After sweeping the regular-season and postseason tournament titles last season, the University of Hawai’i basketball team is picked to finish eighth out of nine teams in the 2016-17 Big West Conference Preseason Media Poll.
Long Beach State received 19 of 23 first-place votes and is predicted to finish first. UC Irvine is second, followed by CSUN and UC Santa Barbara.
Hawai’i, which must replace all five starters from last season’s record-setting 28-6 team, actually received one first-place vote. Cal Poly is predicted to finish ninth – and is the only team below the Warriors.
Seven players were named to the Media Preseason All-Conference Team, but none from Hawai’i.