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Ducks Picked to Win Pac-12
10/10/18 | Women's Basketball
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - For the first time in program history, the Oregon women's basketball team has been picked to win the Pac-12 in the preseason coaches poll, the league announced on Wednesday at its annual media day.
Head coach Kelly Graves' squad won both the Pac-12 regular season and tournament titles last year and return four starters - senior Maite Cazorla, juniors Sabrina Ionescu and Ruthy Hebard and sophomore Satou Sabally.
After helping the Ducks reach the Elite Eight for a second straight year and a program-record 33 wins, Ionescu was a named a consensus All-American, Pac-12 player of the year, Pac-12 Tournament MVP, and the Nancy Lieberman National Point Guard of the Year while Hebard was named the Katrina McClain National Power Forward of the Year and an all-Pac-12 selection. Cazorla was also an all-Pac-12 pick last season while Sabally was the Pac-12 freshman of the year.
UO also returns reserves Oti Gildon, Morgan Yaeger and Lydia Giomi. The Ducks welcome in Erin Boley, the 2016 Gatorade National High School Player of the Year, off a redshirt season following her transfer from Notre Dame, in addition to freshmen Taylor Chavez, the 2018 Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year, and Nyara Sabally, the younger sister of Satou. Nyara is out for the season after suffering a knee injury while playing with Germany in the FIBA U18 European Championship.
Oregon has been picked second in the preseason coaches poll four times (1986-87, 1999-00, 2000-01 and 2016-17) but never have the Ducks been picked to win the league.
The Ducks open their 2018-19 season on Nov. 6 at Alaska-Fairbanks and have their home opener on Nov. 10 against Syracuse.
In the Pac-12 preseason poll, the league's coaches rank teams 1-11 and cannot vote for their own team.The Ducks earned the maximum of both 11 first place votes and 121 points.
2018-19 Pac-12 Preseason Coaches Poll
Head coach Kelly Graves' squad won both the Pac-12 regular season and tournament titles last year and return four starters - senior Maite Cazorla, juniors Sabrina Ionescu and Ruthy Hebard and sophomore Satou Sabally.
After helping the Ducks reach the Elite Eight for a second straight year and a program-record 33 wins, Ionescu was a named a consensus All-American, Pac-12 player of the year, Pac-12 Tournament MVP, and the Nancy Lieberman National Point Guard of the Year while Hebard was named the Katrina McClain National Power Forward of the Year and an all-Pac-12 selection. Cazorla was also an all-Pac-12 pick last season while Sabally was the Pac-12 freshman of the year.
UO also returns reserves Oti Gildon, Morgan Yaeger and Lydia Giomi. The Ducks welcome in Erin Boley, the 2016 Gatorade National High School Player of the Year, off a redshirt season following her transfer from Notre Dame, in addition to freshmen Taylor Chavez, the 2018 Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year, and Nyara Sabally, the younger sister of Satou. Nyara is out for the season after suffering a knee injury while playing with Germany in the FIBA U18 European Championship.
Oregon has been picked second in the preseason coaches poll four times (1986-87, 1999-00, 2000-01 and 2016-17) but never have the Ducks been picked to win the league.
The Ducks open their 2018-19 season on Nov. 6 at Alaska-Fairbanks and have their home opener on Nov. 10 against Syracuse.
In the Pac-12 preseason poll, the league's coaches rank teams 1-11 and cannot vote for their own team.The Ducks earned the maximum of both 11 first place votes and 121 points.
2018-19 Pac-12 Preseason Coaches Poll
| Rank | Team | Points (1st Votes) |
| 1 | Oregon | 121 (11) |
| 2 | Stanford | 107 (1) |
| 3 | Oregon State | 104 |
| 4 | California | 82 |
| 5 | Arizona State | 79 |
| 6 | UCLA | 74 |
| 7 | USC | 66 |
| 8 | Utah | 50 |
| 9 | Colorado | 44 |
| 10 | Arizona | 28 |
| 11 | Washington State | 19 |
| 12 | Washington | 18 |
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