The Big West Conference coaches have spoken: The Matadors will finish fifth in conference this season.
The seven coaches got together for their annual poll released on Wednesday and scored CSUN 20 points, placing it just ahead of UC Davis (14 points) and UC Riverside (12).
UC Santa Barbara, league champion for three of the past five seasons, was picked to finish first (48 points). The Gauchos received six of the seven first-place votes while Cal Poly (40), the projected second place, received the other one.
Cal State Fullerton (32) and 2010 regular-season champion UC Irvine (30) round out the poll.
The Matadors were selected to finish fourth in 2010, but instead placed last, winning only three games the whole season. CSUN has a home exhibition game on Saturday at 7 p.m. against Cal State Dominguez Hills before kicking off the regular season on Aug. 26 vs. Canisius.
