Oregon Tech, led by veteran coach Danny Miles, is the preseason choice to win the 2008-09 CCC title, according to a poll of the league's head coaches.
OIT Picked to Win CCC Men's Hoop Crown
PORTLAND, Ore. – Defending NAIA champion Oregon Tech has been tabbed as the preseason favorite to win the 2008-09 Cascade Collegiate Conference men’s basketball championship, the league office announced Sunday.
The Hustlin’ Owls, who posted a record of 31-6 on their way to a second national title in five years last season, garnered eight first-place votes and 118 points overall in balloting by the league’s 11 head coaches. Eastern Oregon, which received the three remaining first-place votes, was picked to finish second. Evergreen, Warner Pacific, College of Idaho and Concordia rounded out the top six.
Veteran Oregon Tech coach Danny Miles, who has 847 wins in 37 seasons, returns four starters from last year’s title-winning team, including 6-7 junior forward Myles Daley (7.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg), 5-8 senior guard Jguwon Hogges (10.8 ppg, 3.4 rpg), 6-10 senior post Christian Cavanaugh (13.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg) and 6-8 senior post Josh Wetzler (9.8 ppg, 9.0 rpg). The Owls must replace guard/forward Ryan Fiegi, who ended a stellar collegiate career last season by earning CCC and NAIA Player of the Year honors. Fiegi averaged 20.2 points and 6.1 rebounds last season.
The Mountaineers of Eastern Oregon will be looking to duplicate their ground-breaking campaign of a year ago, when they won their first conference title and made EOU’s debut in a national postseason tournament. Fifth-year head coach Ryan Looney has a host of returnees from last season’s 26-6 squad, including senior forward Paul Carollo (9.5 ppg, 8.4 rpg), senior guard Jeremy Templeton (9.5 ppg, 4.3 apg) and senior wing Neil Fryer (11.8 ppg).
Evergreen, which just missed earning a spot as the league’s fourth representative to last year’s NAIA tournament, will be led by returning All-American Nate Menefee, the league’s leading returning scorer (22.8 ppg) who totaled 45 points in the Geoducks’ two wins over OIT last year. A 5-10 junior guard, Menefee was the only non-senior on last season’s 10-man All-CCC team. Evergreen also returns senior Nick Moore, the CCC’s Newcomer of the Year who averaged 13 points per game in 2007-08.
Despite losing all five starters from last year’s 22-11 team which advanced to the national tournament for a third straight year, Warner Pacific was picked to finish in a tie for third place. Coach Bart Valentine has brought in a host of talented newcomers, including former CCC star Adam Moore, who ranked second in the CCC in scoring (20.4 ppg) two seasons ago while playing at Evergreen.
College of Idaho returns 2007-08 CCC Defensive Player of the Year Bryan Champ, while Concordia is expected to be led by guard Desmond Meray.
The 2008-09 CCC campaign gets underway with non-conference action Oct. 30.
2008-09 CCC Preseason Men's Basketball Poll
| Rank |
Institution |
Points |
2007-08 Overall |
2007-08 CCC |
| 1 |
Oregon Tech (8) |
118 |
31-6 |
16-4 |
| 2 |
Eastern Oregon (3) |
108 |
26-6 |
17-3 |
| 3 |
Evergreen |
87 |
21-8 |
14-6 |
| 3 |
Warner Pacific |
87 |
22-11 |
14-6 |
| 5 |
College of Idaho |
83 |
13-18 |
10-10 |
| 6 |
Concordia |
67 |
15-15 |
11-9 |
| 7 |
Northwest |
62 |
14-16 |
10-10 |
| 8 |
Southern Oregon |
37 |
10-20 |
6-14 |
| 9 |
Corban |
35 |
10-20 |
5-15 |
| 10 |
Northwest Christian |
27 |
10-21 |
7-13 |
| 11 |
Cascade |
15 |
5-23 |
0-20 |
| First place votes in parentheses |