UConn Picked Third in Big East Preseason Poll

(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

On Wednesday morning, the Big East Conference revealed it's annual preseason coaches poll during media day at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Uconn was predicted to finish third in the league, garnering a single first place vote, in the poll which doesn't allow coaches to pick their own teams.

The complete poll, with first-place votes in parenthesis:

Villanova 218 (10)

West Virginia 215 (5)

UConn 185 (1)

Louisville 179

Georgetown 161

Syracuse 152

Cincinnati 135

Notre Dame 132

Pittsburgh 119

Seton Hall 110

St John's 82

Marquette 78

Providence 44

South Florida 44

Rutgers 43

DePaul 15

For a UConn squad that lost so much in the offseason, the ranking should give fan's an idea of the quality and potential that the incoming freshmen bring in addition to the pieces coach Jim Calhoun already has in place.

The preseason honors were also announced, including the selections for Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and the first and second teams:

Player of the Year: Luke Harangody, Notre Dame

Rookie of the Year: Lance Stephenson, Cincinnati

First Team

Harangody, Notre Dame, Sr., F

Deonta Vaughn, Cincinnati, Sr., G

Greg Monroe, Georgetown, So., C

Lazar Hayward, Marquette, Sr., F

Scottie Reynolds, Villanova, Sr., G

Da'Sean Butler, West Virginia, Sr, F

Second Team

Jerome Dyson, UConn, Sr., G

Kemba Walker, UConn, So., G

Samardo Samuels, Louisville, So., F

Jeremy Hazell, Seton Hall, Jr., G

Dominique Jones, South Florida, Jr., G

Devin Ebanks, West Virginia, So., F

Ties in the balloting created six positions.

UConn's Stanley Robinson was an honorable mention selection.

It should be intriguing at the end of the year to see if Robinson, who should be option 1a in the offense behind Dyson, proves the league's coaches wrong.

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