The ASU women’s basketball team was picked to finish third in the Pac-10 preseason coaches poll released on Thursday.

The Sun Devils earned one first-place vote and tallied 64 points, which put them three points behind second-place California and one point ahead of fourth-place UCLA.

Stanford was a nearly unanimous selection to win the conference, garnering nine of the 10 first-place votes and 81 total points. The Cardinal is the nine-time defending Pac-10 champion and advanced to the Final Four last season.

ASU advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament last season but graduated six seniors from its 2008-09 roster, including two-time Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year and current Indiana Fever guard Briann January.

The Sun Devils will also be without point guard Dymond Simon this season, who is redshirting after re-tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee during ASU’s regular-season finale against Stanford last season.

USC was picked to finish fifth in the conference (48 points), followed by Washington State (33 points), Oregon State (29 points), Oregon (23 points), UA (22 points) and Washington (20 points).

— Gina Mizell