UCLA Men's Basketball Picked 1st in Pac-12 Preseason Media Poll

While there was not a consensus, the Bruins earned 26 of the 33 first-place votes heading into Mick Cronin's fourth season at the helm.

For the third year in a row, the Bruins enter the season as the favorites to win the conference.

The Pac-12 preseason media poll dropped Wednesday morning ahead of Pac-12 Men's Basketball Media Day in San Francisco, and UCLA men's basketball was once again the heavy favorite to take home the conference crown. The Bruins have not actually won the Pac-12 regular season title since 2013, but they won the preseason poll in both 2020 and 2021.

UCLA picked up 26 of the 33 first-place votes from the media, with Arizona and Oregon each nabbing three while Stanford snagged a surprise one of their own.

Those top three teams are ordered the same way in the preseason AP Poll, with UCLA coming in at No. 8, Arizona debuting at No. 17 and Oregon appearing at No. 21.

In three seasons under coach Mick Cronin, the Bruins have finished second in the Pac-12 regular season standings twice and runner-up in the conference tournament once. UCLA came in fourth in 2021, but went further than any other conference foe in the NCAA tournament when they made a surprise run to the Final Four.

Since Cronin took over, UCLA is 40-17 in conference play, giving them the highest winning percentage in the Pac-12 in that time. The Bruins also have more NCAA tournament wins than any other Pac-12 program since 2020.

Before this current run under Cronin, UCLA had not been picked as the preseason favorite in the Pac-12 since 2011.

The Bruins are returning four of their top seven scorers from last year's Sweet 16 squad, all of whom also played on the 2021 Final Four team. Point guard Tyger Campbell and guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. are All-American candidates and returnees from last year's All-Pac-12 First Team, while five-star freshmen Amari Bailey and Adem Bona represent some of the top youthful reinforcements in the country.

The full results of the preseason media poll can be seen below:

2022-23 PAC-12 MEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON MEDIA POLL

1. UCLA, 386 points (26 first-place votes)
2. Arizona, 352 points (3 first-place votes)
3. Oregon, 336 points (3 first-place votes)
4. USC, 300 points
5. Stanford, 239 points (1 first-place vote)
6. Colorado, 207 points
7. Arizona State, 193 points
8. Washington State, 185 points
9. Washington, 158 points
10. Utah, 102 points
11. Cal, 69 points
12. Oregon State, 47 points

The preseason All-Pac-12 Teams, which were unveiled Monday, can be seen below:

FIRST TEAM

G Tyger Campbell, R-Sr. (UCLA)
C Branden Carlson, Sr. (CAL)
G Boogie Ellis, Sr. (USC)
F Mouhamed Gueye, So. (WSU)
F Harrison Ingram, So. (STAN)
G/F Jaime Jaquez Jr., Sr. (UCLA)
F Spencer Jones, Sr. (STAN)
G Drew Peterson, 5th (USC)
G Will Richardson, St. (ORE)
F Azuolas Tubelis, Jr. (ARIZ)

SECOND TEAM

F Marcus Bagley, So. (ASU)
F Tristan da Silva, Jr. (COLO)
G DJ Horne, Jr. (ASU)
G Kerr Kriisa, Jr. (ARIZ)
G Pelle Larsson, Jr. (ARIZ)

HONORABLE MENTIONS

G Amari Bailey, Fr. (UCLA)
C Oumar Ballo, R-Jr. (ARIZ)
G Jaylen Clark, Jr. (UCLA)
F Quincy Guerrier, Sr. (ORE)
G KJ Simpson, So. (COLO)
C Kel'el Ware, Fr. (ORE)

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