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WAC Announces Men's Basketball Preseason Picks
Carl English-Hawai‘i
Kevin Johnson-Tulsa
Quinton Ross-SMU
Dante Swanson-Tulsa
Antonio Meeking
Louisiana Tech
DENVER – The Western Athletic Conference announced its men’s basketball preseason poll and all-WAC teams as voted on by the 10 head coaches in the league. Tulsa was picked to win the WAC while Hawai‘i’s Carl English was selected the WAC’s preseason player of the year.
Tulsa, last year’s regular season co-champions, received seven first place votes and 79 points to edge out Hawai‘i. Hawai‘i earned two first place votes and 71 points. The Rainbow Warriors won the Williams WAC Tournament last year and tied Tulsa in the regular season with a 15-3 record. Both Tulsa and Hawai‘i competed in the NCAA Tournament last season. Louisiana Tech, an NIT participant with a 22-10 record last year, was third with 63 points followed by Nevada with 56. Tying for fifth place with 42 points were Fresno State and SMU. In seventh was Rice with 38 points followed by UTEP (22), San Jose State (21) and Boise State (16)
The coaches also voted on a first and second all-WAC team. Hawai‘i junior guard/forward Carl English was voted the preseason Player of the Year. He is joined on the first team by Tulsa teammates Kevin Johnson and Dante Swanson, SMU’s Quinton Ross and Louisiana Tech’s Antonio Meeking. Everyone on the team except for Meeking was a second-team all-WAC selection at the end of last season. English averaged 15.5 points and 5.1 rebounds for the Rainbow Warriors (27-6) last year. Johnson led the Hurricane (27-7) in scoring with 14.5 points while Swanson averaged 11.1 per contest and led the nation in three-point shooting (.490). Ross is the WAC’s leading returning scorer after putting up 17.4 points per game to go along with 6.5 rebounds per contest last year. Meeking averaged 11.2 points and 6.8 rebounds as the Bulldogs finished third in the WAC in their first season in the league.
The second team is comprised of Terrance Green and Kirk Snyder (Nevada), Michael Harris (Rice), Antonio Reed (Tulsa), and Brandon Hawkins (San Jose State).
The 2002-03 season begins Nov. 18 when Boise State hosts Eastern Illinois in the Preseason NIT. Louisiana Tech is also competing in the preseason NIT and travels to Florida on Nov. 19.
2002-03 Preseason Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll
Rank Teams (1st Place Votes) Points 1. Tulsa (7) 79
2. Hawai‘i (2) 71
3. Louisiana Tech 63
4. Nevada 56
5. Fresno State (1) 42
6. SMU 42
7. Rice 38
8. UTEP 22
9. San Jose State 21
10. Boise State 16
Preseason All-WAC Teams
First Team
Carl English, Jr., G/F, Hawai‘i
Kevin Johnson, Sr., F, Tulsa
Quinton Ross, Sr., G/F, SMU
Dante Swanson, Sr., G, Tulsa
Antonio Meeking, Sr., F, Louisiana Tech
Second Team
Terrance Green, Sr., G, Nevada
Michael Harris, So., F, Rice
Antonio Reed, Sr., G, Tulsa
Brandon Hawkins, Sr., G, San Jose State
Kirk Snyder, So., F, Nevada
Player of the Year: Carl English, Hawai‘i
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I could be wrong but I think smu might be better than Nevada and who knows what FSU will be like, but you can bet they won't be close to what they have been in the past. Other than that I'd say that looks about right. Carl English is a cocky sucker isn't he? That's the only reason I don't like him being voted POY. He talked more smack at Tech than I've ever seen. He usually backs it up, but he'd be alot better if he talked 1/2 as much, then I'd probably like him.
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