IRVINE, Calif. – With six first-place votes, Point Loma has been picked as the PacWest’s preseason favorite as the conference prepares to tip-off its 12-game conference schedule for 2021. Point Loma’s Kaden Anderson is the PacWest Preseason Player of the Year after earning All-PacWest first team honors last season.
 
Point Loma finished in second place in the regular season standings last year and won the PacWest Championships in head coach Matt Logie’s first year with the program. Anderson had seven double-doubles last year and ranked sixth in the league in both scoring and rebounding as Point Loma went 24-6 on the season. Brock Mackenzie was also named to the Preseason All-PacWest team after making 42.9 percent of his 3-point attempts last year, including his memorable buzzer-beater to win the PacWest Championships.
 
Azusa Pacific, which received two first-place votes, is the PacWest’s regular season defending champion after becoming only the second team in conference history to win 20 conference games in PacWest Coach of the Year Peter Bond’s first year as head coach. The Cougars will be without reigning PacWest Player of the Year Selom Mawugbe who was recently selected in the NBA’s G-League draft after graduating last year. The Cougars return Brennan Rymer who ranked third in the league in assists last year as well as Mandrell Worthy, who is looking to make a big return after a second injury-plagued season.
 
Concordia was picked third in the preseason poll with one first-place vote after recording its third-consecutive 20-win season last year. The Eagles won their first game since sports were halted in March in an exhibition against Westmont. They were an impressive 9 for 13 from beyond the arc in the overtime victory led by Dominic Hovasse’s 28 points. Former PacWest Freshman of the Year Kayle Knuckles is also back on the roster for the Eagles.
 
With two first-place votes, Biola is picked fourth in the preseason poll, giving the PacWest Southern California Pod all of the top-4 spots in the preseason poll. The Eagles have two players on the Preseason All-PacWest team with Michael Bagatourian and Chris Rossow. Bagatourian averaged 15.7 points and 7.5 rebounds per game last year, which both rank in the top-10 in the conference. Rossow had a breakout performance at the PacWest Championships last year scoring 81 points with 19 assists and seven steals in three games to lead the Eagles to the championship game.
 
Chaminade reached the PacWest Championships for the fourth time in a row last year and is picked fifth in the preseason poll. The Silverswords return reigning PacWest Freshman of the Year Isaac Amaral-Artharee along with Kevin Kremer and Roman Young as they enter the season as favorites in the PacWest Hawai`i Pod.
 
The favorite in the PacWest Northern California Pod is Fresno Pacific, picked sixth overall in the preseason poll. The Sunbirds have the most experienced roster in the league. In the 2017-18 season, Fresno Pacific’s freshmen won seven-consecutive PacWest Freshman of the Week awards, and now the trio of Aamondae Coleman, Adrian Antunez and AJ Kirby are all seniors with 6,080 minutes of collegiate basketball under their belts. Coleman was named to the Preseason All-PacWest team after averaging 17.9 points per game with a total now of 1,127 career points putting him on the brink of the PacWest’s top-20 list.
 
Academy of Art was picked seventh and is represented on the Preseason All-PacWest team by Stefan Milivojevic, who was the league’s most efficient 3-point shooter last season, making 45.3 percent of his attempts to lead the Urban Knights to the PacWest Championships.
 
Hawai`i Hilo, Hawai`i Pacific, Dominican and Holy Names complete the preseason poll. The Vulcans return Jordan Graves along with Sasa Vuksanovic who averaged 13.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game last season. Holy Names returns Justin Chambers who had three 20-point performances last year.
 
This season’s schedule features a 12-game in pod conference season for the 11 PacWest programs. The Southern California Pod has Azusa Pacific, Biola, Concordia and Point Loma; the Northern California Pod has Academy of Art, Dominican, Fresno Pacific and Holy Names; and the Hawai`i Pod has Chaminade, Hawai`i Hilo and Hawai`i Pacific.
 
The regular season starts tonight with Concordia hosting Northwest Nazarene in the first of three games for the Nighthawks in the Southern California Pod prior to the start of conference play. The first conference game will be on Saturday as Hawai`i Pacific goes to the Big Island to face the Vulcans in a doubleheader. Friday, January 22 will be the first full slate of games as Hawai`i Pacific hosts Chaminade, Point Loma hosts Concordia and Biola hosts Azusa Pacific. The two California pods will alternate host sites for doubleheaders, while in the Hawai`i pod, the host site for Friday’s games will also host on Saturday.

Preseason All-PacWest Team
Kaden Anderson, Point Loma (Player of the Year)
Stefan Milivojevic, Academy of Art
Aamondae Coleman, Fresno Pacific
Michael Bagatourian, Biola
Mackenzie Brock, Point Loma
Chris Rossow, Biola