Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

UNLV hoops picked sixth in preseason Mountain West poll

UNLV Rebels First Practice

Steve Marcus

Marvin Menzies, UNLV head basketball coach, talks with players during the first basketball practice of the 2018-19 season at Mendenhall Center Friday, Sept. 28, 2018.

The Rebel Room

No more blowouts

UNLV gave up 50+ points for the second straight week to lose big and fall to 0-2 in Mountain West Conference play. All hope may not be lost, but it's trending that way especially if the Rebels can't rebound against Air Force and San Jose State over the next two weeks.

UNLV is projected to finish sixth in the Mountain West this season, according to the preseason poll released by the conference today.

The Runnin’ Rebels finished seventh in the regular season standings for 2017-18, which was Marvin Menzies’ second year as head coach. UNLV is returning senior power forward Shakur Juiston (14.6 points, 10.0 rebounds per game) as the centerpiece of a team that went 20-13 last year and 8-10 in Mountain West play.

As expected, UNR was the runaway selection for the top spot in the poll, finishing with 18 first-place votes and 207 points. The Wolf Pack are returning most of the key pieces from a roster that advanced to the Sweet 16 last year.

San Diego State came in second, picking up one first-place vote and 188 points. The Aztecs finished last season strong and won the conference tournament, knocking out UNR in the process.

New Mexico ranked third in the poll (153 points), Boise State was fourth (139) and Fersno State was fifth (138). UNLV collected 122 points to secure sixth place.

Wyoming (88), Colorado State (80), Utah State (78), Air Force (42) and San Jose State (19) rounded out the 7 through 11 spots in the poll.

The league also announced its preseason All-Mountain West team, but no UNLV players were selected. UNR packed the squad with three selections in seniors Jordan Caroline, Cody Martin and Caleb Martin. Fresno State’s Deshon Taylor and Wyoming’s Justin James were the other picks.

Caleb Martin was chosen as the preseason Player of the Year, while UNR 5-star recruit Jordan Brown was named preseason Freshman of the Year.

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.

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