Conrad Buedel / Tahoe Onstage
One week before his basketball team plays its first official game, Caleb Martin received another preseason honor.
Nevada’s Martin, a 6-foot-7 senior swingman, was selected to the ESPN preseason All-America team along with Carson Edwards (Purdue), Tyus Battle (Syracuse), Luke Maye (North Carolina) and R.J. Barrett (Duke).
Earlier, Marin was named to The Associated Press preseason All-America team. He is the first Nevada player to earn both honors. He also was named to the 2019 Julius Erving Award watch list. The award recognizes the top small forward in Division I men’s college basketball.
Expectations are high for the entire Wolf Pack team, which in preseason polls is ranked No. 7 by The AP and No. 9 in the USA Coaches poll. Mountain West media picked Nevada to win its third-straight conference title, projected Martin to repeat as Player of the Year and named his brother Cody Martin and teammate Jordan Caroline to repeat as all-conference players. Freshman Jordan Brown was picked as Freshman of the Year. There are also four transfer players who practiced with the team last year and are now eligible to compete. Point guard Lindsey Drew is recovering from an Achilles injury and is expected to be at full strength by January.
Opening Nov. 6 at Lawlor Events Center against BYU, Nevada plays its first four games at home. Conference play begins Jan. 2 against Utah State.
Nevada tied a school record last season with 29 wins and advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 for the second time.
Caleb Martin led the Wolf Pack averaging 18.9 points per game. From the field he shot 45.4 percent and was among the conference leaders making 40.3 percent of his three-point attempts. In 33 games, he posted double figures and had a streak of 16 consecutive double figure scoring games. In 16 games he led the team in scoring and 14 were game highs. Twice he recorded double-doubles with 18 points and 10 rebounds at Fresno State in a conference game and vs. Texas in the NCAA Tournament.
The Wolf Pack have played two exhibition games, losing to Washington 91-73 and defeating San Francisco State 85-60. Those games don’t count, which is a good thing for Caleb Martin who has struggled with his outside shooting. He is 8 for 27 from the floor and 4 for 17 from the three-point line.
Tahoe Onstage photos by Conrad Buedel
