Men's Basketball Picked Eighth In Mountain West Preseason Poll

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Dec 14

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Dec 20

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7:00 p.m.

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(portions courtesy Mountain West Conference)

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Colorado State was picked to finish eighth in the Mountain West Conference in 2018-19, as voted by the Conference media. Defending Mountain West men's basketball regular-season champion Nevada has been predicted to repeat, as the league's predicted order of finished was announced today at the 2018 Mountain West Men's Basketball Media Summit, being held at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

Returning four starters and seven letterwinners from last year's team, the Rams, under first-year head coach Niko Medved,garnered 80 points finishing just behind Wyoming in seventh with 88 and ahead of Utah State with 78. Colorado State is hoping to earn its eighth invitation for postseason play in the last 10 years, as the four returning starters each had at least 23 starts last season. The squad will be led by Honorable Mention All-Mountain West selection Nico Carvacho, a redshirt-junior center, alongwith senior guard J.D. Paige, redshirt-junior guard Anthony Masinton-Bonner and senior forward Deion James.

The Wolf Pack received 18 of a possible 19 first-place votes and 207 total points to earn the top spot in the poll. Defending MW Tournament champion San Diego State garnered the other first-place nod and 188 total points for the second spot in the preseason poll, while New Mexico rounds out the top three with 153 total points. Boise State and Fresno State are only separated by one point, as the Broncos are picked to finish fourth (139 points), while the Bulldogs landed in fifth (138 points). UNLV received 122 points to garner the sixth spot in the poll, followed by Wyoming at seventh with 88 points and Colorado State in eighth with 80 points. Rounding out the poll were Utah State (78 points) in ninth, Air Force (42 points) in 10th and San José State (19 points) in 11th.

Nevada, which had one of the best seasons in program history in 2017-18, is coming off a 29-8 season, including a 15-3 record in league play. The 29 overall victories tied a single-season program record. The Wolf Pack qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season and earned the No. 7 seed in the south region. Nevada recorded two come-from-behind victories to open the Big Dance, before ultimately losing to Final Four participant Loyola Chicago (69-68) in the Sweet 16. Under the direction of the 2017-18 MW Coach of the Year Eric Musselman, Nevada returns four starters including 2017-18 MW Player and Newcomer of the Year Caleb Martin and MW Defensive Player of the Year Cody Martin. The Wolf Pack lineup also features 2018-19 MW Preseason Freshman of the Year in Jordan Brown and preseason honoree Jordan Caroline.

The Rams will play its only exhibition game on Nov. 3 against CSU-Pueblo before opening the season at home against Colorado Christian, Nov. 7. Season and single-game tickets along with mini-plans are currently available through CSURams.com/tickets.

2018-19 PRESEASON MEN'S BASKETBALL PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
Rk.       Team (First-Place Votes)            Pts.
  1.       Nevada (18)                              207
2.       San Diego State (1)                   188
3.       New Mexico                              153
4.       Boise State                               139
5.       Fresno State                             138
6.       UNLV                                        122
7.       Wyoming                                  88
8.       Colorado State                          80
9.       Utah State                                78
10.       Air Force                                  42
11.       San José State                          19

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