Oregon among the top contenders for Pac-12 women's basketball title
The road to the Pac-12 women's basketball title is predicted to go through Stanford.
But No. 20 Oregon is anticipated to be one of the teams trying to track down the Cardinal.
The Ducks, led by a trio of preseason all-conference selections, landed in second place in the preseason Pac-12 coaches poll and in third place in the preseason Pac-12 media poll announced Tuesday.
Oregon received 101 points in the coaches poll for a slight advantage over Arizona, which was picked third with 100 points. In the media poll, the Wildcats landed in second place with 291 points to 275 for the third-place Ducks.
Stanford was the unanimous No. 1 in the media poll and received 11 votes from the coaches, who couldn't vote for their own team. Utah received the other first-place vote.
Oregon State was sixth in both polls.
Related:Oregon women will begin season in AP's top 25 for 6th straight year
The Ducks are coming off a 20-12 season in which they played in their fifth straight NCAA Tournament.
They're heading into coach Kelly Graves' ninth season with a group led by three players voted onto the media's 15-player preseason all-conference team — Te-Hina Paopao, Sedona Prince and Endyia Rogers. Arizona was the only other team with three players selected.
It was a third straight preseason selection for Prince, while Paopao and Rogers earned their second straight selections.
UO men's basketball: Oregon men get nods, but UCLA overwhelming favorite in basketball preseason Pac-12 poll
It's been a preseason of big expectations for Paopao, as the junior was also named to the preseason watch list for the Nancy Lieberman Award honoring the nation’s top point guard. She averaged 13.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game last season.
Paopao isn't the only Duck earning national attention. Prince is coming off a season in which she averaged 9.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.3 blocks, and was fourth in the Pac-12 with a shooting percentage of 54.2%. The 6-foot-7 senior is on the Lisa Leslie Award watch list, handed out to the nation’s top center.
Rogers, a senior guard, is the team’s top returning scorer at 14.3 points per game. She also averaged 3.1 assists and 4.2 rebounds.
Oregon has an exhibition game against Carroll College at 6 p.m. Friday at Matthew Knight Arena. The season-opener is at 3 p.m. Nov. 7 against Northwestern at Matthew Knight Arena in a double-header with the Oregon men's team, which plays at 7 p.m. against Florida A&M.
Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com.
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Exhibition: Oregon vs. Carroll College
6 p.m. Friday at Matthew Knight Arena. TV — None. Radio — KWVA-FM (88.1)
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon Ducks women among top selections in preseason Pac-12 polls
