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Colorado State was picked to finish fifth in the 2017-18 Mountain West season, according to the poll voted on by the Conference media. The league’s predicted order of finish was announced Wednesday by the Mountain West at Media Summit, being held at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino – Las Vegas. Defending Mountain West men’s basketball regular-season and tournament champion Nevada has been predicted to repeat in 2017-18, according to a vote by the Conference media.
Last year’s runner-up in the MW regular season and tournament after being picked seventh in the preaseason poll, Colorado State this year received 154 points, 34 behind Fresno State in fourth and 16 clear of UNLV in sixth. Nevada Pack received 19 of a possible 24 first-place votes and 257 points to earn the top spot in the poll. San Diego State garnered two first-place nods and 229 points overall to land in the second spot, while Boise State also collected two first-place votes and a total of 211 points to finish third.
Colorado State posted a 24-12 record in 2016-17, the third 20-win season in head coach Larry Eustachy‘s five years at the helm of the Rams’ program. CSU went 13-5 in league play, tying a school record for MW wins in a single season. Eustachy enters his sixth season at CSU as the third-winningest coach in school history, just 10 victories behind Stu Morrill in second. Eustachy reached the 500-win plateau in his coaching career and 100-victory mark at CSU last season.
After losing two First Team All-MW selections from last year’s team, including Player of the Year and current Dallas Maverick Gian Clavell, the Rams return three starters and five letterwinners, led by junior guard Prentiss Nixon, redshirt-junior guard J.D. Paige and redshirt-sophomore center Nico Carvacho. Nixon, an honorable mention All-MW pick by the media last year, averaged 13.2 points per game, while Paige was at 8.8 points and a team-best 2.5 assists per game. Carvacho posted 5.4 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, ranking third on the team in boards.
Colorado State will take on Colorado Mesa on Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. in its lone exhibition of the year before hosting Sacramento State for the season opener on Nov. 10 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for all games can be purchased through the CSU Ticket Office at www.CSURams.com/tickets.
2017-18 PRESEASON MEN’S BASKETBALL PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
Rk. Team (First-Place Votes) Pts.
1. Nevada (19) 257
2. San Diego State (2) 229
3. Boise State (2) 211
4. Fresno State 188
5. Colorado State 154
6. UNLV (1) 138
7. Wyoming 133
8. Utah State 102
9. New Mexico 93
10. San José State 41
11. Air Force 38