For the rest of our Preseason Coverage, CLICK HERE.
WEST COAST
Mark Few took over as head coach of the Gonzaga Bulldogs in 2000. Gonzaga, a small school with a funny sounding name way off somewhere in Washington state. The Bulldogs were coming off an amazing Elite Eight run in 1999 under head coach Dan Monson, but other small schools had made tournament runs in the past (and have made them since) without becoming national powerhouses. There was no reason to suspect that anything would be different for the Zags. Except it was. In 16 years at the helm, Mark Few has placed his Bulldogs in 16 NCAA tournaments (only Coach K and Tom Izzo have longer current streaks), earning top seeds and even returning the program to the Elite Eight last season. Gonzaga is now a household name and a regular member of the Top 25. It has become a destination program for elite recruits. In other words, Mark Few has done something that would have seemed impossible 16 years ago — turned a small West Coast Conference school into a national power.
This year, once again, Gonzaga appears to be among the nation’s elite — part of a small list of teams that, heading into the season, have a legitimate chance to advance to the Final Four in Houston. The Bulldogs have one of the best frontcourts in the nation and should dominate the West Coast Conference. Their biggest competitor should by last year’s only other NCAA participant, a BYU team that got in as an 11 seed and lost in the First Four. However, the Cougars will have to find a way to win without Tyler Haws’ 22 points per game.
In addition to Gonzaga and BYU, the WCC put three other teams into postseason play last year. St. Mary’s earned a bid to the NIT, Pepperdine played in the CBI and Portland was in the CIT. Getting five postseason bids again may be tough this year, though both Pepperdine should be solid again and St. Mary’s should never be overlooked. The problem is the rest of the conference, where at least five programs all appear to be on the downswing at the same time. Not only is there a chance for some teams with pretty bad records, but the power rating numbers of the top teams will get negatively impacted by the weaker conference competition. We can only hope that these programs use this season as a springboard to better things in the future.
Predicted Order of Finish
1. Gonzaga – Domantas Sabonis, Kyle Wiltjer and Przemek Karnowski give the Zags one of the nation’s best frontcourts. If Josh Perkins, Eric McClellan and Silas Melson can help ease the offseason losses in the backcourt, this team will be dominant again.
2. BYU – Tyler Haws may be gone, but Kyle Collinsworth is not. He leads a group of talented guards that include Chase Fischer and freshman Nick Emery. The Cougars have some strength up front as well, including Utah State transfer Kyle Davis. Even without Haws, enough pieces appear to be present to make it back into the NCAA Tournament.
3. Pepperdine – The Waves return almost everyone from last year’s CBI team, including strong frontcourt players in Stacy Davis and Jett Raines. This team could be dangerous, but an NIT appearance is probably its upper limit.
4. St. Mary’s – The Gaels should never be counted out, and despite the majority of last season’s team being gone, there is no reason to believe they won’t find a way into one postseason tournament or another. However, in order to get there, they will need Boston College transfer Joe Rahon and some of their freshmen recruits to step up.
5. Pacific – The Tigers have struggled since their return to the West Coast Conference (and now have to deal with an NCAA investigation into the program as well), but with the bottom half of the league looking weak, they may have a chance to rise in the standings this year. Ron Verlin’s squad doesn’t have any true star power, but there are plenty of solid pieces here including guard T.J. Wallace and forward Eric Thompson.
6. Santa Clara – Jared Brownridge is going to score a ton of points, but the Broncos have less pieces this year than they did on last season’s 18 loss team.
7. Portland – Bryce Pressley and Alec Wintering form a solid backcourt pair, but the Pilots have too many holes, especially down low where they have been strong so often recently, for this team to do much.
8. San Francisco – Rex Walters only has two notable players returning from last year, Tim Derksen and Devin Watson. There are simply too many new pieces to blend in for much to be expected.
9. San Diego – New head coach Lamont Smith faces a long year as he begins to rebuild the Toreros.
10. Loyola Marymount – Mike Dunlap may eventually get the Lions turned around, but there has been so much turnover heading into this season that matching last year’s eight victories might be considered a success.