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Ponies picked to finish 6th. UTEP picked to win.
Hopkins on pre-season ALL-WAC team.

http://www.wacsports.com/article.asp?articleid=61942

Also from the WAC site, Women picked to finish 4th and Sarah Davis is a Second Team All WAC pre season selection.

Its amazing how the WAC has turned upside down in just a few short years with Utep and Rice at the top and Tulsa and Fresno at the bottom. What is the problem with Tulsa? And I never thought I would see Fresno State picked 9th in a preseason poll.

If I was Pat Simpson I would have a chip on my shoulder this season. He has ability. And as a senior, its time for him to earn some recognition, at least 2nd Team All Wac.

Lose their best (and some say only) player in Jason Parker, recruiting hasn't been the same in the current Phillips administration which they should have known. They seriously wanted to hire a coach that would stick around for a while (hence the Phillips hire a former area high school coach), but why when they consistently had the pick of every up and coming low major coach or well regarded assistant. They should have given the job to Gillespie instead of letting him go with Self to Illinois and then less then a year later UTEP (we know how that turned out). The team is lacking of the talant to turn it around this year unless they picked up a superstar recuit I dont know about. This could and should be the end of the Phillips era due to the superior facilities and commitment he's given at a school of Tulsa's size and conference affiliation. The people in that city love and will support their Golden Hurricane (insert joke about not having anything else to do in Tulsa joke here) but in exchange they demand and have reason to expect a winner.
Rest of WAC should be interesting. I still like UTEP to take it but Rice could make it a two team tourny league again if they put it all together. I think Nevada will struggle and we don't have any more excuses. The players cant blame the coach anymore and there are four of them that have started at least 50 games in their careers. Look for Derek and Ike to contribue immediately as well and Pearson to get more time as the free flowing game suits his style.