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Grand Canyon University Athletics
Coaches, media put GCU, Blacksher atop WAC
10/17/2022 1:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
Lopes last favored by conference in 2017; Blacksher named Preseason POY
The optimism about the upcoming Grand Canyon basketball season is not just outside noise any longer.
The WAC coaches and media picked GCU as this season's conference favorite and both contingents named Lopes junior point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. as the WAC Preseason Player of the Year.
"It's a great compliment to our returning players and players coming in, but there are a lot of really good players and really good teams in our league," Drew said. "The end-of-season standings are what matters and not the preseason ones. I'm super-excited for Jovan for our peers to think that highly of him. He's always competitive and wants to win. He doesn't care about individual awards, but from a program standpoint, it's nice that people realize how important he has been to our team."
With eight of the 12 opposing conference coaches picking GCU first, the Lopes will enter the season as the coaches' WAC favorite for the first time since 2017-18. That was also the last season that the media poll predicted GCU in first.
Blacksher is the first Lopes player to be selected WAC Preseason Player of the Year since Alessandro Lever (2018-19) and Joshua Braun (2017-18) received the honor from coaches and media in successive years.
"Honored," Blacksher said. "It's a blessing. For me, it's more of a goal of mine that I want to achieve, but definitely a blessing and an honor to get nominated from the coaches and the media. This is my expectations -- for us to be No. 1 and for me to be the best player in the league. It's an honor and a blessing, but it's our expectation at the end of the day."
GCU also matched its highest number of honorees on the coaches' Preseason All-WAC teams with Blacksher on first team and junior guard Ray Harrison and junior power forward Gabe McGlothan on second team. The Lopes last landed three preseason selections in 2020-21 with Lever, Blacksher and Oscar Frayer.
Defending champion New Mexico State had been the coaches' and the media's pick for each of the previous four years, including GCU's 2020-21 championship season. The Aggies came in second on the coaches' poll this season with three first-place votes for new head coach Greg Heiar.
Blacksher, McGlothan and fellow junior Yvan Ouedraogo are the returning starters from a 23-8 season in Drew's second GCU year. Blacksher averaged 15.8 points, 4.0 assists and 1.7 steals last season with 39.4% 3-point shooting while McGlothan averaged 9.3 points and 6.6 rebounds with Ouedraogo ranking 17th nationally for offensive rebound percentage.
The backcourt, which includes sophomore returnee Chance McMillian, was bolstered by a pair of transfers – Harrison, a 17-point scorer for two seasons at Presbyterian, and Phoenix native Josh Baker, who played last season at UNLV.
The Lopes will debut publicly with an Oct. 28 exhibition game against Eastern New Mexico at GCU Arena, where the regular season will start Nov. 7 against defending Big Sky champion Montana State.
The WAC coaches and media picked GCU as this season's conference favorite and both contingents named Lopes junior point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. as the WAC Preseason Player of the Year.
"It's a great compliment to our returning players and players coming in, but there are a lot of really good players and really good teams in our league," Drew said. "The end-of-season standings are what matters and not the preseason ones. I'm super-excited for Jovan for our peers to think that highly of him. He's always competitive and wants to win. He doesn't care about individual awards, but from a program standpoint, it's nice that people realize how important he has been to our team."With eight of the 12 opposing conference coaches picking GCU first, the Lopes will enter the season as the coaches' WAC favorite for the first time since 2017-18. That was also the last season that the media poll predicted GCU in first.
Blacksher is the first Lopes player to be selected WAC Preseason Player of the Year since Alessandro Lever (2018-19) and Joshua Braun (2017-18) received the honor from coaches and media in successive years."Honored," Blacksher said. "It's a blessing. For me, it's more of a goal of mine that I want to achieve, but definitely a blessing and an honor to get nominated from the coaches and the media. This is my expectations -- for us to be No. 1 and for me to be the best player in the league. It's an honor and a blessing, but it's our expectation at the end of the day."
GCU also matched its highest number of honorees on the coaches' Preseason All-WAC teams with Blacksher on first team and junior guard Ray Harrison and junior power forward Gabe McGlothan on second team. The Lopes last landed three preseason selections in 2020-21 with Lever, Blacksher and Oscar Frayer.
