PRE-SEASON RANKINGS: Bruins Picked 8th by USA Today / ESPN / WBCA Pollsters

NEWBERG, Ore. – Continuing to attract national attention as a top 10 pre-season choice for the third time this fall, the George Fox University Bruins have been picked as No. 8 in the nation for the 2010-11 season by the USA Today / ESPN Top 25 women's basketball poll as voted on by a panel of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. 

George Fox garnered 139 points in the USA Today / ESPN poll in balloting by the eight WBCA coaches from around the nation who make up the voting board.   Amherst College of Massachusetts, which went 32-1 last year and returns its entire roster, is the top pick with five first-place votes and 197 points, edging Hope College (32-2) with two firsts and 193 points.  Washington University-St. Louis (28-2), the defending national champion which eliminated George Fox in the 'Elite 8' of the NCAA National Tournament last year on its home floor, got one first and was ranked fifth with 160 points.

In earlier pre-season polls, George Fox was tabbed as the No. 10 team nationally by both the DIII News newsletter and the D3hoops.com website.  The Bruins finished with a No. 4 final ranking by D3hoops and were No. 8 in the final WBCA poll after going 28-3 in 2009-10. 

The Bruins are also picked as this year's favorite to win the Northwest Conference title as chosen in a recent poll of the conference's nine coaches.  George Fox has won or shared the last four NWC titles, going undefeated with a 16-0 record in conference play in each of the last two seasons.  The Bruins made NCAA Tournament appearances in each of those years, winning the national title in 2008-09 with a perfect 32-0 record.  In 11 years as members of the NCAA, the Bruins have made seven tournament appearances and gone 15-6, making five 'Sweet 16's, three 'Elite 8's, and one 'Final Four'. 

Three starters are gone from last year's team: point guard B.B. Gardner, now a Bruins' assistant coach, forward Elise Kuenzi, and guard Lindsay Keener.  Gardner and Kuenzi were honorable mention All-NWC selections.  Also gone is 14-year head coach Scott Rueck, who took the women's basketball head coaching position at his alma mater, Oregon State University.

New George Fox coach Michael Meek, who won five large-school state championships in the last six year at Southridge High School in Beaverton, Ore., inherits seven returnees, two of them starters, and eight newcomers who include two high school all-state performers and four all-conference selections.

Returning starters Keisha Gordon and Hannah Munger were both First Team All-Conference and Second Team All-West Region picks last year.  Gordon, a 5-10 junior wing, led the team in scoring (13.9 ppg), steals (2.45 spg), and three-pointers (61).  Munger, a 6-5 sophomore center who was the West Region Rookie of the Year as chosen by D3hoops, paced the conference in field goal percentage (.553) and blocked shots (3.45 bspg) while averaging 12.3 points and 8.2 rebounds a game.

George Fox is the only Northwest Conference team ranked in the WBCA pre-season top 25.  Two other NWC teams are listed among "others receiving votes": Lewis & Clark College with 13 points, and Whitman College with 8.

The complete 2010-11 WBCA pre-season poll for NCAA Division III may be found on line at http://www.wbca.org/blog/index.cfm/2010/11/3/20102011-PreSeason-DIII-Poll/.