11:43am | It was quite a day for the Long Beach State men’s basketball team. The 49ers were named an overwhelming favorite to win the Big West Conference championship in a vote of the league’s media, while also earning two points in the ESPN/USA Today Preseason Top 25 Coaches Poll. LBSU also placed three players on the six-man Preseason Media Big West All-Conference Team.
Long Beach State received 20 of 24 first-place votes and finished with 212 points in the preseason conference poll, easily outdistancing second-place UC Santa Barbara. The Gauchos collected 196 points and four first-place votes. Reigning Big West Conference Player of the Year Casper Ware earned a spot on the preseason all-league team along with teammates Larry Anderson and T.J. Robinson.
The 49ers were named the preseason favorite after racing through the 2010-11 Big West season with a 14-2 record. LBSU, which won the regular-season conference title by four games, returns four starters and 11 players off last year’s team, while also adding five talented recruits who could help the 49ers during the 2011-12 season.
Ware, who became the first player in Big West Conference history to be named the league’s player of the year and defensive player of the year last season, led the 49er attack averaging 17.2 points and 4.4 assists per game. He needs just 42 steals and 77 assists to become Long Beach State’s career leader in both categories. He is one of 50 players in Division I basketball to be named to the John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50, the preseason watch list for the national player of the year award.
Anderson is a two-time first-team All-Big West (2009, 2011) selection and ranks among the league’s active career leaders in eight of nine statistical categories. He averaged 14.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.9 steals per game as a junior, and will challenge Ware for Long Beach State’s career lead in steals.
Robinson, a first-team All-Big West pick in 2010 and a second-team selection last year, can become the first player in Big West history to average double-digit rebounds in three straight seasons. He is also one of just six players to average a double-double in each of the last two seasons. Last year, the Connecticut native averaged 13.5 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. He needs just 36 rebounds to become the all-time leader in boards at LBSU and can set a new Big West Conference career record with 255 rebounds.
Long Beach State will be tested before attempting to make a run to a second-straight regular-season league title. The 49ers will face five teams ranked in the preseason coaches poll during the non-conference season, including No. 1 North Carolina on Dec. 10 in Chapel Hill, N.C. LBSU will also play at No. 8 Louisville (Nov. 28), at No. 11 Pittsburgh (Nov. 16), at No. 13 Kansas (Dec. 6) and vs. No. 15 Xavier (Dec. 22) in the first round of the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu.
Media Poll Results
1. Long Beach State (20) 212
2. UC Santa Barbara (4) 196
3. Cal Poly 158
4. Cal State Fullerton 131
5. UC Riverside 114
6. Pacific 91
7. UC Davis 62
8. Cal State Northridge 61
9. UC Irvine 55
( ) First-place votes
Preseason Media All-Conference Team
Name School Position Year Hometown
Larry Anderson Long Beach State Guard Senior Long Beach, Calif.
T.J. Robinson Long Beach State Forward Senior West Haven, Conn.
Casper Ware Long Beach State Guard Senior Cerritos, Calif.
David Hanson Cal Poly Forward Senior Plymouth, Minn.
Orlando Johnson UC Santa Barbara Guard Senior Seaside, Calif.
James Nunnally UC Santa Barbara Guard Senior Stockton, Calif.