The Pac-12 has released the preseason media poll in preparation for today's media day (which the Ralphie Report will be attending) and the Buffaloes have been selected to finish in tenth place, tied with Washington State and ahead of Utah. The poll has UCLA at the top with 14 first-place votes, followed by California in second with 13 and Arizona in third with 11.
The UCLA Bruins are picked to finish first in the 2011-12 Pac-12 Conference men's basketball race, according to a poll of media members who cover Pac-12 men's basketball.
UCLA, led by junior All-Conference forward Reeves Nelson (13.9 ppg/9.1 rpg), tallied 14 first-place votes and narrowly edges out California and Arizona. California, paced by senior All-Conference guard Jorge Gutierrez (14.6 ppg/4.5 apg) and senior forward Harper Kamp (14.2 ppg/5.6 rpg) picked up 13 first-place votes and is tabbed for second. Arizona, the reigning regular-season Conference champion, pulled in the remaining 11 first-place votes and are picked to finish third.
This isn't really a surprising development with the relative obscurity of the Buffaloes basketball program (for now) and the loss of Alec Burks and Cory Higgins. However, even in a rebuilding year, this team's ceiling is much, much higher than a finish near the bottom of the conference. Plenty more to come from media day today.
Full poll after the jump.
| Men's Basketball Media Poll | ||
|---|---|---|
| Team | Pts. | |
| 1 | UCLA (14) | 421 |
| 2 | California (13) | 405 |
| 3 | Arizona (11) | 404 |
| 4 | Washington | 355 |
| 5 | Oregon | 282 |
| 6 | Stanford | 255 |
| 7 | USC | 194 |
| 8 | Oregon State | 188 |
| 9 | Arizona State | 148 |
| 10 | Colorado | 119 |
| Washington State | 119 | |
| 12 | Utah | 74 |
| First place votes in parentheses | ||