Post by elp525 on Oct 20, 2011 8:23:13 GMT -5
October 19, 2011
Jones named to preseason all-conference first team
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
NEW YORK - If nothing else, it seems like it will be easier this year for West Virginia to mend its broken streak of finishing higher than predicted in the Big East standings.
The Mountaineers were selected seventh in the Big East coaches' poll released Wednesday at the league's annual media day event at the New York Athletic Club.
In addition, Mountaineer senior forward Kevin Jones was selected to the first-team preseason all-conference team.
Both predictions were made by a vote of the Big East's 16 head coaches.
"It's been my experience since I've been here that we've done way better than we've been predicted to finish,'' Jones said at the media gathering, held at the NYAC because of renovations to its usual home, Madison Square Garden. "So I'm not too worried about preseason predictions.''
Until last season, West Virginia had a rather remarkable streak going. For seven straight seasons, the Mountaineers had equaled or, in most cases, bettered their preseason predicted finish by the end of the regular season.
Last year WVU was picked to finish fifth in the conference and wound up sixth, snapping a streak that began in John Beilein's first season as coach and continued through Bob Huggins' first three.
Jones was picked to the all-league first team in the preseason last year but did not have the type of season that warranted the same at the end of the year.
This time, he isn't really concerned about it.
"It's just an honor that they picked me again for the first team,'' said Jones, a 6-foot-8 senior forward from Mt. Vernon, N.Y. "I really didn't go into [last year] thinking about the individual things, though, and I won't this year either."
As for the overall predicted order of finish, defending national champion Connecticut and Syracuse tied for first place in the poll of coaches. UConn had more first-place votes (seven, to Syracuse's five, while third-place Louisville (three) and fourth-place Pitt (one) got the others.
After Pitt in the standings, Cincinnati, Marquette, WVU, Villanova, Notre Dame and Georgetown round out the top 10. After that come Rutgers, St. John's, Seton Hall, South Florida, Providence and DePaul.
The other players on the six-member all-league team are Pitt's Ashton Gibbs, UConn's Jeremy Lamb, Marquette's Darius Johnson-Odom, Notre Dame's Tim Abromaitis and Syracuse's Kris Joseph.
Gibbs was chosen the preseason player of the year and UConn's Andre Drummond was tabbed the preseason rookie of the year.
In a similar poll released Wednesday night by the Syracuse Post-Standard, 16 media representatives also tabbed Syracuse and UConn atop the league, but the Orange finished in first place despite getting fewer first-place votes. West Virginia was seventh in that poll, too.
The newspaper's five-member all-league team was the same as the coaches', but without Jones. Ashton and Drummond also took the top individual honors in that survey.
Jones named to preseason all-conference first team
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
NEW YORK - If nothing else, it seems like it will be easier this year for West Virginia to mend its broken streak of finishing higher than predicted in the Big East standings.
The Mountaineers were selected seventh in the Big East coaches' poll released Wednesday at the league's annual media day event at the New York Athletic Club.
In addition, Mountaineer senior forward Kevin Jones was selected to the first-team preseason all-conference team.
Both predictions were made by a vote of the Big East's 16 head coaches.
"It's been my experience since I've been here that we've done way better than we've been predicted to finish,'' Jones said at the media gathering, held at the NYAC because of renovations to its usual home, Madison Square Garden. "So I'm not too worried about preseason predictions.''
Until last season, West Virginia had a rather remarkable streak going. For seven straight seasons, the Mountaineers had equaled or, in most cases, bettered their preseason predicted finish by the end of the regular season.
Last year WVU was picked to finish fifth in the conference and wound up sixth, snapping a streak that began in John Beilein's first season as coach and continued through Bob Huggins' first three.
Jones was picked to the all-league first team in the preseason last year but did not have the type of season that warranted the same at the end of the year.
This time, he isn't really concerned about it.
"It's just an honor that they picked me again for the first team,'' said Jones, a 6-foot-8 senior forward from Mt. Vernon, N.Y. "I really didn't go into [last year] thinking about the individual things, though, and I won't this year either."
As for the overall predicted order of finish, defending national champion Connecticut and Syracuse tied for first place in the poll of coaches. UConn had more first-place votes (seven, to Syracuse's five, while third-place Louisville (three) and fourth-place Pitt (one) got the others.
After Pitt in the standings, Cincinnati, Marquette, WVU, Villanova, Notre Dame and Georgetown round out the top 10. After that come Rutgers, St. John's, Seton Hall, South Florida, Providence and DePaul.
The other players on the six-member all-league team are Pitt's Ashton Gibbs, UConn's Jeremy Lamb, Marquette's Darius Johnson-Odom, Notre Dame's Tim Abromaitis and Syracuse's Kris Joseph.
Gibbs was chosen the preseason player of the year and UConn's Andre Drummond was tabbed the preseason rookie of the year.
In a similar poll released Wednesday night by the Syracuse Post-Standard, 16 media representatives also tabbed Syracuse and UConn atop the league, but the Orange finished in first place despite getting fewer first-place votes. West Virginia was seventh in that poll, too.
The newspaper's five-member all-league team was the same as the coaches', but without Jones. Ashton and Drummond also took the top individual honors in that survey.
