Since the turn of the century, Gonzaga winning at least a share of the West Coast Conference regular season championship has been the surest thing in all of college basketball. The Zags have also dominated the conference tournament, winning 12 of the past 14. However, they were pushed all the way last year by the St. Mary’s Gaels, who grabbed a share of the regular season title.
Will this 2016-17 season finally be the year the Zags are knocked off their perch atop the conference? Read on below for our complete West Coast Conference preview.
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2016-17 WCC College Basketball Preview
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1. St. Mary’s Gaels
2015-16 Record: 15-3
Predicted Record: 15-3
This could be the year St. Mary’s finally supplants Gonzaga as the top dogs in the conference. The Gaels return virtually the entire team which set a new program record with 29 wins and grabbed a share of the regular season championship with the Zags.
The Aussie duo of Emmett Naar (14 points and 6 assists last season) and Dane Pineu (11 points, 8 rebounds) will lead a highly efficient offense which was third in the entire nation with 118.1 points per 100 possessions.
2. Gonzaga Bulldogs
2015-16 Record: 15-3
Predicted Record: 14-4
The Zags may have lost a lot of talent with Kyle Wiltjer, Domantas Sabonis and Eric McClellan all leaving, but they remain top contenders in the conference. They are even a potential dark horse bet at +5,000 to win the national title.
They have reloaded with a trio of talented transfers led by Nigel Williams-Goss, who averaged 16 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds for Washington last season. He, Johnathan Williams, and Jordan Mathews will join big man Przemek Karnowski, who missed most of last season due to injury, but they just fall short of an incredible 17th-straight regular season conference championship.
3. BYU Cougars
2015-16 Record: 13-5
Predicted Record: 12-6
BYU has work to do to replace do-it-all star Kyle Collinsworth, but it has the talent to retain its spot as the best team apart from the established top two. Nick Emery will look to build off a terrific freshman season where he averaged 16.3 points. He leads the Cougs’ promising core group which is likely still a year away from truly challenging the Gaels and Zags.
4. Santa Clara Broncos
2015-16 Record: 7-11
Predicted Record: 10-8
The Broncos will go as far as Jared Brownridge takes them. The prolific scoring guard returns for his senior season and will look to build off a junior year where he led the conference with 20.6 points per game. Brownridge doesn’t have a lot of support around him, but he is talented enough to lift the Broncos into the top four.
5. Pepperdine Waves
2015-16 Record: 10-8
Predicted Record: 9-9
The steady rise continues for Pepperdine under head coach Marty Wilson. The Waves won 18 games for the second-straight year, and had another 10-win conference campaign. The loss of two of their top two scorers – Stacy Davis and Jett Raines, who combined for 28 points per game – will hurt, but main man Lamond Murray (16.5 points) returns to headline a team which still figures to have some solid depth this year.
6. Portland Pilots
2015-16 Record: 6-12
Predicted Record: 8-10
New Pilots head coach Terry Porter has some work to do to steer the program back to the right direction. He’ll have senior Alec Wintering (18.3 points last season) back, but Porter’s main priority will be to fix a defense which ranked 329th in the nation with 80 points per game allowed.
7. Loyola Marymount Lions
2015-16 Record: 6-12
Predicted Record: 7-11
Loyola Marymount saw decent progress in Year 2 under head coach Mike Dunlap. The Lions must deal with the departure of last year’s top scorer Adom Jacko (16.6 points per game), but Brandon Brown and Steven Haney, the team’s two other double-figure scorers, figure to step into bigger roles. The additions of transfers Stefan Jovanovic (Hawaii) and Trevor Manuel (Oregon) will also help.
8. San Francisco Dons
2015-16 Record: 8-10
Predicted Record: 7-11
New San Francisco head coach Kyle Smith has an impressive track record. He won 101 games in six years at Columbia, including 25 wins last season. However, the new Dons boss has his work cut out for him as he must replace the 37 points the team lost with the departures of Devin Watson (transfer) and Tim Derksen (graduation).
9. Pacific Tigers
2015-16 Record: 6-12
Predicted Record: 6-12
New Pacific head coach Damon Stoudamire inherits a roster that failed to win double-digit games for the first time in 27 years. That team lacked scoring punch, and this year’s squad will be without leading scorer Alec Kobre (13 points per game) due to graduation. Expect the Tigers to go through a bit more trials before things get better under Mighty Mouse.
10. San Diego Toreros
2015-16 Record: 4-14
Predicted Record: 3-13
A San Diego squad which finished rock bottom in the conference just lost its lone double-digit scorer Duda Sanadze (12 points) and its best big man, Jito Kok. Suffice it to say, expectations will not be particularly high for the Toreros, who will likely finish dead last for a second-straight year.
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