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Grand Canyon University Athletics
Preseason polls tab Johnson, Lever
10/9/2019 7:10:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
GCU picked to finish 2nd in WAC with top duo honored
Past All-WAC postseason honorees Carlos Johnson and Alessandro Lever remain two of the most respected players in the conference as they garnered Preseason All-WAC accolades and their Grand Canyon team was picked to finish second this season by WAC coaches and media.
Johnson, the conference's second-leading returning scorer to WAC Preseason Player of the Year Milan Acquaah of California Baptist, was selected to the Preseason All-WAC first team by the coaches and the media. Lever also was a Preseason All-WAC selection for first team by the coaches and was chosen for the second team by the media, who also picked Lopes junior guard Jaylen Fisher to the second team after his January transfer from TCU.
Defending WAC champion New Mexico State is the unanimous choice by the media to repeat atop the conference and also the runaway pick for first places by coaches, one of which tabbed GCU to be the regular-season conference champion.
"To me, it's not a surprise," Lopes seventh-year head coach Dan Majerle said of Johnson's and Lever's preseason honors. "They both are really good players who had good years last year. Hopefully, they'll be top players in the league but they have to go out and prove it. It's more about us winning than them being successful. They're really good players but they have to play well for us to be good as a team."
Johnson, a 6-foot-4 senior guard, was honored to the All-WAC second team and the All-WAC Tournament team after last season, when he averaged a team-high 14.3 points in 24.3 minutes per game. He spent the majority of last season as a sixth man but started in 16 games for the 20-14 Lopes.
With drastically improved shooting on free throws (59 percent career and 78 percent last season) and 3-pointers (16 percent for the first 16 games to 42 percent for the final 18 games), Johnson posted consecutive 31- and 35-point games in the GCU's run to the WAC Tournament championship game with his semifinal scoring effort being the tourney's best since Keith Van Horn scored 37 points in 1987.
Lever, a 6-foot-10 junior center, followed up an All-WAC first-team season as a freshman with similar statistics last season, when he bumped his scoring average from 12.2 points per game to 12.5 points per game and improved his 3-point shooting to 35 percent and his overall shooting to 48 percent.
Lever enters this season with a leaner look after dropping 20 pounds in the offseason.
"Those individual accolades don't mean anything unless the team is good," Majerle said. "Usually, the guy who wins Player of the Year is from the team that wins the league. That is what I'm concerned about."
As a team, GCU was a majority runner-up pick by coaches and media after becoming one of 29 Division I programs to win at least 20 games in each of the past four seasons. The Lopes have finished in the top three of the WAC regular-season standings in each of its six seasons since joining Division I to be the only conference team besides New Mexico State to do that.
GCU returns its top two scorers in Johnson and Lever and returns its most experienced player, senior forward Oscar Frayer, while adding a group of players who redshirted last season or joined the Lopes as transfers and freshmen in the offseason.
Johnson, the conference's second-leading returning scorer to WAC Preseason Player of the Year Milan Acquaah of California Baptist, was selected to the Preseason All-WAC first team by the coaches and the media. Lever also was a Preseason All-WAC selection for first team by the coaches and was chosen for the second team by the media, who also picked Lopes junior guard Jaylen Fisher to the second team after his January transfer from TCU.
Defending WAC champion New Mexico State is the unanimous choice by the media to repeat atop the conference and also the runaway pick for first places by coaches, one of which tabbed GCU to be the regular-season conference champion.
"To me, it's not a surprise," Lopes seventh-year head coach Dan Majerle said of Johnson's and Lever's preseason honors. "They both are really good players who had good years last year. Hopefully, they'll be top players in the league but they have to go out and prove it. It's more about us winning than them being successful. They're really good players but they have to play well for us to be good as a team."
Johnson, a 6-foot-4 senior guard, was honored to the All-WAC second team and the All-WAC Tournament team after last season, when he averaged a team-high 14.3 points in 24.3 minutes per game. He spent the majority of last season as a sixth man but started in 16 games for the 20-14 Lopes.
