Countdown 10/22/13

17 days remain...

Countdown 10/6/13

34 days remain...

Countdown 10/5/13

35 days remain...

As I post this, Baylor is destroying West Virginia in football. I was trying to decide on a game to post for this week's weekend waster and when I saw what the Bears were doing to the Mountaineers it became very clear. I need to post a game where a WCC team destroys the Mountaineers. Here you have a game from last year's ESPN Tip-Off Marathon.

Countdown 9/30/11

40 days remain...

Take a look at the only part of the game that Saint Mary's led Harvard in their New Years' Eve Game from this past season.

Countdown 9/28/13

42 days remain...

Here's BYU hosting Eastern New Mexico. I'm posting this because it's time to get ready for games against non D-I competition.

Countdown 9/1/13

 69 days remain...

Today we'll get into some rebounding numbers for the first five teams, alphabetically, in the WCC.

BYU: Last season the Cougars were 1st in the WCC with 35.5 RPG but were just 3rd in rebound rate, due in part to their fast pace (72.5 possessions/40 minutes, 1st WCC). The Cougars are losing the players responsible for 52.04% of last season's rebounds.

Attendance

 
Today the NCAA released the attendance records for men's basketball from last season. In terms of total attendance the WCC is not well represented in the top-100 list. Only BYU (13th) and Gonzaga (94th) make the list. The small gyms in the WCC make it impossible to draw large crowds. Gonzaga sold out every home game last season and still barely made the top-100. Even Duke, one of the sport's best known brands, managed only to reach 47th due to Cameron Indoor Stadium's old-school number of seats.

The conference as a whole ranked 11th when counting home games played by WCC teams as well as the conference tournament. Based on those criteria the WCC totaled 647,789 spectators last season for an average of 4,277 per game. Every conference that drew more spectators than the WCC drew least one million spectators. The conference closest to the WCC is the Mid-American Conference, which trails by more than 94,000.

99 Days Remain

Day two of the countdown comes a bit late in the evening thanks to moving out and driving from Chicago to Ohio for a family reunion. Anyways, here's today's video.

Take a look at Stephen Holt's reaction to Haws' make in the waning seconds. If Holt is going to play up to his potential and be a senior leader for the Gaels, we'll never see him do that again.

Let the Countdown Begin!

There are now only 100 days until WCC teams can take the floor and play basketball games that will be meaningful in the eyes of the NCAA Tournament selection committee. In other words, we're 100 days away from the start of the season, not counting exhibitions, midnight madness, practices, media days or any other less-than-real-basketball action.

Every day from now until November 9th I will post something WCC hoops related. I will try not to post duplicates from last year's countdown, but with 100 days to fill, I'll probably recycle some of the better photos and videos from last time. Articles that would be written regardless of the countdown will not be included in the countdown, so on some great days you'll get a double-dose of posts.

Also, this 100 day milestone is a big day for me. Today is my last day living in Chicago. A few days from now, after a family reunion in Ohio, I will be back in Spokane. Before this countdown concludes I will be living in Los Angles, just in time to catch some WCC hoops in person.

Offseason Personnel Movement Around the WCC

The landscape of college basketball is ever-changing. Some of that change, conference realignment or selfish reasons for transferring, can be negative. Some though, like natural roster turnover due to graduation, is a necessary part of the college game. Regardless of whether the change is good or bad, we have to deal with it. Unfortunately, that can be really difficult. How are you supposed to keep track of players when so many are graduating, transferring in/out, coming off redshirts/redshirting or arriving for their first year at college?

Well, this is how. I've amassed all the information on the personnel movement happening at WCC basketball programs this offseason. It's all here, listed school-by-school. Take a look at who won't be back on your least favorite team next season (because you should already know who won't be back on your favorite team). You'll also find all the new recruits, the players who will be returning from a redshirt season or two year mission, the transfers, the dismissals as well as any coaching/staff changes. Plus, there are some charts to help you understand just how much each team is losing in terms of production.

Players listed under the "going" section are shown with the year they were listed as during the 2012-'13 season. Players listed under the "coming" section are shown with the year they will be for the 2013-'14 season.

Saint Mary's Point Guard Problem

Craig Neal was hired as the head coach at New Mexico on April 3rd, shortly after former head coach Steve Alford took the top job at UCLA. Since April 3rd there has been speculation surrounding his son, Cullen Neal. The 6'4'' point guard was ranked 150th in the class of 2013 and had committed to Saint Mary's. Today came the, somewhat expected, news that Cullen would play for Craig; Saint Mary's is allowing the prized recruit to decommit and go to New Mexico.

Neal is coming off a stellar, 26.5 points per game, senior season at Eldorado High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was in the mix to replace the outgoing, 15.8ppg, Matthew Dellavedova  in Moraga. So, not only are the Gaels losing a top recruit but they've further opened a gaping hole in their 2013-14 roster.

