Frontier Conference basketball preseason coaches poll released

Warrior women, men picked to finish third overall

10-21-05

Dillon, MT-  The Frontier Conference basketball preseason coaches poll for the women and men was released Friday afternoon, with both Warrior programs picked by their peers to finish third overall.

On the women’s side, the 2004-05 regular season and tournament champion Carroll College Saints were picked to finish first overall (25-6, 12-2), followed by UM-Western (23-6, 11-3), L-C State (22-11, 10-4) , MSU-Northern (23-9, 9-5), Rocky Mt. College (11-18, 7-7), Westminster (3-25, 0-14), University of Great Falls (11-17, 5-9), and rounding out the votes were Montana Tech (5-24, 2-12).

The voting system was based on points, where teams scored 7 total for first place votes, 6 points for second, 5 for third, 4 points for fourth, 3 points for fifth, 2 points for sixth and 1 for seventh.  Carroll College received all of the first place votes but one, which went to Lewis-Clark State.  As part of the process and procedures, coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team.   

“Based on last years finishes, one could foresee this preseason conference ranking to end up the way it has.” stated head women’s basketball coach Brian Orr.    “With the talent level being the best it’s ever been, the league is going to be extremely balanced from top to bottom.”

The Warriors finished the 2004-05 season with an invite the NAIA national tournament, the 9^th time in the past 10 years the women’s program has participated in the highest level of NAIA competition.  The 22 wins also continued a tradition of 14 straight seasons where the program has accumulated 20 or more wins in a season.  

For the men, last year’s  regular season conference champions Carroll College were the leading vote getters, finishing the 2004-05 campaign overall at 24-5, 12-2 in conference play.  Westminster came in at number two (22-8, 12-2) , followed by Lewis-Clark State (22-8, 10-4), Rocky Mountain College (18-12, 7-7), UM-Western (18-12, 7-7) and MSU-Northern (12-17, 3-11) tying for the fifth slot, while Montana Tech (7-23, 2-12) and Great Falls (6-24, 3-11) rounded up the final votes.

Scoring system was the same as the women, with Carroll receiving seven first place votes and Westminster one.

The Warrior men finished the 2004-05 season with a top 25 ranking, while earning an automatic berth into the NAIA national tournament after winning the 2005 Frontier Conference tournament.  New head coach Tim Walker leads a program he’s been a part of the last four year’s, where the men have won an impressive 102 games, while making the trip to nationals 3 of those 4 years. 

Both teams open season play next Friday night, October 28^th at Clarkston high school in Clarkston, WA versus Fraser Valley University.  Tip-off is set for 6 & 8 p.m.

Poll results below:    

Women’s Results Points
Carroll College (7) 49
UM-Western 41
Lewis-Clark (1) 39
MSU-Northern 29
Rocky Mountain 27
Westminster College 17
University of Great Falls 12
Montana Tech 14

Men’s Results Points
Carroll College (7) 49
Westminster College (1) 43
Lewis-Clark 35
Rocky Mountain 24
UM-Western 23
MSU-Northern 23
Montana Tech 10
University of Great Falls 13