Bears The Six Pick In Preseason Polls

OGDEN, Utah -- Big Sky Conference media members and men's basketball coaches think improvement is being made within Tad Boyle's Northern Colorado program.

But just a little.

The conference office released its preseason media and coaches poll earlier this afternoon, and Boyle's Bears are picked sixth in both polls -- a view of marginal improvement from last season, in which Northern Colorado finished seventh, a spot out of the conference-tournament field.

But that's just fine with Boyle and his assistants. If anything they just hope being picked as a barely-there-tournament team will help to motivate this year's squad.

"Preseason polls don't mean anything," Boyle said. "They never have and they never will. You can use them to your advantage how you choose, and we've talked about earning respect in the league since we've been here. And we haven't done that yet.

"We're getting better -- our first year they picked us ninth, now they've picked us sixth, so it's an improvement -- but it's certainly not where we want to be."

Northern Colorado, which finished 13-16 and 6-10 in the conference a year ago, will welcome back this year senior Jabril Banks, last year's leading scorer and rebounder (13.2 points, 5.8 rebounds), senior Robert Palacios (5.8 points, 5.7 rebounds and a team-leading 45 steals), and juniors Jefferson Mason (9.4 points, 5.5 rebounds) and Will Figures (7.5 points).

Plus, Boyle has added a pair of highly-touted junior-college transfers in Yahosh Bonner and John Pena, and intriguing freshmen Elliott Lloyd and Mike Proctor.

"Since day one, we've talked about wanting to win this league, and that hasn't changed," Boyle said. "When we recruit and when we play, that's the kind of expectations we hold for ourselves. And realistically, our program's still in the development stage. But at some point, we're going to have to break through. Hopefully this can be a breakthrough year for us."

Leading the pack in both polls is Ken Bone's Portland State squad, which received seven first-place votes from the coaches and 23 from the media.

Montana is the preseason runner-up after nabbing two coaches' first-place nods and two media picks.

"I think Portland State deserves it," Boyle said. "They almost ran the table last year -- 14-2 is pretty convincing -- and they've got the MVP (Jeremiah Dominguez) of the league coming back, and they had three pretty highly regarded players sitting out and some other guys who played minutes for them last year that are coming back. I think they deserve to be No. 1"

Northern Colorado will officially start its 2008-09 season on Friday, Oct. 14, on the road against the Oregon Ducks. The Bears' first conference game comes Dec. 29 at home against Northern Arizona.

COACHES’ POLL
Team, (first-place votes).....................................  Total points
1. Portland State (7) ............................................ 63
2. Montana (2) .................................................... 56
3. Idaho State ..................................................... 49
4. Northern Arizona ............................................... 41
5. Weber State .................................................... 34
6. Northern Colorado ............................................. 29
7. Eastern Washington .......................................... 22
8. Montana State ................................................. 14
9. Sacramento State ..............................................10

MEDIA POLL
School (first-place votes)........................................ Total points
1. Portland State (23)............................................. 230
2. Montana (2)....................................................... 180
3. Idaho State (1).................................................. 169
4. Weber State......................................................  165
5. Northern Arizona ................................................ 153
6. Northern Colorado............................................... 104
7. Montana State...................................................... 76
8. Eastern Washington.............................................. 64
9. Sacramento State................................................. 38