Coaches pick the winners
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The Bethany men and Thomas More women were the top picks in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Preseason Basketball Coaches Polls.
The Washington & Jefferson men were picked fifth and Waynesburg was ninth.
Waynesburg was third and W&J fourth in the women’s poll.
“Preseason polls are what they are, preseason,” said Bethany head coach Andrew Sachs in a release. “We just hope to get better so we are healthy and playing our best basketball at the end of the year. We embrace the high expectations that we have for the program and hope to improve every day.”
W&J head coach Glenn Gutierrez will have seven lettermen back this season, led by senior Zach Bellhy, who led the league in scoring at 19.2 points per game last season. Bellhy, a graduate of Fort Cherry High School, enters his final season with 1,001 career points.
W&J begins the season at Denison Nov. 15.
Waynesburg went 1-15 in the conference last season but upset Westminster in the PAC play-in game.
The Yellow Jackets start the season against Pitt-Greensburg Nov. 16, when they travel to Beaver Falls for the two-day Geneva Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.
Thomas More will be after a seventh consecutive PAC women’s championship. The Saints received all but one of the 10 first-place votes. The other went to Saint Vincent, which was picked second.
“It is an honor to be selected as the top team in our preseason poll,” said Thomas More coach Jeff Hans. “Our past and present players and coaches have worked hard to get the Thomas More women’s basketball program to this point. With the quality of teams and coaches in our conference, it is going to be a very competitive and exciting season. We understand that there is a lot of hard work ahead of us to achieve a PAC Championship.”
Waynesburg is coming off a 20-8 season last year and has compiled back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in the school’s history. Waynesburg has been selected third in each of the past two preseason polls.
The Yellow Jackets open the season Friday, Nov. 16, when they travel to Allegheny College to participate in the Greg Richards Memorial Tip-Off Tournament. The Yellow Jackets won the event last year.
The Presidents return four letterwinners from last year’s team that finished in seventh place in the PAC with a 12-14 record. Senior guard Emily Abraham is the top returning scorer at 5.6 points per game.
The W&J women open the season against SUNY-Freedonia at the Penn State-Behrend Tournament Nov. 17.