First, let’s all agree that these preseason polls don’t mean anything.  They help punch up weak story leads for writers in the first few weeks of the season, and then everyone forgets about them.  This week, a collective media panel (that includes LBPOSTsports)  tabbed Long Beach State as the favorite to win the 2009-10 Big West men’s basketball championship and selected six players to the preseason all-conference team.  Keep in mind, this is the same group that picked the ‘Niners to finish near the cellar last season.

Long Beach State received 17 first-place votes from the 24-member voting panel for a total of 209 points. The 49ers return four starters and eight letterwinners from the ’08-’09 squad that finished 15-15 overall and 10-6 in Big West games, tying for second in the final conference standings, one win away from the regular season title.

Head coach Dan Monson welcomes back three members of last season’s Big West All-Freshman Team – Larry Anderson, Casper Wareand T.J. Robinson. The trio combined for 44 percent of LBSU’s offense. Anderson, who averaged 10.8 points and 4.0 rebounds per game, became only the second freshman in Big West history to be named first team all-conference. Robinson and senior guard Stephan Gilling also received all-conference accolades in the form of honorable mention selections.

Before opening conference play on Jan. 2 at UC Riverside, Long Beach State will face what probably is the toughest non-conference schedule of any team in the country. The ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll was released yesterday and the 49ers are scheduled to face four of the top 10 teams and seven of the top 48 teams.  Click Here For The Full Schedule 

Media Poll Results

1. Long Beach State (17) 209

2. UC Santa Barbara (6) 178

3. Cal State Northridge 130

4. UC Riverside 127

5. Pacific (1) 126

6. UC Davis 114

7. Cal State Fullerton 90

8. UC Irvine 76

9. Cal Poly 30

( ) First-place votes

Preseason Media All-Conference Team

Larry Anderson, Long Beach State/Guard Sophomore Long Beach, Calif.

Kyle Austin, UC Riverside/Forward; Junior Pasadena, Calif.

Joe Harden, UC Davis/Guard; Junior Acampo, Calif.

Orlando Johnson, UC Santa Barbara/Guard; Sophomore Seaside, Calif.

Mark Payne, UC Davis/Guard; Junior Stockton, Calif.

Eric Wise, UC Irvine/Forward; Sophomore Riverside, Calif.

REPORTS FROM LBSU, PHOTO BY RUSSELL CONROY