Rebels picked third in MWC basketball
UNLV basketball coach Lon Kruger has a team with a new look, and the preseason predictions are in for the 2009-10 season. The Rebels are picked to finish third in the Mountain West Conference, according to a media poll announced today.
Brigham Young, the three-time defending MWC champion, was selected as the favorite to win the conference regular-season title. The Cougars received 23 of 24 first-place votes and 215 points for the top spot in the poll. San Diego State got one first-place vote and 166 points to finish second, followed by UNLV with 161 points.
Utah and New Mexico, who shared the 2008-09 MWC regular-season title with BYU, were picked fourth and fifth, respectively.
“Our team is like a lot of others in the league in that we have a lot of new people,” Kruger said at the league’s Media Day in Denver. “There are a lot of unknowns. It’s kind of intriguing from our perspective.”
Junior guard Tre’Von Willis, the Rebels’ top returning scorer, was named to the preseason all-conference first team.
Derrick Jasper, a junior guard who transferred to UNLV from Kentucky, was selected the preseason Newcomer of the Year.
The Rebels (21-11) finished fifth in the MWC last season and lost at Kentucky in the opening round of the National Invitation Tournament. Senior leaders Wink Adams, Joe Darger and Rene Rougeau graduated, leaving Kruger with big holes to fill.
BYU junior guard Jimmer Fredette received preseason MWC Player of the Year honors. Cougars senior Jonathan Tavernari (Bishop Gorman) and San Diego State junior Billy White (Green Valley) also were selected to the first team.