With drastically improved shooting on free throws (59 percent career and 78 percent last season) and 3-pointers (16 percent for the first 16 games to 42 percent for the final 18 games), Johnson posted consecutive 31- and 35-point games in the GCU's run to the WAC Tournament championship game with his semifinal scoring effort being the tourney's best since Keith Van Horn scored 37 points in 1987.
Lever, a 6-foot-10 junior center, followed up an All-WAC first-team season as a freshman with similar statistics last season, when he bumped his scoring average from 12.2 points per game to 12.5 points per game and improved his 3-point shooting to 35 percent and his overall shooting to 48 percent.
Lever enters this season with a leaner look after dropping 20 pounds in the offseason.
"Those individual accolades don't mean anything unless the team is good," Majerle said. "Usually, the guy who wins Player of the Year is from the team that wins the league. That is what I'm concerned about."
As a team, GCU was a majority runner-up pick by coaches and media after becoming one of 29 Division I programs to win at least 20 games in each of the past four seasons. The Lopes have finished in the top three of the WAC regular-season standings in each of its six seasons since joining Division I to be the only conference team besides New Mexico State to do that.
GCU returns its top two scorers in Johnson and Lever and returns its most experienced player, senior forward Oscar Frayer, while adding a group of players who redshirted last season or joined the Lopes as transfers and freshmen in the offseason.
Coaches' Preseason WAC Player of the Year |
|
| Player | School |
| Milan Acquaah | California Baptist |
Coaches' Preseason All-WAC first team |
|
| Player | School |
| Milan Acquaah | California Baptist |
| Terrell Brown | New Mexico State |
| Terrell Brown | Seattle U |
| Carlos Johnson | GCU |
| Alessandro Lever | GCU |
Coaches' Preseason All-WAC second team |
|
| Player | School |
| Ivan Aurrecoechea | New Mexico State |
| Myles Carter | Seattle U |
| AJ Harris | New Mexico State |
| Javon Levi | UT Rio Grande Valley |
| Trevelin Queen | New Mexico State |
Coaches' preseason poll |
|||
| Rank | Team (first-place votes) | Points | |
| 1 |
 |
New Mexico State (8) | 64 |
| 2 |
 |
GCU (1) | 57 |
| 3 |
 |
Seattle U | 43 |
| 4 |
 |
UT Rio Grande Valley | 39 |
| 5 |
 |
California Baptist | 34 |
| 6t |
 |
CSU Bakersfield | 30 |
| 6t |
 |
Utah Valley | 30 |
| 8 |
 |
Kansas City | 16 |
| 9 |
 |
Chicago State | 11 |
Media Preseason WAC Player of the Year |
|
| Player | School |
| Milan Acquaah | California Baptist |
Media Preseason All-WAC first team |
|
| Player | School |
| Milan Acquaah | California Baptist |
| Terrell Brown | New Mexico State |
| Carlos Johnson | GCU |
| Javon Levi | UT Rio Grande Valley |
| Trevelin Queen | New Mexico State |
Media Preseason All-WAC second team |
|
| Player | School |
| Brandon Averette | Utah Valley |
| Ivan Aurrecoechea | New Mexico State |
| Terrell Brown | Seattle U |
| Jaylen Fisher | GCU |
| Alessandro Lever | GCU |
Media preseason poll |
|||
| Rank | Team (first-place votes) | Points | |
| 1 |
|
New Mexico State (28) | 252 |
| 2 |
|
GCU | 220 |
| 3 |
|
Seattle U | 158 |
| 4 |
|
UT Rio Grande Valley | 155 |
| 5 |
|
California Baptist | 134 |
| 6 |
|
Utah Valley | 133 |
| 7 |
|
CSU Bakersfield | 109 |
| 8 |
|
Kansas City | 67 |
| 9 |
|
Chicago State | 32 |
Players Mentioned
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