Coaches pick Stanford to win Pac-10

Rebecca Harlow reports in The Stanford Daily:

Stanford women’s hoops picked to win Pac-10

With senior point guard Candice Wiggins back for one more year, the Stanford women’s basketball team has been picked by a poll of coaches to win the Pacific-10 Conference, announced yesterday. The Cardinal received eight of nine potential first-place votes — coaches cannot vote for their own teams — and Arizona State and California each garnered one.

Picking Stanford to win is no stretch — the Cardinal has won every conference title since 2001. Last year, the team went 17-1 in conference and finished the season 29-5 overall. A fifth seed in the NCAA Tournament, the team was upset by Florida State in the second round.

Three-time All-American and two-time conference Player of the Year Wiggins will lead this year’s team alongside last year’s Pac-10 Freshman of the Year center Jayne Appel. Both played this summer for the U.S. at the Pan-American Games and Wiggins also led the U.S. Under-21 team to a world championship.

The Sun Devils and Golden Bears are second and third in the poll, respectively. Southern California and UCLA round out the top five.

The Cardinal’s 2007-2008 season will kick off with an exhibition game at home against Chico State on Nov. 3, and Pac-10 play will begin Dec. 28 with Washington State visiting Maples.

Here is the Pac-10 Release.