Las Vegas Isn’t No. 1 in Big West : College Basketball: Conference coaches pick Cal State Long Beach ahead of the Associated Press’ top-ranked team in the nation.

Nevada Las Vegas is the No. 1-ranked men’s basketball team in the nation, according to the Associated Press preseason poll. But the Big West coaches voted the Runnin’ Rebels second in the conference Wednesday, picking Cal State Long Beach as the preseason favorite.

Five coaches picked Long Beach as the No. 1 team and four picked UNLV in what one coach joked was “a conspiracy.”

A media poll had UNLV first with 41 of 44 first-place votes, followed by UC Santa Barbara and Long Beach.

UNLV returns the core of a team that made it to the final eight of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament last season. It also has one of the nation’s top newcomers in community college transfer Larry Johnson.

“They might be No. 1 in the nation, but they’re not No. 1 in the Big West,” Santa Barbara Coach Jerry Pimm said. Pimm and other coaches are sensitive to the perception that the conference is UNLV and a crowd of others. Pimm pointed out that several of UNLV’s top players, including David Butler and Moses Scurry, were not with the team in its opener against Loyola Marymount Wednesday night because of academic problems.

Joe Harrington, coach of the Long Beach team that edged UNLV for first place in the coaches’ poll, said he picked his own team fourth, behind UNLV, Cal State Fullerton and Santa Barbara.

Long Beach has a roster filled with new names, including highly regarded Kevin Cutler, a 6-foot-8, 220-pound junior who was the Arizona junior college player of the year in 1988 and sat out last season.

The coaches’ poll:

Pos. School Votes (First Place)

1. Cal State Long Beach 85 (5)

2. Nevada Las Vegas 85 (4)

3. UC Santa Barbara 82 (1)

4. Cal State Fullerton 72

5. New Mexico State 63

6. Fresno State 45

7. UC Irvine 43

8. Utah State 36

9. Pacific 27

10. San Jose State 12

The Long Beach women’s basketball team lost four starters from last season’s 30-5 team, but the 49ers were still chosen to finish tied for first with UNLV in a poll of Big West Conference women’s coaches.

Fullerton, which finished with a 21-9 record and made its first appearance in the NCAA tournament last season, was picked to finish third.

The women’s poll:

Pos. School Votes (First Place)

1. (tie) Cal State Long Beach 95 (5)

1. (tie) Nevada Las Vegas 95 (5)

3. Cal State Fullerton 75

4. Hawaii 74

5. Fresno State 54

6. UC Santa Barbara 38

7. San Diego State 34

8. UC Irvine 32

9. Pacific 28

10. San Jose State 25