PAC Announces Preseason Basketball Polls
WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Presidents’ Athletic Conference released its preseason men’s and women’s basketball polls on Thursday. The Washington & Jefferson College women’s team was selected to finish fourth, while the Presidents’ men were tabbed fifth.
The W&J women, led by 10th-year Head Coach Jina DeRubbo, earned 67 points in a vote of the league’s coaches. Thomas More was chosen to defend its title with nine first-place votes and 99 points, followed by Saint Vincent, which picked up one first-place selection and 87 points.
Waynesburg was third (78) followed by W&J (67), Bethany (55), Westminster (51), Thiel (46), Grove City (36), Chatham (16) and Geneva (15).
The Presidents return four letterwinners from last year’s squad that finished in seventh place in the league with a 12-14 (7-11) record. Senior guard Emily Abraham (Canfield, Ohio/Boardman) is the team’s top returning scorer (5.6 ppg).
Bethany was chosen by the conference’s men’s coaches to also repeat as league champion after picking up 7-of-9 first-place votes and 77 total points. Saint Vincent notched one first-place vote and 63 points to sit second, while Thomas More earned the final first-place pick and was chosen third with 61 points.
Thiel (59), W&J (44), Grove City (33), Geneva (28), Westminster (24) and Waynesburg (16) rounded out the preseason poll.
Seven letter winners return for Head Coach Glenn Gutierrez’s squad, led by senior Zach Bellhy (McDonald, Pa./Fort Cherry), who topped the league in scoring at 19.2 points per game last winter. Bellhy enters his final season with 1,001 career points.
The W&J men open the 2012-13 season at Denison on November 15 (7:30), while the women’s season begins at the Penn State-Behrend Tournament against SUNY-Fredonia on November 17 (8:00 pm).