Wins

Gonzaga 32-3

Saint Mary's 28-7
Santa Clara 25-12

For the second time in as many years, and the second time ever, the WCC is home to three teams with 25 or more wins.

Over the recent history of the conference, let's say the past six years, it was Gonzaga and Saint Mary's job to break the 25 win mark. Those two schools managed to do that in each of the past six seasons (only Kansas and Duke can say the same).

Last season, when this record was first set, realignment deserved the credit. BYU joined Gonzaga and Saint Mary's with 25+ wins. This was to be expected, as you see BYU had managed to hit 25 wins in the previous four seasons (along with Gonzaga, Saint Mary's, Kansas and Duke). It was a record, that is true. But, it felt almost like a first year coach who succeeds with the players recruited by the previous coach.

This season it is different. It is not BYU that joins Gonzaga and Saint Mary's in the 25+ club. It's Santa Clara. A team that, two years ago, fell one win short of setting this record. Interestingly, this season, it is BYU that falls one win short of setting a new record.

Post of the Year

Today the West Coast Conference released the four individual "_____ of the year" awards, the all-conference team and the all-freshman team. The conference's nine head coaches vote on these awards. Have a look.

WCC Player of the Year
Kelly Olynyk -  Junior Forward, Gonzaga

WCC Coach of the Year
Mark Few - Gonzaga

WCC Defensive Player of the Year
Mike Hart -  Senior Guard, Gonzaga

WCC Newcomer of the Year
Stacy Davis - Freshman Forward, Pepperdine

#1

Gonzaga joins the 14 other teams currently in mid-major conferences that have earned the top spot in the AP Poll. Click image for full size view.

Gonzaga is the best team in the nation according to this weeks college basketball polls. The Zags become the fifth team this season to sit atop the poll. They're the second WCC team in history to earn this honor and the 15th team (currently) from a mid-major conference to do so. 

The WCC's March Madness is Orderly

Click image for full size view.

This morning only three seeds were set in stone. Since then the tournament has come into form, and the BYU at LMU game isn't even over yet! At this point, 11:50 PM Central Standard Time, the five and six seeds are not official. San Francisco and San Diego have the same conference record, necessitating a tie-breaker. The tie-breaker in this case is the teams' RPI rating. The RPI used in the tie-breaker will be taken Sunday morning. There's no way for San Diego to pass San Francisco in the RPI between now and then though, so it's the Dons that will come up with the five seed.

Win Total Forecast

As of today the average number of conference games played by WCC teams is 7.111. Is that number important? Not as far as I can tell. It's just a good time to take a look at how things were at this nearly mid-point last season and compare them with the season we're going through right now.

20 win teams:

Last season, for the first time ever, five WCC teams had 20+ win seasons. At this point in the season that didn't look too probable. How does this season compare?

(Through seven conference games)

Rankings Roundup

With Monday comes the release of the weekly AP and Coaches Polls. Here are how the top WCC teams fare in those highly publicized polls along with selected other rankings.

• Gonzaga (6-0): 20th RPI, 12th AP, 12th Coaches, 10th ESPN, 9th CBS, 5th Sagarin, 2nd Pomeroy.
  The Zags made a big jump in the human polls this week and slighter jumps in the computer ones. Finally the voters seem to be seeing what the computers have been aware of, this team is one of the best in the nation. The Zags fell from first in the nation in scoring to 21st. They're 29th in points allowed, 7th in field goal percentage (52.3), 18th in rebounds per game (39), 14th in points per possession (1.14) and 14th in effective field goal percentage (57.6). They are one of 33 remaining unbeaten teams.
•  Saint Mary's (4-2): 41st Coaches, 65th Pomeroy, 71st Sagarin.
  The Gaels dropped out of the "others receiving votes" section of the AP Poll this week due to their two weekend losses but they managed to stay in that section of the Coaches poll, albeit barely. If Ken Pomeroy was the NCAA selection committee the Gaels would be playing a first four game.
•  Brigham Young (4-2): 66th Pomeroy, 57th Sagarin, 56th RPI.
  The Cougars didn't fall out of the polls, because they weren't in them to begin with. Their two losses came to strong teams so the computer rankings are treating them pretty well. One big positive is Tyler Haws who is currently 9th in points per game with 23.3.
• Santa Clara (5-0): 117th RPI, 107th Pomeroy, 100th Sagarin,
  With five wins already the unbeaten Broncos are three short of their season total from last year. They should easily pass that mark before they lose a game but don't expect them to be undefeated by the time WCC play rolls around. They play at #2 (AP/Coaches) Duke in their last non-conference game of the year.