Defending champion New Mexico State had been the coaches' and the media's pick for each of the previous four years, including GCU's 2020-21 championship season. The Aggies came in second on the coaches' poll this season with three first-place votes for new head coach Greg Heiar.
Blacksher, McGlothan and fellow junior Yvan Ouedraogo are the returning starters from a 23-8 season in Drew's second GCU year. Blacksher averaged 15.8 points, 4.0 assists and 1.7 steals last season with 39.4% 3-point shooting while McGlothan averaged 9.3 points and 6.6 rebounds with Ouedraogo ranking 17th nationally for offensive rebound percentage.
The backcourt, which includes sophomore returnee Chance McMillian, was bolstered by a pair of transfers – Harrison, a 17-point scorer for two seasons at Presbyterian, and Phoenix native Josh Baker, who played last season at UNLV.
The Lopes will debut publicly with an Oct. 28 exhibition game against Eastern New Mexico at GCU Arena, where the regular season will start Nov. 7 against defending Big Sky champion Montana State.
Coaches' Preseason WAC Player of the Year |
|
| Player | School |
| Jovan Blacksher Jr., junior guard | GCU |
Coaches' Preseason All-WAC first team |
|
| Player | School |
| Airion Simmons, senior forward | Abilene Christian |
| Taran Armstrong, sophomore guard | California Baptist |
| Jovan Blacksher Jr., junior guard | GCU |
| Xavier Pinson, senior guard | New Mexico State |
| Cameron Tyson, junior guard | Seattle U |
| Tevian Jones, senior guard/forward | Southern Utah |
| Justin Johnson, senior forward | UT Rio Grande Valley |
| Trey Woodbury, senior guard | Utah Valley |
Coaches' Preseason All-WAC second team |
|
| Player | School |
| Rayshon Harrison, sophomore guard | GCU |
| Gabe McGlothan, junior forward | GCU |
| Javion May, senior guard | Sam Houston |
| Riley Grigsby, senior guard/forward | Seattle U |
| Maizen Fausett, senior forward | Southern Utah |
| Sadaidrienne Hall, sophomore forward | Stephen F. Austin |
| Jayline Jackson-Posey, sophomore guard | Stephen F. Austin |
| Freddy Hicks, junior guard/forward | Tarleton |
Coaches' preseason poll |
|||
| Rank | Team (first-place votes) | Points | |
| 1 |
 |
GCU (8) | 135 |
| 2 |
 |
New Mexico State (3) | 131 |
| 3 |
 |
Stephen F. Austin | 111 |
| 4 |
 |
Abilene Christian (1) | 101 |
| 5 |
 |
California Baptist (1) | 96 |
| 6 |
 |
Seattle U | 91 |
| 7 |
 |
Utah Valley | 85 |
| 8 |
 |
Sam Houston | 79 |
| 9 |
 |
Southern Utah | 66 |
| 10 |
 |
Tarleton | 47 |
| 11 |
 |
UT Arlington | 31 |
| 12 |
 |
Utah Tech | 29 |
| 13 |
 |
UT Rio Grande Valley | 16 |
Media Preseason WAC Player of the Year |
|
| Player | School |
| Jovan Blacksher Jr., junior guard | GCU |
Media Preseason All-WAC |
|
| Player | School |
| Airion Simmons, senior forward | Abilene Christian |
| Taran Armstrong, sophomore guard | California Baptist |
| Jovan Blacksher Jr., junior guard | GCU |
| Xavier Pinson, senior guard | New Mexico State |
| Deshawndre Washington, junior guard | New Mexico State |
| Cameron Tyson, junior guard | Seattle U |
| Jaylin Jackson-Posey, sophomore guard | Stephen F. Austin |
| Trey Woodbury, senior guard | Utah Valley |
Media preseason poll |
||
| Rank | Team | |
| 1 |
|
GCU |
| 2 |
|
New Mexico State |
| 3 |
|
Stephen F. Austin |
| 4 |
|
Abilene Christian |
| 5 |
|
California Baptist |
| 6t |
|
Seattle U |
| 6t |
|
Sam Houston |
| 8 |
|
Utah Valley |
| 9 |
|
Southern Utah |
| 10 |
|
UT Arlington |
| 11 |
|
Tarleton |
| 12 |
|
Utah Tech |
| 13 |
|
UT Rio Grande Valley |
Players Mentioned
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