MID-CONTINENT: Oakland, which put together the best season ever by a Mid-Con team in 2001, was picked to finish first in the preseason poll. Oral Roberts was tabbed to finish second. Valparaiso is No. 4, followed by IUPUI, Western Illinois and Southern Utah.
MISSOURI VALLEY: Illinois State, last year's regular-season champion, is No. 1 in the preseason poll. The Redbirds return 10 of 11 starters, including the most prolific scorer in Valley history (50 goals). They are followed by Evansville, Creighton, Southwest Missouri, Drury, Indiana State, Drake and Northern Iowa in the poll.
MOUNTAIN WEST: BYU is the favorite to capture its fourth straight MVC title. Utah was picked to finish second in the ballot, followed by UNLV, San Diego State and New Mexico. Air Force and Wyoming rounded out the voting.
OHIO VALLEY: Eastern Illinois, which won the 2001 OVC tournament title, is the favorite to capture the regular-season crown in 2002. The Panthers edged defending regular-season champion Southeast Missouri. Murray State finished third in the balloting, followed by Tennessee Tech, Tennessee-Martin, Morehead State and Austin Peay, which begins its first year of competition in the sport.
PAC-10: Defending conference champion UCLA is this year's favorite, gaining seven of 10 first-place votes. No. 2 Stanford received the other three. Washington, Arizona State and California were bunched together at 3-4-5. The rest of the poll: USC, Oregon State, Washington State, Oregon and Arizona.
SOUTHLAND: Southwest Texas, winners of last season's regular-season and tournament titles, is the preseason pick ahead of Southeastern Louisiana, host for the 2002 championship, and Northwestern State. Stephen F. Austin, Louisiana-Monroe, McNeese State and Nicholls State round out the coaches poll.