LOS ANGELES - Want to draw a teenage-esque eye roll from a college basketball coach?
Just ask him about a preseason poll, particularly a poll selected by the media. No matter what their team’s place in said poll, a coach will quickly shrug it off as irrelevant, unimportant fodder for the fans and the media.
There were eye rolls galore Friday at Pacific-12 Conference media day when the 2011 preseason media poll was announced. While not all 12 men’s basketball coaches were asked about their team’s spot in the poll, the general consensus amongst them was that it had little effect on any of them other than the seconds it took to read it.
UCLA was voted the top team, earning 14 first-place votes and 421 total points. California was a close second with 13 first-place votes and 405 points.
“UCLA, you walk through the airport, and they scare the heck out of you,” Cal coach Mike Montgomery said. “They’re huge. You’ve got to think that UCLA’s going to be awfully good.”
It seems as if UCLA is thought to be awfully good each year.
“Our team always has high expectations,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “It’s the expectations we put on ourselves that matter most. It’s always nice to be picked high, but that doesn’t guarantee anything. It’s where you finish. I don’t know who was picked for first last year, but I don’t know how many times you guys get it right.”
The University of Washington was picked to win the league last year, and finished third in the regular season.
But on the Pac-12 release, it boasted that the media correctly picked the conference winner 12 out of the previous 19 seasons. It was a stat that also drew eye rolls from coaches – but in a joking manner. First-year Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak was asked about the poll since his Utes were picked to finish last, garnering 74 points. He mentioned he was told his team, which features eight newcomers, finished a “distant last.”
“How do you feel about finishing a distant last? I said, what exactly does a distant last mean? And I looked, and we’re the only team with two digits,” Krystkowiak said. “The one thing that was interesting on here, I was hoping somebody could do some research, because it says 12 – I know all you guys are so smart – but it says 12 times in 19 tries you’ve picked a winner, and I wanted to know how many times in 19 tries have you picked the bottom team correctly? Hopefully that’s not quite as high of a number.”
The response drew chuckles from the crowd, and a wide grin from the ultra-intense Krystkowiak.
But Arizona coach Sean Miller wasn’t smiling when he talked about his team being picked third. Of course, it didn’t help that his 16th-ranked Wildcats were upset in an exhibition, 69-68, by Division II Seattle Pacific the night before … at home.
“There’s no way in the world we’re the third-best team in the Pac-12,” Miller said. “You can say every coach says something like that. I didn’t say that last year. Hopefully, I won’t say it next year, but I’m saying it now. There is no chance at all that’s where we are.”
But Miller tried to be a little self deprecating about it.
“Well, I guess I’m the only coach up here who is 0-1, and it happened really quickly,” he said drawing plenty of chuckles.
While Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar wasn’t asked about his team being picked to finish fourth, he was asked about Seattle Pacific, since the Huskies will play SPU in an exhibition Nov. 4.
“The mighty Seattle Pacific,” he said smiling. “I didn’t see it. My thoughts are that in an exhibition game, it’s a time to experiment. It’s a time to teach. It’s a time to learn. I am very fortunate. We’re fortunate that we didn’t have an exhibition game last night, trust me.”
Perhaps it was Krystkowiak who summed it up best for all the coaches.
“Just because we’re picked last in my mind has no relevance to it. I made the comment earlier that there are always two or three teams in every league that exceed expectations. There are always two or three teams in every league that don’t quite live up to expectations. This is that time of year when there are polls done, and everybody has to make their predictions. But we’ll be competitive, and we’re going to find some wins along the way.”
COACH’S CANCER
Montgomery said he was diagnosed with bladder cancer and had surgery last week that has left him cancer-free.
Cal announced Oct. 19 that Montgomery was having surgery, but didn’t disclose any details.
“I went from having high-grade bladder cancer to being totally cancer-free at this juncture,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483 ryan.divish@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/uwsports
Pac-12 poll
The Pacific-12 Conference preseason media poll for men’s basketball, with first-place votes in parentheses and total points:
Rank, team (first-place votes)Pts.
1. UCLA (14)421
2. California (13)405
3. Arizona (11)404
4. Washington355
5. Oregon282
6. Stanford255
7. USC194
8. Oregon State188
9. Arizona State148
10. Colorado119
11. Washington State119
12. Utah74
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.