Cal Basketball: Bears Picked to Finish Last in Preseason Pac-12 Poll

No Cal players on preseason all-conference team, so Mark Fox has his work cut out for him

Joe Camporeale, USA TODAY

As expected, expectation will not be high for Cal's basketball team. The Bears were picked to finish dead last in the Pac-12 coaches poll released Tuesday.

Also, no Cal player was selected to the preseason first-team or second-team all-conference team. Colorado and Washington each had two players on the preseason first team, which included three freshmen. UCLA is the only other team with no player on the first or second team.

Clearly, new Cal coach Mark Fox has his work cut out for him.

Oregon was picked by the coaches to win the Pac-12 title, with Colorado a close second, Washington third and Arizona fourth. But five teams received first-place votes, indicating that it may be a wild rush to the title.

Fox will have a team that will depend on heavily on newcomers. Kareem South, a graduate transfer from Texas A&M Corpus Christi, joins returning starters Paris Austin and Matt Bradley as the core players, but a lot has yet to be determined.

The Bears lost three key players who transferred after last season, when the Bears finished last in the conference. Justice Sueing, the team top scorer last season, transferred to Ohio State. Darius McNeill transferred to SMU. And promising 7-foot-4 freshman Connor Vanover transferred to Arkansas.

Here are the results of the coaches preseason poll, followed by first-place votes in parentheses and total points after that.

1. Oregon (9) 291 points

2. Colorado (9) 288

3. Washington (6) 273

4. Arizona (2) 263

5. USC (1)

6. Arizona State 187

7. Oregon State 161

8. UCLA 148

9. Utah 131

10. Stanford 84

11. Washington State 47

12. Cal 35