San Diego City picked to win PCAC

San Diego City picked to win PCAC

The men's basketball season kicked off this past weekend and the teams are busy playing tournament and non-conference games before heading into Pacific Coast Athletic Conference play in mid-December.  San Diego City College was selected by the conference sports information directors to win the PCAC.

Southwestern is the defending champions of the PCAC South after going 10-0 last season in conference play.  The Jaguars were picked second by the SID's, collecting one of five first place votes.  San Diego Mesa was picked third in the early voting, picking up one second place vote and two third place votes.

Grossmont College, MiraCosta College and San Diego Miramar College all tied for fourth in the voting.

San Diego City opened the season 1-2 at the City College of San Francisco Tournament, playing three of the top teams in the northern half of the state.  The Knights lost to Yuba College (75-81) and San Francisco (51-87) before bouncing back with a win against Santa Rosa Junior College (63-57) on Sunday.  San Diego City returns a handful of guys from the 2018-19 squad, including NaShom Carter and Kai Huntsberry.  The guard tandem combined for 20 points-per-game last season and with a handful of talented freshmen around them, the duo should give the Knights some stability in the backcourt.

Southwestern won its first PCAC title in four years last season when they won the South Division.  With the conference going back to one division, they should be right in the mix for a second straight title.  The Jaguars open the season at Irvine Valley College on Tuesday before hosting Saddleback College on November 15.  Southwestern has a young lineup in 2019-20, but does return a few key elements.  Nathaniel Pearson returns after making the first team All-PCAC squad last season, averaging 12.9 points-per-game while shooting a blistering 44.4% from long range. 

San Diego Mesa started the season with a road loss at Saddleback (62-78).  With a handful of solid contributors from a team that finished third in the PCAC South a year ago, Mesa should have enough experience returning to make some noise. 

MiraCosta got off to a solid start over the weekend, finishing 2-1 in the Miramar Tournament.  The Spartans defeated Los Angeles Pierce (91-81) before falling to a solid San Bernardino Valley squad in the semifinals in overtime (89-93).  MiraCosta then bounced back with a win over Miramar in the third place game (84-76).  Miramar scored 103 points in its opening game of the tournament with a 103-91 win against Rio Hondo College.  The Jets then dropped games against Santa Monica College (69-74) and MiraCosta to finish 1-2.  Joining MiraCosta and Miramar in fourth place in the SID's voting was Grossmont, who went 0-2 at the Frank Garcia Classic.  The Griffins came up against some tough competition, falling to both College of the Desert (79-102) and Mt. San Jacinto College (67-106). 

PCAC SPORTS INFORMATION POLL

Rank Team Points
1 San Diego City 43 (4)
2 Southwestern 41 (1)
3 San Diego Mesa 34
T4 MiraCosta 21
T4 San Diego Miramar 21
T4 Grossmont 21
7 Palomar 19
8 Imperial Valley 16
9 Cuyamaca 9