Stephen Zimmerman Jr. (33) dunks the ball during the Rebels’ first basketball practice of the season at the Mendenhall Center on UNLV campus Monday, Oct. 5, 2015.
Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015 | 8:30 a.m.
More coverage
- Mountain West Conference basketball is unpredictable this season
- Rebels going mad in first official practice of 2015-16 season
- Findlay Prep’s Carlos Johnson commits to UNLV
- Commitment, conditioning at heart of UNLV’s full-court pressure defense
- Class of 2016 guard commits to UNLV basketball
- The Sun's UNLV section
For the second straight year, media covering the Mountain West have pegged UNLV to finish fourth with the preseason freshman of the year, it was announced this morning.
The Rebels were tabbed fourth and finished seventh last season, but another solid recruiting class has them right back in the mix for the Mountain West race. One of those recruits, Bishop Gorman High big man Stephen Zimmerman Jr., was the league’s highest-touted incoming freshman, and he makes it four straight freshman of the year picks for the Rebels.
The previous three were Rashad Vaughn (2014), Kendall Smith (2013) and Anthony Bennett (2012), with Vaughn and Bennett going on to win the season-ending award as well.
San Diego State received 22 of 25 first-place votes, making it the fourth time in the last six years that it has been picked to win the conference. The Aztecs have claimed at least a share of the regular-season title four of the last five years, and they’ve made it to the NCAA Tournament six straight years.
Behind SDSU, it’s 2014-15 co-champion Boise State, which received two first-place votes. The remaining first-place votes went to fifth-place Fresno State, which will rely heavily this season on Preseason Player of the Year Marvelle Harris.
New Mexico junior Tim Williams, a transfer from Samford, is the preseason newcomer of the year. Full poll results are below:
The Rebel Room
On to Fresno
The Rebels' comeback fell short in overtime against San Jose State but Las Vegas Sun sports editor Ray Brewer and reporters Case Keefer and Taylor Bern aren't feeling too down about UNLV's outlook as it prepares for the short week and a trip to Fresno State.
Preseason All-Conference Team
G — Marvelle Harris, Sr, Fresno State
G — Josh Adams, Sr, Wyoming
G/F — Anthony Drmic, Sr, Boise State
F — Winston Shepard, Sr, San Diego State
F — James Webb III, Jr, Boise State
Player of the Year: Harris
Freshman of the Year: Stephen Zimmerman Jr., UNLV
Newcomer of the Year: Tim Williams, Jr, New Mexico
Predicted Order of Finish
1. San Diego State (22) 272
2. Boise State (2) 234
3. Utah State 190
4. UNLV 185
5. Fresno State (1) 182
6. New Mexico 164
7. Colorado State 144
8. Wyoming 101
9. UNR 97
10. Air Force 51
11. San Jose State 30
Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy