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Post by motorcitysam on Jan 23, 2022 23:40:01 GMT -5
The West Coast Conference is improved, but it's still Gonzaga and everyone else playing for second. But several teams are doing well at the halfway point.
BYU is 17-4, with wins over San Diego State, Oregon, and Utah. (Should put an asterisk by those PAC 12 teams because of the PAC 12's abysmal non-con record.) St. Mary's is 15-4, with wins over Notre Dame and Oregon.
San Francisco started out hotter than anyone, benefiting from a home heavy schedule, but have come back to earth a bit. They are 16-4 with wins over Davidson, Nevada, UNLV, and Arizona State.
Pepperdine is the surprise in last place, currently 0-6, 6-15.
The rest of the regular season should be very interesting, and the conference tournament should be a war.
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Post by Commissioner on Jan 24, 2022 9:00:44 GMT -5
They're potentially looking at 4 bids if the top 4 avoid upsets to lower teams. Gonzaga has just pulled the conference along in a way even San Francisco couldn't do in the 70s/early 80s. I think Butler could have done the same for the HL, but it was easier to go to greener pastures. Gonzaga never really any place else to go that made any sense.
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Post by motorcitysam on Jan 24, 2022 20:32:03 GMT -5
Gonzaga, St. Mary's, BYU, and San Francisco are all in the top 35 of the current NET ratings.
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Post by motorcitysam on Mar 18, 2022 19:19:27 GMT -5
San Francisco is losing their head coach to Florida, but is following a familiar path and promoting from within. Associate Head Coach Chris Gerlufsen is taking over the head job.
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Post by motorcitysam on Apr 15, 2022 10:08:23 GMT -5
Pepperdine was definitely in rebuilding mode this season, playing with an eye on the future and working on developing young talent. The season record was terrible, but a lot of younger players got valuable experience and some played very well. In fact, the Waves put three players on the conference all freshman team. (Full disclosure: Due to a couple of ties in the voting, the WCC All Freshman team had seven members.)
In years past, that would give a program a lot of confidence and optimism for the future. Nowadays, it just means that Coach Romar and his staff are hoping that none of them hit the portal for their free transfer year.
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Post by motorcitysam on Apr 25, 2022 17:43:11 GMT -5
I've mentioned before that I feel a kinship towards the University of San Francisco, as they are an urban Catholic university that has a glorious past that is getting to be a long time ago. (Sound familiar?) The Dons fell short of their own expectations this season but have added some talent that should put them in a better position. Besides incoming freshman seven-foot center Mor Seck, the program added a couple of transfers yesterday, both from Columbia. Guard Gabe Stefanini hasn't played in two years; he missed 2019-20 to injury and sat out this season with the rest of the Ivy League. In 2018-19 however, he scored 14 points per game and averaged four assists, making second team all-conference. Known as a good long-distance shooter and passer, he should be a solid contributor once he knocks the rust off. Forward Patrick Tape last played for Columbia in 2018-19, when he averaged 11 points and six rebounds per game while shooting 67% from the floor. He transferred to Duke and saw action in ten games this past season, totaling less than 50 minutes. At 6-9, 233, he should get a lot of time for the Dons. Edit: Late yesterday, San Francisco added another transfer, 6-10, 245 center/power forward Yauhen Massalski. YM played at San Diego last year and put up impressive big man averages of 10/8/2 while shooting 59% from the floor. That's three potentially high impact transfers joining the team on the same day. Good haul. Mor Seck announced on Twitter that he has decommitted from San Francisco. Something tells me that this wasn't a surprise to the Dons, maybe accounting for their push to add a couple of transfer big men in recent days. My totally speculative guess is that someone got in Seck's ear and asked, "Why are you committing to a mid major like San Francisco? I know the staff at (some Power Five) school. Let's give them a chance." Surprisingly, Seck committed to Hawaii for the class of 2022. Not the high major I thought was possibly in his future, and not a program that is on the level of San Francisco. Maybe he just really loved the weather in Paradise.
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Post by motorcitysam on Jun 4, 2022 20:56:47 GMT -5
WCC prediction per Blue Ribbon. No surprise, Gonzaga is on top. Two programs I follow, Pepperdine and San Francisco, both add a bunch of new players and can potentially have really good years if they gel. 1. Gonzaga 2. BYU 3. Saint Mary's 4. Loyola Marymount 5. San Francisco 6. Pepperdine 7. Santa Clara 8. Pacific 9. San Diego 10. Portland West Coast Conference final standings for 2021-22: 1. Gonzaga 13-1, 28-4 2. St. Mary's 12-3, 26-8 3. Santa Clara 10-5, 21-12 4. San Francisco 10-6, 24-10 5. BYU 6. Portland 7. San Diego 8. Pacific 9. Loyola Marymount 10. Pepperdine Gonzaga was Gonzaga, winning regular season and conference tourney titles. They struggled against Memphis in the round of 32 and fell to Arkansas in the Sweet Sixteen. The race for second place was competitive. The Dons found themselves back in the NCAA tournament, and St. Mary's blew out Indiana in the tournament. Pepperdine struggled mightily, but their fans take comfort in knowing the Waves bring back several young players who had to be thrown to the wolves last season (including three members of the all freshman team) and they have a very good class of 2022 coming in. Gonzaga has had a strong off season. Everyone else will be once again playing for second place in the WCC in 2022-23.
