UCI Men Sixth in Poll; Titans 10th

The early returns for the 1993-94 UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton basketball seasons came in Wednesday and--compared with past seasons--they are hopeful for the Anteaters and dismal for the Titans.

Irvine was picked to finish sixth in the Big West in both the coaches’ poll and the media poll at the conference’s annual media day, and Fullerton was picked 10th in each.

Both polls have New Mexico State winning the conference, Nevada Las Vegas finishing second, Pacific third, UC Santa Barbara fourth and Long Beach State fifth.

In the coaches’ poll for the women, Fullerton is picked seventh and Irvine 10th.

“I think we’ve got a chance to be pretty good,” Irvine men’s Coach Rod Baker said. “We need to have a little success early.”

Said Fullerton’s Brad Holland, who has only two returning players: “I feel like a first-year coach now that’s taking over a program that’s down. We are truly rebuilding now.”

Rounding out the men’s coaches’ poll is Nevada (seventh), Utah State (eighth) and San Jose State (ninth). The rest of the men’s media poll includes San Jose State (seventh), Utah State (eighth) and Nevada (ninth).

UC Santa Barbara was the predicted conference winner by the women’s coaches, with Hawaii finishing second and Nevada Las Vegas third.