BB: Huskies, Bears picked in preseason polls
2019-20 season tips off Friday night across Western Canada
EDMONTON – A new season of Canada West basketball tips off Friday night, and the Saskatchewan Huskies and Alberta Golden Bears are the favourites to win the conference's women's and men's titles respectively.
The conference's annual coaches preseason poll was released Friday, as the 2019-20 season opens in eight markets across Western Canada.
In the women's preseason poll the defending CW champion Huskies were a unanimous pick to repeat as conference champs.
Saskatchewan received all 16 first-place votes available to them (256 points), as they edged the Calgary Dinos for top spot in the poll. Calgary finished with 240 points, receiving Saskatchewan's first-place vote, and second-place votes from 14 other members.
Meanwhile, the Golden Bears used six first-place votes to take down top spot with 244 points. Alberta narrowly edged out UBC (240 points and six first-place votes), along with the defending conference champion Dinos (237 points and remaining five first-place votes).
The road to the conference championships begins tonight, with 16 conference games (eight men's and eight women's) available live on Canada West TV Presented by Co-op. Season passes are available for purchase by clicking here.
For a complete look at all 17 CW women's teams click here, and for the men's preview, click here.
2019-20 CW WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON POLL
Team / Points (First-place votes)
- Saskatchewan Huskies / 256 (16)
- Calgary Dinos / 240
- UBC Thunderbirds / 212
- Lethbridge Pronghorns / 197
- Regina Cougars / 187
- Alberta Pandas / 184
- Fraser Valley Cascades / 164
- Victoria Vikes / 157
- Winnipeg Wesmen / 153
- UNBC Timberwolves / 124
- Manitoba Bisons / 102
- *Trinity Western Spartans / 83
- UBCO Heat / 83
- Mount Royal Cougars / 49
- MacEwan Griffins / 42
- Thompson Rivers WolfPack / 40
- Brandon Bobcats / 39
NOTES: * TWU receives higher ranking thanks to greater number of higher-place votes. First-place votes worth 16 pts., second-place 15 pts. etc.
2019-20 CW MEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON POLL
Team / Points (First-place votes)
- Alberta Golden Bears / 244 (6)
- UBC Thunderbirds / 240 (6)
- Calgary Dinos / 237 (5)
- Regina Cougars / 189
- Saskatchewan Huskies / 183
- Lethbridge Pronghorns / 169
- Winnipeg Wesmen / 161
- Manitoba Bisons / 155
- Thompson Rivers WolfPack / 138
- Victoria Vikes / 136
- Fraser Valley Cascades / 127
- Mount Royal Cougars / 90
- Brandon Bobcats / 73
- UBCO Heat / 46
- UNBC Timberwolves / 44
- *Trinity Western Spartans / 40
- MacEwan Griffins / 40
NOTES: * TWU receives higher ranking thanks to greater number of higher-place votes. First-place votes worth 16 pts., second-place 15 pts. etc.