A preseason poll of media who cover the Big Sky Conference picked the Northern Colorado men’s basketball team to finish second in the league race this season, and a preseason coaches poll picked the Bears to finish fourth. Each poll picked Weber State to win the Big Sky championship.
Northern Colorado is coming off a 25-8 season. The Bears have a new head coach, B.J. Hill, who says he doesn’t put much stock in preseason polls.
“It kind of gives you an idea of where we’ve come from, but it’s still certainly not where we want to be,” said Hill, who succeeded Tad Boyle as UNC’s coach after Boyle left Greeley to become Colorado’s coach. “What I’m really concerned with is where we end up at the end of the year. But at the same time, I think our steady progression is a definite sign of the respect we’re earning throughout the conference.”
The Bears finished second in the Big Sky race last season at 12-4 and lost to Montana in the semifinals of the conference tournament. Three starters are back.
Rams win, Buffs lose.
Megan Plourde’s eight kills and three blocks led the 15th-ranked Colorado State volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-14, 25-11) victory over the University of Denver at Moby Arena.
Katelyn Steffan contributed six kills for the Rams (18-2). Brea Muhle and Colleen King combined for 10 kills for the Pioneers (11-14).
• Colorado’s dreams of upsetting a ranked opponent died after the first set as No. 12 Iowa State (14-4, 7-3 Big 12) earned a 3-1 (22-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-10) win over the Buffs (6-10, 3-7). Alyssa Valentine led CU’s defense with 10 digs. She also chipped in three kills.
Area junior golfers honored.
Wyndham Clark, Brendan Connolly and Patricia Lee have American Junior Golf Association honors to add to their trophy cases.
Clark and Connolly were named second-team All- Americans and Lee made the honorable-mention list.
Clark, who won the Class 4A state title as a sophomore at Valor Christian and was the runner-up as a junior this month, won the AJGA Under Armour Vicky Hurst Championship this summer. Connolly, a senior at Rock Canyon and the Colorado Junior Golf Association player of the year in 2008, won the Woodward Video Junior at The Greenbrier. Lee, a sophomore at Highlands Ranch, won the Aspen Golf Classic and the Payne Stewart Junior Championship.
