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UVU women’s hoops picked first in WAC preseason coaches poll, men picked seventh

By Daily Herald - | Oct 27, 2020
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UVU head coach Dan Nielson directs his team during the game against Grand Canyon at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020.

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UVU sophomore guard Maria Carvalho goes up for a shot during the game against Grand Canyon at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020.

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Utah Valley University head coach Mark Madsen talks with his players during a timeout in a game between the Utah Valley Wolverines and the California Baptist Lancers held at the UCCU Center on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020, in Orem. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald

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Evan Cole - Georgia Tech vs. Pittsburgh, March 4, 2020, McCamish Pavilion, Atlanta, Ga.

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UVU sophomore guard Maria Carvalho drives to the basket during the game against Grand Canyon at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020.

Utah Valley University juniors Maria Carvalho and Josie Williams were both named to the preseason All-WAC first team while the Wolverines were picked to finish first in a close vote of the league’s nine head coaches.

The media picked the UVU second, behind California Baptist, with Carvalho on the first team and Williams a second-team selection. CBU’s Ane Olaeta was tabbed the WAC Player of the Year in both polls.

The Wolverines finished with 57 points and two first place votes while California Baptist had 55 points but had four coaches pick the Lancers to win the league.

UVU men’s hoops picked sixth/seventh

In the WAC schedule that was release on Monday, UVU will travel to Riverside to face CBU to open conference play with games on Jan. 8 and Jan. 9. Each team will host four schools and travel to the remaining four with two games being played, on consecutive days, at each site.

In the media poll, the Lancers finished with 61 points and five first-place votes with the Wolverines getting 60 points and one first-place vote. Four different teams all received first-place votes in each of the polls.

Utah Valley University graduate forward Evan Cole has been named to the 2020-21 Preseason All-WAC team as selected by the media in the Western Athletic Conference preseason honors announced Tuesday morning. Utah Valley was picked to finish sixth by the media and seventh by the coaches in the WAC’s preseason polls that were also announced.

Cole, a 6-foot-10, 230-pound graduate forward, spent the last three seasons at Georgia Tech (2017-20). He played in 27 games for the Yellow Jackets last season, averaging 4.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. He shot 47.1 percent from the field last season, connecting on 48 of 102 shots. During his three seasons at Georgia Tech, Cole played in 69 games while averaging 3.9 points and 3.0 rebounds a contest.

New Mexico State was picked to win the league in both polls. The Aggies received all available eight first place votes from the coaches and 10 of the 12 first place votes from the media.

In the coaches’ poll, Grand Canyon was picked to finish second with UT Rio Grande Valley third and California Baptist fourth. Seattle U was fifth, followed by WAC newcomer Tarleton sixth. UVU was selected seventh, Dixie State eighth, and Chicago State ninth.

On the media side, Grand Canyon was selected second, UT Rio Grande Valley third, and California Baptist fourth. Seattle U was picked fifth, followed by Utah Valley in sixth, Dixie State seventh, Tarleton eighth, and Chicago State ninth.

New Mexico State junior guard Jabari Rice was selected as the preseason Player of the Year by both the coaches and the media.

Utah Valley opens the 2020-21 season at Stanford on Nov. 25 before traveling down University Parkway to take on crosstown rival BYU on Nov. 28. The remainder of UVU’s non-league schedule will be released in the coming weeks.

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