There was one surprise, one not so surprising.
Grand Canyon University’s women’s basketball team was picked to regain its Pacific West Conference title; in a vote by conference coaches, released at PacWest Media Day Wednesday.
Senior guard Samantha Murphy (Phoenix, Ariz./Xavier Prep), the reigning PacWest Player of the Year, was named the preseason Player of the Year.
GCU won the PacWest title three straight seasons (2007, 2008, 2009), before finishing runner-up to Hawai’i Pacific in 2010. The Antelopes received one more total point (72) than the Sea Warriors (71), but had less first-place votes (5-2).
Dixie State, who shared the runner-up sport with Grand Canyon had 67 points and one first-place vote. Notre Dame de Namur had 59 points and one first place vote. The top four were followed by, Academy of Art (46), BYU-Hawai’i (32), Hawai’i at Hilo (25), Dominican (24) and Chaminade (9).
“I was surprised,” said GCU coach Trent May of the predictions, but being a part of all three PacWest championships, including two as head coach, he is well aware the conference race will be decided in March, not November.
“I’m a coach and I’m not big on preseason rankings because I know the end looks like,” May said. “It’s great to be recognized, but I will feel much better if we’re No. 1 at the end.”
As surprised as he was of the team ranking, there was no surprise of Murphy’s preseason acknowledgement.
Murphy won the 2010 PacWest Player of the Year honor. She led the league with a 19-point per game scoring average and was among the leaders in 11 of 13 categories. She was a first-team All-West Region selection, too.
“I’m not surprised,” said May. “She is worthy of the recognition.
“I’m proud of her continued goal for greatness and I think she has a tremendous supporting cast for our team to reach our goals.”
GCU plays its final exhibition game Monday at UNLV. The regular season opens Nov. 12 at the 2010 Disney Tip-Off Classic. Grand Canyon will play three games in three days, opening with Texas Woman’s and following up with Alaska-Anchorage and UC San Diego.
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