NU women picked 8th in preseason Big 12 basketball poll

Coming off a pair of NCAA Tournament trips and back-to-back 20-win seasons, the Nebraska women's basketball team was picked to finish eighth in a vote by league coaches in the Big 12 preseason poll announced by the conference office on Wednesday.

The Huskers, who return four starters and 12 letterwinners from a team that finished 21-12 and advanced to the second round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament, earned 56 points from the coaches, as 11 points were awarded for each first-place vote, and one point was awarded for each 11th-place vote. Coaches could not vote for their own teams.

Nebraska, which went 9-7 in the Big 12 last season to join Oklahoma and Baylor as one of only three conference schools to post a .500 or better league record in each of the past four seasons, will be led on the court by two-time first-team All-Big 12 forward Kelsey Griffin. She will likely be joined in NU's starting lineup by fellow senior Tay Hester, junior point guard Yvonne Turner, junior forward Cory Montgomery, and sophomore guard Dominique Kelley.

Along with the quality at the top of the lineup, Coach Connie Yori and the Huskers also own one of the deepest playing rotations in the Big 12. Last year, Nebraska was the only team in the league that had 10 players compete in all 16 Big 12 Conference regular-season games in 2008.

In 2007-08, the Big 12 was ranked as the best conference in the nation in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), and sent eight teams to the NCAA Tournament. The Big 12 also became the first conference in NCAA history to post a perfect 8-0 record in the NCAA first round, while 11 of the 12 league teams earned postseason bids. All 11 teams produced postseason victories.

Oklahoma was a majority choice to win the conference title, as the Sooners earned seven first-place votes to finish with 124 points. The Sooners were a clear favorite, but the four other league teams received at least one first-place vote, including preseason No. 2 Texas, which finished with 95 points and earned one vote for the top spot.

Defending Big 12 regular-season champion Kansas State, which returns four starters from a team that moved on to the NCAA second round in 2008, was the preseason choice to finish seventh with 71 points, just ahead of the Huskers.

Kansas (41), Texas Tech (36) and Colorado (18) filled in the No. 9 through No. 11 spots, after all three teams earned wins in the 2008 Postseason WNIT a year ago.

Missouri, which returns five starters from last year's team that was the only conference squad that did not earn a postseason bid, was picked 12th with 15 points.

The 2008-09 Big 12 season will tip-off with the annual Big 12 Women's Basketball Media Day at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, Oct. 22. Nebraska will be one of the six featured teams in the afternoon session of the event, joining Oklahoma, Kansas State, Texas A&M, Colorado and Texas Tech.

Nebraska opens its 2008-09 exhibition season by playing host to Chadron State at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Friday, Oct. 31, at 7:05 p.m. The Huskers close exhibition play against Nebraska-Kearney on Wednesday, Nov. 5, at 7:05 p.m. NU's annual exhibition battle with the Lopers will be played this season at the Heartland Events Center in Grand Island.

2008-09 Big 12 Preseason Coaches Poll

1. Oklahoma (7) - 124

2. Texas (1) - 95

3. Iowa State (2) - 93

4. Baylor (1) - 89

5. Texas A&M - 85

6. Oklahoma State (1) - 79

7. Kansas State - 71

8. Nebraska - 56

9. Kansas - 41

10. Texas Tech - 36

11. Colorado - 18

12. Missouri - 15

(first-place votes in parentheses; coaches not allowed to vote for own team)