PORTLAND, Ore. – Oregon Tech, which has won or shared three of the last four regular season conference titles, has been picked to win the 2010-11 Cascade Collegiate Conference men’s basketball crown, according to a poll of the league’s 10 head coaches.
The Hustlin’ Owls, who went 30-5 overall and won CCC regular season and postseason tournament titles last year for the second consecutive season, picked up five first-place votes and 89 points in earning the preseason nod. Eastern Oregon and Northwest University tied for second place with 84 points apiece, and were followed by College of Idaho (70), Warner Pacific (63), Concordia (48), Corban (38), Northwest Christian (29), Evergreen (24) and Southern Oregon (21).
Eastern Oregon earned three first-place votes, while Northwest and College of Idaho each earned one first-place vote.
OIT is expected to be led by senior guard Joseph Foster, who was tabbed by the head coaches as the CCC’s Preseason Player of the Year. A year ago, the 5-11 point guard averaged 16.8 points, 2.9 assists and shot a CCC-best 86 percent from the free throw line on his way to earning honorable mention All-America honors. Foster also shot 43 percent from beyond the 3-point stripe to rank seventh in the CCC. Oregon Tech has advanced to the NAIA Tournament the last eight seasons, winning it all in 2004 and 2008.
Other top returnees for veteran head coach Dan Miles include junior forward Kyle Gomez and senior post Brent Johnson.
Eastern Oregon, which has reached the NAIA Tournament Sweet 16 each of the last three seasons, returns a pair of starters and five letterwinners from last year’s 23-9 squad. Key returnees for the Mountaineers include senior guard Josh Cottle, senior guard Thomas McCarthy and sophomore guard Cody Thurmond. Second-year coach Isaac Williams welcomes one of the finest recruiting classes in program history, including three players named to the preseason All-CCC team.
Northwest returns four starters from its 2009-10 club, including two-time first team All-CCC selection Greg George, who averaged 14.2 points and 7.8 rebounds for the Eagles last year. Eleventh-year coach John Van Dyke also returns senior forward Tyson Christie (11 ppg, 4.4 rpg), senior guard Stedman Richardson (10.6 ppg, 4.7 rpg), and senior forward Greg Peters (8.9 ppg, 9.5 rpg).
College of Idaho, under the direction of first-year coach Rod Jensen, returns a pair of starting guards in Matt Ballenger (12.6 ppg) and Steve Peres (7.6 ppg). Jensen is a former head coach at Boise State.
| Rk. |
Institution |
Pts |
2009-10 Overall |
2009-10 CCC |
| 1 |
Oregon Tech (5) |
89 |
30-5 |
15-3 |
| 2 |
Eastern Oregon (3) |
84 |
23-9 |
14-4 |
| 2 |
Northwest (1) |
84 |
17-14 |
10-8 |
| 4 |
College of Idaho (1) |
70 |
9-17 |
5-13 |
| 5 |
Warner Pacific |
63 |
22-10 |
12-6 |
| 6 |
Concordia |
48 |
15-15 |
5-13 |
| 7 |
Corban |
38 |
40411 |
3-15 |
| 8 |
Northwest Christian |
29 |
14-17 |
10-8 |
| 9 |
Evergreen |
24 |
19-11 |
12-6 |
| 10 |
Southern Oregon |
21 |
12-15 |
4-14 |
| First place votes in parentheses |