IRVINE, Calif. — The Big West announced its 2025 Men's Water Polo Preseason Coaches' Team and Poll on Friday, with UC Santa Barbara's Brock Zamanian one of eight student-athletes on the preseason all-conference team. The redshirt senior and 2024 All-American will look to lead the Gauchos on an expectation-defying campaign, as Santa Barbara was picked to finish fifth by the conference's head coaches.
 
Zamanian led the Gauchos with 52 goals and 40 assists in 2024, leading The Big West with 92 total points. Following his career year, the Orinda native earned All-America Honorable Mention from the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches and an All-Big West Second Team selection. Zamanian enters 2025 with 103 goals already to his name in Blue and Gold, having tallied 30 goals and 30 assists in each of his last two seasons.
 
The Gauchos are looking to bounce back after a season of "nearly" moments in 2024, when two of Santa Barbara's conference losses were by a single goal and they had to settle for the no. 4 seed in The Big West Championship, losing to eventual champions Long Beach State (who the Gauchos had beaten just two weeks prior in the regular season) in the first round. While Santa Barbara was picked fifth in this year's preseason poll, the Gauchos have out-performed predictions in each of the first two seasons back in The Big West. Santa Barbara was tabbed to finish third in 2023, when they claimed the no. 2 seed in the conference tournament and reached the championship game, and the Gauchos were tabbed to finish fifth last season as well.
 
If Santa Barbara is to once again defy expectations, the keys will be Zamanian and fellow returners Levi Lentin and Danilo Dragovic, both of whom were top performers in 2024. The veteran Lentin has been an All-Big West Second Teamer in each of the last two seasons, and he led the conference in saves last year. Dragovic was an ACWPC All-America Honorable Mention as a freshman last season, scoring 35 goals and assisting 35 more. He got international experience over the summer too, playing for Montenegro's U20 National Team.