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Tulsa Picked Third in WAC Preseason Coaches Poll
10/17/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Oct. 16, 2001
Denver, Colo. - The University of Tulsa men's basketball team, the 2001 NIT Champions, were picked to finish in third place in the preseason poll as voted on by the league's 10 head coaches as announced today by the Western Athletic Conference. Fresno State was picked to win the WAC while the Bulldog's Melvin Ely was selected the WAC's preseason player of the year.
Fresno State, the defending regular season champions, received nine first place votes and 81 points. Defending tournament champion Hawaii was second with 66 points and the other first place vote. Tulsa was third with 63 points followed closely by UTEP with 62. In fifth was SMU with 47 points followed by Louisiana Tech (40), San Jose State (30), Nevada (22), Rice (21) and Boise State (18).
Tulsa junior forward Kevin Johnson was picked to the preseason first-team, while fellow junior Dante Swanson was chosen for the second team.
Johnson, at 6'7", leads the way for the Hurricane this year. He averaged team-leading 13.9 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.3 blocks a year ago, while earning second-team all-WAC honors. The 5'10" Swanson was one of the top defenders in the WAC and earned all-defensive team honors as selected by the league's coaches. He averaged 9.8 points and grabbed 3.6 rebounds, while totaling a team-high 53 steals.
Johnson and Fresno State senior center Melvin Ely head the list of first-teamers and are joined by his Fresno State junior forward Chris Jefferies, Hawaii senior guard Predrag Savovic and SMU senior guard Damon Hancock.
Swanson was joined on the second-team by Brian Stewart (UTEP), Eugene Costello (UTEP), Abe Jackson (Boise State) and Quinton Ross (SMU).
2001-02 Preseason Men's Basketball Coaches Poll
|
Rk. |
Team (1st-place votes) |
Points |
|
1. |
Fresno State (9) |
81 |
|
2. |
Hawaii (1) |
66 |
|
3. |
Tulsa |
63 |
|
4. |
UTEP |
62 |
|
5. |
SMU |
47 |
|
6. |
Louisiana Tech |
40 |
|
7. |
San Jose State |
30 |
|
8. |
Nevada |
22 |
|
9. |
Rice |
21 |
|
10. |
Boise State |
18 |
Preseason All-WAC Teams
First Team
Melvin Ely, Sr., C, Fresno St.
Predrag Savovic, Sr., G/F, Hawaii
Chris Jefferies, Jr., F, Fresno State
Damon Hancock, Sr., G, SMU
Kevin Johnson, Jr., F, Tulsa
Second Team
Brian Stewart, Sr., C, UTEP
Abe Jackson, Sr., F, Boise State
Quinton Ross, Jr., G/F, SMU
Eugene Costello, Sr., G, UTEP
Dante Swanson, Jr., G, Tulsa
Player of the Year: Melvin Ely, Fresno State
