LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Each year the men and women's basketball coaches at the Golden State Athletic Conference institutions get together in the preseason and vote on how they believe the upcoming conference season will shake out.
 
After the Eagles' men's basketball team was picked to finish fifth in the conference in 2015-16 the team far exceeded those expectations to go on and win the conference and be a No. 1 seed at the national tournament.
 
Last year's performance earned the respect of the other coaches and has the Eagles picked to finish first in 2016-17. Biola received six of the nine first-place votes and had 10 more overall points than any other school. Westmont was picked to finish second, Hope International third and William Jessup fourth. Each of those schools received one first-place vote.
 
"I really enjoy this team," said Head Coach Dr. Dave Holmquist. "We have a real good spirit and some hard working players. Coming off last year's success I think everyone in the program is excited about the season. I've never thought much beyond the next day in coaching. We have a talented team and we will just work hard every day and see what happens."
 
The only major departure after last year's 30-4 season was the Eagles' second-best scorer, Terrell Funches. Funches provided 23 percent of Biola's scoring in 2015-16, which will definitely be missed. However, increasing the role of Trevor Treinen and the talent of newcomers Luis Medearis and Alex Talma have the Eagles thinking they could fill that production and then some.
 
Outside of that position Biola returns all of its starters from 2015-16, including the reigning GSAC Player of the Year and NAIA All-American first teamer Dakari Archer. Archer returns for his senior season and comes in with career averages of 15.2 points-per-game, 2.4 assists-per-game and 3.7 rebounds-per-game.
 
He's joined by a strong returning supporting cast led by Jeff Gonzalez (9.1ppg/7.3rpg), Caelan Tiongson (7.9ppg/5.4rpg) and Steve Herve (6.1ppg/4.2rpg).
 
Biola's Men's Basketball season begins with a home game against La Sierra at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday Oct. 27.
 
On the women's side, Biola was picked to finish sixth in 2015-16 and ended up placing fifth with a 7-9 conference mark. Entering its second season under Head Coach Alan Nakamura, this Eagles' squad was selected by the coaches to finish fourth in the standings.
 
"Breaking into the top-3 in the GSAC is very difficult. All the rest of us are trying to climb over each other and break into that top-3," said Nakamura. "I am excited about the chemistry on our team. Our players are really committed to the Lord and to each other. It will be exciting to see how they come together for the season."
 
Of course, Biola has much higher aspirations than fourth place, but it is good to see the respect given to this young team. The Eagles will hope to move straight up the standings and compete for a conference title this season with the return of All-American Annie Park, ultra-athletic Khadidja Diakite and a return from injury by sophomore Emma Newman.
 
Biola also added a freshman sharpshooter on the outside in Kayla Macedo. Macedo averaged almost 10 points-per-game during her senior season at Liberty High School last year.
 
Aside from the new additions, Nakamura has a strong base of returning players that have another year of good, collegiate basketball experience to bring to the table. The most notable returner has to be DeMoria White, who averaged over 16 points-per-game in 2015-16 and earned All-GSAC honors.
 
Nakamura also has some skill and size returning under the basket. Sara Dougan is back for her sophomore campaign after making everyone take notice with 6.9ppg, 6.8rpg and 70 blocks as a freshman. Also returning for her sixth year as a collegiate athlete and second season of basketball is Joclyn Kirton. Kirton's been making huge gains in practice and will look to play a much larger role in the success of the squad this season.
 
The Biola Women's Basketball season kicks off with a game against CSU Dominguez Hills on Saturday October 29.