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Post by motorcitysam on Nov 4, 2022 3:33:06 GMT -5
West Coast Conference Official 2022-23 poll:
1. Gonzaga 2. St. Mary’s 3. BYU 3. San Francisco 5. Portland 6. Santa Clara 7. Pepperdine 8. San Diego 9. Loyola Marymount 10. Pacific
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Post by motorcitysam on Dec 22, 2022 18:33:11 GMT -5
Our Jesuit Brothers in San Francisco are playing an aggressive schedule this week, with four games in six days:
December 17: UNLV (Win)
December 19: UT-Arlington (Surprising loss)
December 21: Arizona State (Surprising win)
Today, December 22: Hartford
The Dons are once again playing a home heavy schedule. I wouldn't mind seeing the Titans play something similar, but I think Detroit really needs the buy money.
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Post by fan on Dec 23, 2022 11:21:27 GMT -5
Sam, I wonder if the AZ State game was a buy in (I'm not sure if it was played in AZ).
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Post by motorcitysam on Dec 23, 2022 11:32:42 GMT -5
Sam, I wonder if the AZ State game was a buy in (I'm not sure if it was played in AZ). Actually, it was played in San Francisco.
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Post by motorcitysam on Apr 17, 2023 14:13:05 GMT -5
West Coast Conference Official 2022-23 poll: 1. Gonzaga 2. St. Mary’s 3. BYU 3. San Francisco 5. Portland 6. Santa Clara 7. Pepperdine 8. San Diego 9. Loyola Marymount 10. Pacific Final WCC 2022-23 Standings: 1. Gonzaga 14-2, 31-6 2. St. Mary's 14-2, 27-8 3. Santa Clara 11-5, 23-10 4. Loyola Marymount 9-7, 19-12 5. San Francisco 7-9, 20-14 6. BYU 7. Pacific 8. Portland 9. San Diego 10. Pepperdine Gonzaga maintained it's status as top "mid major" college basketball program in the nation, making it to the Elite Eight before falling to UConn. St. Mary's kept the pressure on all season in conference play, tying the 14-2 conference record and losing in the round of 32, also to UConn. St. Mary's also beat NCAA finalist San Diego State in the regular season. Santa Clara fell in the NIT. Changes are on the way for the WCC, as Brigham Young moves to the Big 12 in the fall.
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Post by Commissioner on Apr 23, 2023 9:02:41 GMT -5
The American Conference, which just a few years ago looked Like they might turn the P6 into the P7, is really go to hurt with losses if Cincy, Houston, and UCF. They’ll be one of the next tier of conferences, but they’re not going to join those top 6 leagues.
We see the P6 keep growing in size, and it looks like 5-6 super conferences will eventually dominate. I still think we could see college hoops split into 1-A and 1-AA, with the 1-AA possibly using the NIT for its championship tournament. The A10 and American should continue in the wake of the P6, struggling to keep their best teams while poaching the MVC, Colonial, and CUSA as necessary. I can envision the MWC dissolving, with the top teams to the PAC 10/Big 12 and the others drifting into the WAC or CUSA.
The one mid-major conference that really seems strong and stable is the WCC. Losing BYU will hurt, but they’ve still got the flagship Gonzaga and an excellent program at St. Mary’s (which has many of the same features as Gonzaga—solid academics, long history, pretty location, not too large, etc.—and solid programs at San Francisco, Santa Clara, Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine etc. there’s no place really for the best programs to go—they don’t offer football, and are geographically isolated from most conferences other than the football playing PAC10 and MWC, and the inferior WAC and Big West.
There’s long been talk of the Zags moving, even to the Big East, but I think that they’ve figured out that they don’t need to. Opponents like St. Mary’s and USF give them credible conference wins, they can command big non-con games, they sell out every home game. Sure, they might get more tournament money if they joined a bigger conference, but their own tournament appearances and rankings might decline sharply. A 22-11 Gonzaga team as a hoops only member of the Big 12 won’t get the rankings or seeding as the same Gonzaga team going 29-4 in the WCC. I’m not at all sure that the Zags benefit from a move up in conference affiliation. Most schools could not pull this off, but the Zags have really put themselves in a sweet spot, and with them the whole WCC.
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Post by motorcitysam on Oct 12, 2023 13:35:04 GMT -5
There's a surprise in the WCC 2023-24 preseason poll, voted on by the coaches:
1. Saint Mary's 2. Gonzaga 3. San Francisco 4. Loyola Marymount 5. Santa Clara 6. Portland 7. Pepperdine 8. Pacific 9. San Diego
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Post by ptctitan on Dec 20, 2023 15:59:55 GMT -5
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