The Brigham Young University–Hawaii men's basketball team sits atop the Division II Bulletin preseason national basketball poll released today. It marks the first time in the school's basketball history that the Seasiders have been ranked No. 1. The Seasiders, who finished last season ranked third nationally, finished 27-2 last year and won the Pacific West Conference championship before advancing to the NCAA II West Regional Championship game.
"This is the first time a team from Hawaii has been ranked No. 1 in our preseason Top 25," said Gary Rubin, publisher of Division II Bulletin. "It was a difficult decision, but we felt BYU–Hawaii has the talent to carry onto the national stage."
The Seasiders return Daktronics NCAA II National Player of the Year Lucas Alves (19.8 ppg, 7.5 rpg) (pictured at top red jersey) as well as Cousy Award finalist Virgil (J.R.) Buensuceso (11.4 ppg, 6.0 apg) (below left, red jersey). BYU–Hawaii also returns junior Marques Whippy (8.2 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 2.3 spg), who was named a pre-season Honorable Mention All-American by the Sporting News, and sophomore Tsung-Hsien (Jet) Chang (12.3 ppg), the Pacific West Conference Freshman of the Year last season.
"We are excited about being ranked No. 1," said BYU–Hawaii Head Coach Ken Wagner. "Our players have worked hard to earn this kind of respect and now we need to work even harder to keep it. This is exciting for our program, our conference, and for the State of Hawaii."
BYU–Hawaii will open the season with an exhibition game against the University of Hawaii on Nov. 5 in the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu at 7:05 p.m. The Seasiders will host the American Money Group Asia Pacific Tournament on Nov. 13 and 14 before opening the regular season at home in the Cannon Activities Center against Oakland City on Nov. 25 at 7:30 p.m. This season, all but two of BYU–Hawaii's regular season home games will be carried live worldwide on BYU Television, which is available on DirectTV and numerous cable outlets around the world.
Photos by Ryan Bagley
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