United Athletic Conference

DENVER - The Western Athletic Conference announced its men's basketball preseason poll and all-WAC teams as voted on by the 10 head coaches in the league. Fresno State was picked to win the WAC while the Bulldog's Melvin Ely was selected the WAC's preseason player of the year.

Fresno State, the defending regular season champions, received nine first place votes and 81 points. Defending tournament champion Hawai`i was second with 66 points and the other first place vote. Tulsa was third with 63 points followed closely by UTEP with 62. In fifth was SMU with 47 points followed by Louisiana Tech (40), San Jose State (30), Nevada (22), Rice (21) and Boise State (18).

The coaches also voted on a first and second all-WAC team. Fresno State senior center Melvin Ely heads the list of first-teamers and is joined by his teammate junior forward Chris Jefferies, Hawai`i senior guard/forward Predrag Savovic, SMU senior guard Damon Hancock and Tulsa junior forward Kevin Johnson. Ely was the WAC's player of the year last season and averaged 16.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.7 blocked shots in leading the Bulldogs to a 26-7 record and a second round berth in the NCAA Tournament. Jefferies averaged 15.5 points and 4.8 rebounds for Fresno State. Savovic led the Rainbow Warriors with 17.6 points per game while Hancock scored 16.7 points per game. Johnson led Tulsa in both scoring (13.9) and rebounding (7.0).

Second-team selections included Brian Stewart (UTEP), Eugene Costello (UTEP), Abe Jackson (Boise State), Quinton Ross (SMU) and Dante Swanson (Tulsa).

The 2001-02 season begins Nov. 13 when Fresno State hosts Montana State in the Preseason NIT.

2001-02 Preseason Men's Basketball Coaches Poll

Rank  Teams (1st Place Votes)  Points
1.    Fresno State (9)         81
2.    Hawai`i (1)              66
3.    Tulsa                    63
4.    UTEP                     62
5.    SMU                      47
6.    Louisiana Tech           40
7.    San Jose State           30
8.    Nevada                   22
9.    Rice                     21
10.   Boise State              18

Preseason All-WAC Teams
First Team
Melvin Ely, Sr., C, Fresno St.
Predrag Savovic, Sr., G/F, UH
Chris Jefferies, Jr., F, Fresno St.
Damon Hancock, Sr., G, SMU
Kevin Johnson, Jr., F, Tulsa

Second Team
Brian Stewart, Sr., C, UTEP
Abe Jackson, Sr., F, Boise St.
Quinton Ross, Jr., G/F, SMU
Eugene Costello, Sr., G, UTEP
Dante Swanson, Jr., G, Tulsa

Player of the Year: Melvin Ely, Fresno State