Rainbow Warriors Third in Preseason Poll; McClanahan on Preseason Team

IRVINE, Calif. – The Big West announced its men's basketball preseason poll with the University of Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors picked to finish third by the coaches. It is the second straight year that UH has been picked in the top three of the preseason poll.

Defending conference champions UC Santa Barbara (92 points) is tabbed the Big West favorite going into this season. The Gauchos garnered nine of 11 first-place votes in the coaches poll. Long Beach State gained the other two first-place votes and earned 82 points as the predicted runner-up. Hawai'i was just two points behind at 80 to be slotted at number three.

JoVon McClanahan garnered a spot on the six-player all-Big West preseason team. The senior from Vallejo, Calif., was the team's leading scoring in conference games last year at 13.5 ppg. McClanahan, who was a second-team all-Big West pick last year, is among nine returnees and three starters from last year's squad that won 22 games for its highest win total since the 2015-16 season.

UH hosts No. 23 Saint Mary's in the OUTRIGGER Charity Invitational on Friday, Oct. 20 at SimpliFi Arena, before opening the 2023-24 regular season at home against UH Hilo on Tuesday, Nov. 14.

2023-24 Big West Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll

Rank	Team	Points (1st place)
1	UC Santa Barbara	92 (9)
2	Long Beach State	82 (2)
3	Hawai'i	80
4	UC Irvine	75
5	UC Davis	69
6	Cal State Fullerton	58
7	UC Riverside	45
8	Cal State Bakersfield	36
9	UC San Diego	31
10	CSUN	18
11	Cal Poly	12

2023-24 Big West Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches Team

Player	Year	Position	Team
JoVon McClanahan	Sr.	Guard	Hawai'i
Ajay Mitchell	Jr.	Guard	UC Santa Barbara
Elijah Pepper	Sr.	Guard	UC Davis
Bryce Pope	Sr.	Guard	UC San Diego
Aboubacar Traore	Jr.	Forward	Long Beach State
Lassina Traore	Jr.	Forward	Long Beach State

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Players Mentioned

#3 JoVon McClanahan: G; 5' 10"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#3 JoVon McClanahan
: 5' 10"; Junior
: G

Players Mentioned

#3 JoVon McClanahan

Players Mentioned

#3 JoVon McClanahan