WCC Season

[DZ]

Taking stock of the conference as a whole.

It seemed like about the worst OOC season in a long time, but I am going subjective here.

USD is the big mover, good OOC record. Play tough.

Overall it felt like the conference was down and numbers bear that out. We're the 13th conference in RPI.

That's with 2 teams ranked.

We're behind the Missouri Valley, MWC, the Mid-American, the COLONIAL league.

Aside from USD and Pacific, seems like same old same old.

[Sarenyon]

It was worse than same old same old... 300+ RPIs for two teams? (not certain, I know at least one). Glad both USD and Pacific made moves, sad that USF did not have as good of season... ok not too sad, but they were projected to be better. Top 4 outside of Zags and SMC were ok, but the bottom four was just absolutely terrible this year.

edit, guess USF pulled ahead of Pacific... to get the 4 seed in the WCC tourney

[hondo]

If it was not for USF and Frankie Ferrari our Zags would now be in a tie for first place and SMC might have the RPI to get the top seed in the WCC tourney. I'm not sure about the RPI however but a tie is never what we want.

[JAGzag]

Nothings changed. We can split hairs on certain schools hitting sup 300 on an RPI, but the top 3 remain the top 3. Does it matter that the league is 13th versus it's normal #10? Every year there's a school that "is rising" and it never materializes long term. Ever. Not saying it can't happen, but it seems destined to be a 2 school league. And even that is being generous: SMC has no desire to take it to the next level. They continue to play the RPI game before conference and bank on beating the Zags to even make the tourney.

[Martin Centre Mad Man]

The WCC was a young league without a lot of seniors in key roles. A lot of these teams should be better in a year. USD and BYU had one senior between them.

[amaronizag]

Many on this forum are always too hard on our WCC opponents and too full of praise for the Zags. What I mean is that the Zags record proves that, for the last few years especially, the Zags have improved relative to the rest of the WCC teams, but the Zags have not been better than our WCC rivals by a as much as many on this forum believe. I remember countless nail biters played with, what many regard as lowly, unworthy WCC competitors. We have eeked out a lot of close games, and because of the west coast PAC12 blue bloods with big schools, the little gyms and unworthy step children of the WCC are under rated. I think the WCC is much improved this year over last year, and I think the WCC is under rated nationally. I look at big schools like Illinois and Indiana (just to name a couple) and I think some of the little schools in the WCC would give them very stiff competition. The WCC is not that much worse than a lot of teams and conferences across the US. I don't see how the WCC ever gets rated lower than #10 nationally.

[Zagceo]

hate to bring this up....the NCAA basketball FBI fraud scheme charges could strengthen Pepperdine and Loyola to stand ground instead of investing like others in WCC

[VinnyZag]

WCC is 10th in KenPom's conference rankings, behind the Valley and MWC but ahead of the A10 and CUSA. The Colonial is 18th in That ranking system, by the way.

[sittingon50]

Kenpom rates the WCC as #10 this year. Last year #11, with the #1 ranked team.

USD jumped 137 spots, Pacific 80, PEP 21 & Portland 18.


SCU fell 135 which is disappointing. Knew they would be missing Brownridge, but figured Sendek would figure it out. LMU dropped 54 spots & there are a # of folks calling for Dunlap's head. Apparently not a likable guy at all.

PEP will be hiring a new Coach so we will have to wait & see.

BYU has EVERYONE back (theoretically). LMU loses only Haney (again theoretically, I think there will be defections) who was hurt at the end of the year. Pacific loses only their big center, a good defender but not much on offense. PEP is up in the air, but their best player's should be back. Portland loses only their 6th man. SMC gets hit hard. USD loses only Neubauer, who was a starter last year but lost his job this year. USF lose only their 6th man. SCU loses their big center & grad transfer Caruso.

I believe things will trend up next year.

[jpn17]

Kenpom rates the WCC as #10 this year. Last year #11, with the #1 ranked team.

USD jumped 137 spots, Pacific 80, PEP 21 & Portland 18.


SCU fell 135 which is disappointing. Knew they would be missing Brownridge, but figured Sendek would figure it out. LMU dropped 54 spots & there are a # of folks calling for Dunlap's head. Apparently not a likable guy at all.

PEP will be hiring a new Coach so we will have to wait & see.

BYU has EVERYONE back (theoretically). LMU loses only Haney (again theoretically, I think there will be defections) who was hurt at the end of the year. Pacific loses only their big center, a good defender but not much on offense. PEP is up in the air, but their best player's should be back. Portland loses only their 6th man. SMC gets hit hard. USD loses only Neubauer, who was a starter last year but lost his job this year. USF lose only their 6th man. SCU loses their big center & grad transfer Caruso.

I believe things will trend up next year.

I hope so. But it seems like people say this every year and it doesn't happen. Even this year everyone talked about how much better USD, USF and Pacific are, and while I don't necessarily disagree, they all finished 9-9 in conference with losses to bottom feeders. I really want to see a team that's not Saint Mary's or Gonzaga win 25 games and go 15-3 in conference or something like that. But I'm not holding my breath.

[TexasZagFan]

I hope so. But it seems like people say this every year and it doesn't happen. Even this year everyone talked about how much better USD, USF and Pacific are, and while I don't necessarily disagree, they all finished 9-9 in conference with losses to bottom feeders. I really want to see a team that's not Saint Mary's or Gonzaga win 25 games and go 15-3 in conference or something like that. But I'm not holding my breath.

Losing games you should win, and/or playing to your level of competition afflicts all teams, moreso IMO with teams in a growth mode. I would categorize USD, UOP, and USF as growing teams.

[23dpg]

Taking stock of the conference as a whole.

It seemed like about the worst OOC season in a long time, but I am going subjective here.

USD is the big mover, good OOC record. Play tough.

Overall it felt like the conference was down and numbers bear that out. We're the 13th conference in RPI.

That's with 2 teams ranked.

We're behind the Missouri Valley, MWC, the Mid-American, the COLONIAL league.

Aside from USD and Pacific, seems like same old same old.

I’m going to give you a two minute minor penalty for using the RPI.

[jpn17]

Losing games you should win, and/or playing to your level of competition afflicts all teams, moreso IMO with teams in a growth mode. I would categorize USD, UOP, and USF as growing teams.

I agree, I just hope that the max potential of that growth is greater than it has been for WCC teams in the past.