PAC schools keep polls in perspective

Our area colleges, Westminster, Grove City and Thiel, did not fare well in the pre-season Presidents' Athletic Conference basketball poll, and that includes both men's and women's play.
In fact, none of the area teams was picked in the No. 1 spot. The top spot in the men's poll went to the Bethany Bison, a team Westminster defeated in the 2003-04 PAC title game. Defending champ Westminster was relegated to a second-place berth this coming season.
Bethany, which posted an overall record of 18-9 last season, was the recipient of 99 points, while the Titans were awarded 92. Following was Grove City with 72 points, Washington & amp; Jefferson with 42, Waynesburg with 40 and Thiel with 38.
Conference voting
The PAC pre-season poll was released recently at the league's annual media day held at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh. Those doing the voting were conference coaches, sports information directors and members of the media.
Westminster, which posted a record of 15-13 last season, was selected to compete in the ECAC Division III South Region Tournament after defeating Bethany for the conference title.
Last season, Grove City recorded a 14-13 record, while W & amp;J showed a 7-19 mark. Waynesburg went 11-16 and Thiel finished at 9-17.
Third-year Bethany coach Aaron Huffman is not one to put much stock in pre-season polls, but he is certainly appreciative of the honor bestowed on his club.
Said Huffman, "It's an honor to be picked first in the conference and have the respect of our peers and the media. At the same time, our kids know the polls don't really matter, since we were picked fourth a year ago and finished second."
This season, Huffman's Bison received 11 of 18 first-place votes to earn the No. 1 rating.
Women
No. 1 honors went to Washington & amp; Jefferson, a team that pulled in 14 of 18 first-place votes and 103 points. Second-place honors went to Westminster with only three first-place votes but 89 points, followed by Grove City with 67, Bethany with 60, Waynesburg with 35 and Thiel with 24.
Leading the way for the Presidents this season is first-year head coach Jina DeRubbo, who last season was coach of the women's team at Bethany. And what a year that was for the Bison women, who posted a 23-5 overall record while winning the PAC championship and making an NCAA Tournament appearance.
Despite being the No. 1 pick in the pre-season poll, DeRubbo knows there can be many pitfalls along the way.
"There's a lot of buzz about W & amp;J basketball, both on campus and in the conference," she said. "As a staff, my assistant and I have to convince our kids to focus day-to-day. We have a lot of very tough games before we even get to conference play."
Last season, W & amp;J posted a 20-9 campaign, Westminster went 15-11, Grove City 14-11, Bethany went 23-5, Waynesburg was 9-14 and Thiel was 6-20.