GNAC Men's Basketball

For The First Time Seattle Pacific Is Favored in GNAC Basketball Race

Anderson

Seattle Pacific has won or shared three Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball titles, but still the Falcons enter the 2009-10 season in unfamiliar territory.

As the favorite.

For the first time in the history of the GNAC Coaches pre-season poll, SPU has been selected to win the conference title. However, not by a big margin

The Falcons, under first-year coach Ryan Looney, edged defending champion Western Washington by four points in the balloting. SPU and WWU, which also is a three-time conference champion, each received four first-place votes.

The Falcons, however, also received five second-place votes to outpoint Western Washington 76-72 in the balloting.

Central Washington received the lone remaining first-place vote and finished third in the balloting with 59 points. Alaska Anchorage, which won the title two years ago posting a GNAC record 16 conference victories, edged Montana State Billings 53-52 for fourth place.

Northwest Nazarene, Alaska Fairbanks, Saint Martin's and Western Oregon ended up sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively, in the balloting.

The No. 1 ranking is a bit of a surprise to Looney, but at the same time was somewhat expected.

"Over the entire summer out on the road recruiting, the coaches in the conference told me that they were probably going to pick us No. 1," Looney said.

"That is an interesting situation for anyone in their first year as a head coach. Normally, regardless of who the coach is, you wouldn't expect a team with a new coach to be ranked No. 1.

"That's a credit to the players that we have returning in our program. If our staff has done one thing right during the transition, it was to hurry up and get here and to make sure all of the guys are back on board."

That is certainly one mission that was accomplished as SPU returns 12 letter winners from a year ago. The only missing piece is Casey Reed, who graduated and is now an assistant coach at Alaska Anchorage.

All the numbers support SPU's No. 1 ranking. Its 12 letter winners far surpass anyone else (Western Washington ranks second with nine and only one other team has more than six).

The Falcons are one of only two teams with four returning starters - the conference wide average is 2.33 - and they have a conference-best three returning all-stars including second team pick Chris Banchero, who finished 11 th in scoring with a 15.7 average.

The rest of the league combined has only five returning all-stars.

Banchero is one of seven players back that ranked in the Top 15 in scoring - SPU's Brandon Larrieu finished 14 th - and the Falcons' Rafael Moreira is one of six back from last year's Top 10 rebounding list earning a No. 8 rank.

Both Larrieu and Moreira earned honorable mention honors a year ago.

Western Washington guard Morris Anderson is the lone returning first team all-star. Four others - forward Kendall Gielow and center Brian Barkdoll, both of Northwest Nazarene; Saint Martin's forward Blake Poole and Alaska Fairbanks guard Emmanuel Jenkins were all honorable mention picks.

Poole and Anderson are the lone returning 2008-09 GNAC statistical champions. Poole led the league in rebounding, averaging 10.6 per game, and Anderson, who ranked second in assists, won the steal title netting 2.7 per contest.

The top returning scorer from a year ago is Jenkins, who ranked third averaging 18.7 per game just ahead of teammate Jon Moe, who finished fifth at 18.6.

Western Washington officially tips off the 2009-10 season this Friday - the 25 th campaign for head coach Brad Jackson - playing Grand Canyon in the opening round of the West Coast Disney Classic at Anaheim.

The Vikings also play long-time power Kentucky Wesleyan on Saturday and San Francisco State on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Northwest Nazarene and Saint Martin's debut with road exhibition games against Division I schools. The Crusaders play Friday at Utah State, while the Saints debut Sunday afternoon at Eastern Washington.

AROUND THE GNAC : In five of the first eight seasons of the GNAC, the pre-season favorite has ended up earning at least a share of the conference title. However, only twice has the poll champion won the title outright (Humboldt State in 2003-04 and Alaska Anchorage in 2007-08). . .In the women's poll released Tuesday, the top four teams were unanimous - every coach picked Alaska Anchorage, Seattle Pacific, Northwest Nazarene and Western Washington in the Top 4. However, only Seattle Pacific gained that distinction in the men's poll as every other team received at least one ranking of fifth or lower. . .Three GNAC teams have been three-time champions, but no school has won more than one title outright. Western Washington shared the title in 2001-02 with Seattle Pacific and Humboldt State and in 2004-05 with Alaska Fairbanks before winning it outright last winter. SPU won its only outright title in 2005-06 and split the crown with Seattle University in 2006-07. Humboldt State shared the crown in 2002-03 with UAF, then won it outright in 2003-04 on a way to a NCAA Final Four appearance. . .In the NABC pre-season national poll, Seattle Pacific and Western Washington were among "others receiving votes" and were 35 th and 41 st overall, respectively.

Anderson, Banchero Pre-Season Picks by The Sporting News


Anderson	Banchero

Two GNAC players have been selected to The Sporting News pre-season All-American men's basketball team.

Both guards Morris Anderson of Western Washington and Chris Banchero of Seattle Pacific were honorable mention choices.

Anderson led the GNAC in steals (2.7) and ranked second in assists (6.1) last year. He also averaged 12.6 points in leading the Vikings to a 21-6 record and the GNAC title.

"He's certainly an outstanding player, a multi-faced, very complete player," WWU coach Brad Jackson said of Anderson, who ranked ninth nationally in steals and 12th in assists last season. "He makes people around him play better."

Banchero ranked 11th in scoring (15.7), third in steals(1.7) and eighth in assists (3.6) in the conference a year ago.

In The Sporting News Top 10 poll, three West Region teams are ranked including BYU-Hawaii (2nd), Humboldt State (8th) and Cal Poly Pomona (9th). Bellarmine is ranked No. 1. BYU's Lucas Alves was selected to the publication's first team pre-season All-American team.

Western Washington, Seattle Pacific and Central Washington are all listed as "possible breakthroughs" by the publication.