Walnut Creek, Calif. ?- The University of Arizona women’s basketball team was selected to finish seventh in the Pac-10 Conference, according to a poll of media members who cover Pac-10 women's basketball on Tuesday. With four returning starters from last year's NCAA Tournament team, the Stanford Cardinal was tabbed as the team to beat in the 2006-07 Pac-10 Conference season, according to the poll.
Stanford, which finished 26-8 overall and advanced to its third-consecutive Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament last season, garnered 11 first-place votes in the preseason poll. This is the sixth-straight year that Stanford has been picked by the media as the Conference preseason favorite.
Arizona State finished second in the poll with 97 points, followed by USC (76 points), California (75 points), and Washington (69 points).
UCLA was selected sixth in the poll (61 points) ahead of Arizona, as Oregon (29 points), Oregon State (26 points), and Washington State (19 points) rounded out the poll.
Five returning All-Pac-10 players were named to the Preseason All-Conference Team - Shay Murphy of USC, Noelle Quinn of UCLA, Brooke Smith and Candice Wiggins of Stanford and Emily Westerberg of Arizona State.
2006-07 PRESEASON PAC-10 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL MEDIA POLL
First-place votes in parentheses
Team Pts.
1. Stanford (11) 110
2. Arizona State 97
3. USC 76
4. California 75
5. Washington 69
6. UCLA 61
7. Arizona 39
8. Oregon 29
9. Oregon State 26
10. Washington State 19
2006-07 PRESEASON ALL-PAC-10 TEAM
Name, School
Shay Murphy, USC
Noelle Quinn, UCLA
Brooke Smith, Stanford
Emily Westerberg, Arizona State
Candice Wiggins, Stanford
