Pac-12 women’s basketball coaches apparently do not expect Colorado to make much noise this season, the Buffaloes’ debut in the conference.
The Pac-12 women’s basketball coaches poll, released today by the conference office, projects Colorado to finish 11th in the league, ahead of only Oregon State.
Stanford, 33-3 last season and unbeaten in 18 Pac-10 games, was chosen the league’s preseason favorite for the 11th consecutive year. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own team, meaning that Stanford, with 11 first-place votes, is the unanimous preseason pick.
The Cardinal is followed in the preseason Pac-12 coaches poll by Southern Cal (which received the first-place nod of Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer), California, Arizona State and UCLA.
The other newcomer to the conference, Utah, was picked to finish sixth.
Colorado, under second-year coach Linda Lappe, must return the school’s all-time leading scorer, Brittany Spears (19.2 points per game in 2010-11) from last season’s (18-16 team that played in the WNIT). But the Buffaloes do return five players that started at least 17 games. They include junior guard Chucky Jeffery (13.5), sophomore guard Brittany Wilson (7.8), junior forward Meagan Malcolm-Peck (7.0) and senior center Julie Seabrook (5.3).
Expected to make an immediate impact is a class of newcomers with size and potential: guards Lexy Kresl (5-feet-11) of Phoenix and Jasmine Sborov (6-0) of Round Rock, Texas, and forwards Jen Reese (6-2) of Clackamas, Ore., and Arielle Roberson (6-1) of San Antonio, Texas.
Roberson is the sister of CU men’s basketball player Andre Roberson. In no surprise, Arielle is considered an excellent rebounder.
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
Preseason Pac-12 women’s basketball poll:
First place votes in parentheses.
1. Stanford (11) – 121
2. USC (1) – 111
3. California – 98
4. UCLA – 83
5. Arizona State – 68
6. Utah – 61
7. Washington State – 59
8. Oregon – 51
9. Arizona – 48
10. Washington – 38
11. Colorado – 36
12. Oregon State – 18
