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WEST COAST MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Saint Mary’s
- Gonzaga
- San Francisco
- LMU
- Santa Clara
- Portland
- Pepperdine
- Pacific
- San Diego
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL WEST COAST:
-Alex Ducas – SR, G/F – Saint Mary’s
-Graham Ike – Jr, F – Gonzaga
-Keli Leaupepe – SR, F – LMU
-Aidan Mahaney – SO, G – Saint Mary’s
-Houston Mallette – JR, G – Pepperdine
-Ryan Nembhard – JR, G – Gonzaga
-Jevon Porter – SO, F – Pepperdine
-Tyler Robinson – SR, G/F – Portland
-Mitchell Saxen – SR, C – Saint Mary’s
-Anton Watson – SR, F – Gonzaga
COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-It seems crazy, and almost surreal, to see anyone atop the preseason standings other than Gonzaga. Saint Mary’s tied the Zags for 1st place last year, but prior to that you wouldd have to go all the way back to 2016 for the last time Gonzaga was not the outright first place finisher, and all the way back to 2012 for when they did not win at least a share of first place. That being said, the Gaels of Saint Mary’s are your preseason WCC favorites! They won 27 games last year and advanced to the Round of 32 before losing to the eventual national champions. Three key starters are back, including Alex Ducas/Aidan Mahaney, both of whom were double-digit scorers and part of a really strong backcourt. They add to that a very strong freshman class that should make up a very strong frontcourt as well. This is a top-25-caliber team that should cruise to the NCAA Tournament and challenge Gonzaga for the top spot in the WCC. Speaking of Gonzaga…
-Gonzaga did what they normally do a season ago. They won more than 30 games and advanced to the Elite Eight. That is a typical season for them, and it would not shock me to see them do the same thing again. Three starters are gone who were a big part of their scoring, most notably Drew Timme/Julian Swarther, and replacing those two is no small task. But they are getting some help from the portal, namely Steele Venters who was a standout player at Eastern Washington, and Graham Ike who averaged just under 20ppg at Wyoming last year, so the Zags do have a lot of weapons. They will be in the top-25. They will win a lot of games. They will make the NCAA Tournament, and they will likely go several rounds into it. Again. It is just what they do.
-San Francisco had been irrelevant for pretty much several decades on end, but all of a sudden they have managed to win 20+ games in four of the last five seasons and made the NCAA Tournament two years ago. They are rebuilding this year with just two starters back from last season and have to replace some of their top scorers, but they are adding some key transfers and have what look to be a couple of really strong freshmen coming in so we may not see them take a huge step back.
-LMU is coming off their best season in a while, but they are losing some of the key pieces from that team including Cam Shelton, who averaged over 21ppg a year ago. Nevertheless, they should be good enough to finish in the top half of the conference. They are adding some key transfers, a couple of whom were key players at P5-level programs a year ago, so they have some nice pieces and we should see their improvement continue into this season.
-I have been big on Santa Clara for the last couple of years and think that Coach Herb Sendek has done a fantastic job building them up. They have had back to back 20+ win seasons and have been in the top-100 in most of the major metrics. Having said that, all five starters are gone from last year and they have to start completely over. Now, they do have several guys transferring in with D1 experience. Jalen Benjamin (Mount Saint Mary’s), Johnny O’Neil (American), and Tyeree Bryan (Charleston Southern) were all double-digit scorers a year ago, so they have managed to put a few things into the cupboard, but it could still be a bit of a transitional year for the Broncos.
-Portland’s program has shown steady improvement since Coach Shantay Legans took over two years ago, but they still have a long way to go and it looks like they will have a hard time finishing in the top half of the standings this year. They lost one of their top players to the portal, and while Tyler Robertson is back as one of the better players in the conference, the question is how good his supporting cast is.
-Pepperdine has been abysmal the last two years. Lorenzo Romar has had success as a head coach, most notably during his time at Washington, but he has not gotten it done at Pepperdine, especially during the last couple years where they failed to win ten games either season. The Wave also lost Maxwell Lewis, who was their top player. He is still in the Los Angeles area…but is playing for the Lakers. They do have a couple of double-digit scorers back, and they are adding a couple of freshmen that look pretty good, so perhaps we will see some improvement.
-I am a little surprised Pacific is picked this low. I do not think they will be anywhere close to the top of the league, but I think they will be closer to the middle than the bottom. They were 7-9 in league play last year, which certainly is not great but also is not the worst. They did lose one of their top scorers, but three other starters are back and they have some guys returning who can contribute off the bench as well.
-San Diego has just one starter back, and while I like Steve Lavin as a coach and think he will improve this program over time, any finish this year that is higher than last year will be an accomplishment. I do not mean that as faint praise. They do not have a lot of experience and do not appear to have a lot of potential.