poll out: WWU 1st, WOU 2nd, CWU 3rd, UAA 4th, etc. ... I thought CWU might be a suprise team this year, they've recruited well. WOU slant here, from their website.

http://www.wouwolves.com/news/2017/1...ason-poll.aspx

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

Re: Preseason Polls, teams, rankings, etc

SPU will finish higher than that. Glad they are recognizing CWU was injury plagued and is now healthy with good new players too

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Re: Preseason Polls, teams, rankings, etc

http://www.gnacsports.com/mbasketbal...s-hoop-champs/

Coaches were clearly in favor of WWU, but with WOU getting 3 first place votes of their own, I wouldn't call it consensus on WWU. CWU, UAA and SPU were all really close in points~clearly the coaches are not certain about too much after WWU & WOU, but they do seem to respect these 3 programs year after year, and for good reason, at least for now. One thing I am wondering when reading the release is why the heck did so many Humboldt players transfer out to the GNAC this year? WOU got a PG, MSUB got a PG and now I read that SPU got a 3 pt slayer from them too. CCAA_fanatic, what's going on there?