Cal's Matt Bradley Named to Preseason All-Pac-12 Basketball First Team

Cal picked to finish 10th; UCLA tabbed as conference favorite in vote of conference media

Cal junior Matt Bradley was named to the 10-man preseason All-Pac-12 basketball first team, and the Bears were picked to finish 10th in the preseason Pac-12 men's poll in a vote of conference media members, the Pac-12 announced Thursday.

UCLA was named the favorite in a close vote.

Bradley, who averaged 17.5 points and 4.9 rebounds and made 38.4 percent of his three-point attempts last season, was one of 20 players nationwide named to the watch list for the Jerry West award, which goes to the country's top shooting guard.

Two incoming freshmen were named to the Pac-12 first team.

Bradley is joined on the preseason Pac-12 first team by Utah junior forward Timmy Allen, Stanford senior forward Oscar da Silva, Oregon senior guard Chris Duarte, Arizona State senior guard Remy Martin, USC freshman forward Evan Mobley, Oregon junior guard Will Richardson, UCLA senior Chris Smith, Stanford fresman Ziaire Williams and Colorado senior guard McKinley Wright IV.

In the team poll, UCLA is picked to win the conference title, with Arizona State second and Oregon third in a close vote. Four teams received first-place votes, with UCLA getting nine, ASU getting five, Oregon receiving seven and Stanford getting one.

UCA was ranked 22nd in the preseason AP poll, with ASU 18th and Oregon 22nd.

Cal received 65 voting points, putting it just behind Washington and just ahead of Washington State.

Cal was tabbed to finish last in last year's preseason conference poll, and the Bears exceeded expectations by ending up tied for eighth with a 7-11 Pac-12 mark. Cal then upset Stanford in its opening game of the Pac-12 tournament before the rest of he event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cal returns two players who started virtually every game in 2019-20 -- Bradley and senior forward Grant Anticevich, who averaged 8.3 points and 5.6 rebounds.

Center Lars Thiemann (18 starts) and guard Joel Brown (17 starts) also return after starting just over half the games as freshmen. Senior center Andre Kelly, who started 11 games, also returns.

Grad transfers Ryan Betley and Makale Foreman are both expected to make an immediate impact as perimeter players. Guard Jarred Hyder, who transferred from Fresno State, is also on the roster. The Bears added two freshmen -- Monty Bowser and Jalen Celestine.

The Pac-12 is not considered a strong basketball conference this season, so there will be opportunity for the Bears to make some headway. Cal has not announced its nonconference schedule, and its Pac-12 schedule begins with a Dec. 6 game againt UCLA at Pauley Pavilion.

Here are the results of the Pac-12 media poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, followed by total voting points.

1. UCLA (9) 251

2. Arizona State (5) 246 

3. Oregon (7) 241

4. Stanford (1) 209

5. Arzona 173

6. USC (1) 154

7. Colorado 149

8. Utah 131

9. Washington 85

10. Cal 65

11. Washington State 54

12. Oregon State 36

.

Preseason all-Pac-12 first team

Preseason all-Pac-12 second team

Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

Find Cal Sports Report on Facebook by searching: @si.calsportsreport

Click the "follow" button in the top right corner to join the conversation on Cal Sports Report on SI. Access and comment on featured stories and start your own conversations and post external links on our community page.