Oct. 31, 2000

Tulsa, Oklahoma - The University of Tulsa men's basketball team was picked to finish in second-place in the Western Athletic Conference by the league's media, as released by the conference office today.

Fresno State was picked as the WAC favorite for the second year in a row. Last season, Tulsa won the outright league regular season title with a 12-2 conference record, while Fresno State was the second-place team with an 11-3 mark.

FSU tallied 162 possible points, followed by Tulsa's 161 points. SMU which was picked third in the league standings with 154 points, had the most first-place votes with nine. Tulsa was next with seven first-place votes, followed by four for Fresno State and one for TCU.

Tulsa was chosen to win the 2001 Williams WAC Tournament, which will be played at Tulsa's Donald W. Reynolds Center, on 13 of 21 ballots

"I don't put a lot into where we are picked in the preseason," said Peterson. "I do know that we're a very young team with eight of our 12 players either freshmen or sophomores and we have a lot of learning to do along the way. The WAC will be a very competitive league this year, and with the success this team enjoyed a year ago it will make it even tougher this season.

In addition to the preseason poll, the WAC announced its preseason all-conference team today. Tulsa senior David Shelton was chosen as a preseason all-WAC selection. Shelton was a second-team pick a year ago after averaging a team-leading 13.5 points as Tulsa's sixth man.

SMU's Jeryl Sasser was picked as the preseason Player of the Year, while other first-team members on the all-WAC squad includes Willie Davis of SMU, Fresno State's Melvin Ely and UTEP's Brandon Wolfram.

2000-01 WAC Preseason Media Poll
Rk. Team Points
1. Fresno State (4) 162
2. Tulsa (7) 161
3. SMU (9) 154
4. TCU (1) 131
5. UTEP 100
6. Hawaii 80
7. San Jose State 71
8. Rice 48
9. Nevada 38