Thanksgiving Tournaments So Far

The first two days of this long holiday weekend have come and gone. The tournaments have begun and college hoops are all over TV. The WCC fared well in these first two days posting five wins in seven games. Portland, Santa Clara, Brigham Young, Gonzaga and Saint Mary's all won while San Diego and Loyola Marymount suffered defeat. For the teams in the holiday tournaments; Gonzaga in the Old Spice Classic, Saint Mary's in the DirecTV Classic, Loyola Marymount in the Great Alaska Shootout and to a lesser degree Santa Clara in the CBE, things are just heating up. Both the DirecTV and Old Spice Classics will receive major coverage on the ESPN networks so a good showing by WCC teams over the next three days will be great for the conference brand.
For now though it looks pretty darn good. The WCC is 26 and 12 so far this season. Read about the games from Wednesday and Thursday after the jump.

Turkey on the Table, Tournaments on the Tube

It's once again that wonderful time of year when fans of college hoops fill themselves with turkey before sitting down on the couch to have an extended battle with tryptophan over the ability to stay awake for multiple, sure to be great, college basketball games. For those who make it to the final buzzer without falling asleep the reward is two-fold. Firstly they have just been given hours of entertaining early season hoops. Secondly they can feel good about themselves for not succumbing to the effects of that seasonally popular essential amino acid.

That was a fun to write and long to read way to say "it's time for the thanksgiving weekend and the great college basketball tournaments that come with the holiday".

This year four of the WCC's nine teams are participating in Thanksgiving week tournaments. Santa Clara in the sub-CBE (I'll get to that later), Loyola Marymount in the Great Alaska Shootout, Saint Mary's in the Directv Classic (Anaheim Classic) and Gonzaga in the Old Spice Classic. Here is the first part of my previews for these tournaments. The following are the games on Wednesday and Thursday. The Friday and Sunday games will be determined by the outcomes of the games on Thursday and Friday so I will preview those on Thursday night after the action. The only exception is Santa Clara, which will play Eastern Washington on Friday. That preview will also be included with Thursday's round of previews.

Preseason Predictions: First Place

#1 Gonzaga Bulldogs

2011-12 Record: 26-7 (13-3) 2nd WCC, RPI: 25

NCAA Tournament Round of 32, 7 seed.

2011-12 Recap: 

Gonzaga entered last season in a strange position, they weren't the outright owners of the WCC regular season title, that would end up being an omen.

They had to replace two starters in the backcourt, and it didn't take long to accomplish that. In the second game of the season, Against local rival Washington State to start the ESPN Tip Off Marathon the 1-0 Zags started Kevin Pangos at point. He had 33 points and made nine three pointers in the contest, catapulting himself into the national hoops mainstream. Soon after he was joined in the starting lineup by fellow freshman Gary Bell Jr.

The Zags won their first five games, but most were painfully close down the stretch. They played Hawaii in Vancouver to honor fifth year senior Robert Sacre, as he is from North Vancouver. The fifth game, against Notre Dame in the Kennel, was a blowout twenty point victory for the Zags to push them to 5-0.

In an unusual start to the season that saw Gonzaga play no road games in the month of November, with only one game (the Vancouver game) not taking place in the Kennel. Even a big time program, Notre Dame, agreed to play on campus. Gonzaga's former anybody-anywhere approach to scheduling was being phased out it seemed, as they were able to draw the big programs to Spokane unlike in the past. On the flip side of that, the negative of playing so many home games is an inability to build toughness. That was evident in the Zags first road game of the season.

On December 3rd the Zags faced Illinois in Champaign's hostile, 16,600 seat Assembly Hall.  The Illini beat the Zags 72-65 in a game that saw Robert Sacre foul out while trying to battle Meyers Leonard in the paint. Leonard would be the 11th pick in the NBA draft and Sacre the 60th (and final). The Illini entered the top-25 with the win. A week later Michigan State did the same, but this time at the Kennel. The Spartans added a game to Gonzaga's losing streak, making it a two game streak and technically turning it from a single loss to a streak of losses, as well as to the Zags all time record at the McCarthey Athletic Center, bringing their loss total to seven. The Zags sat at 6-2 after the 74-67 loss to the Spartans.

That short streak was followed by a long one, an eight game winning streak. Starting with a win at home over Oral Roberts. Then, in the Battle in Seattle, an 11 point win over Arizona for bragging rights as "best in the west". Another bragging rights game, "best Bulldogs", "best mid-major", "best Cinderella", came against Butler on December 20th. The Zags beat the Bulldogs soundly, 71-55. That was followed by a 10 point win over Air Force.

The Zags entered WCC play at 9-2 and had played only one true road game. They opened the WCC season on December 28th against Portland by blowing the pilots out in Spokane 90-51. Incidentally I ran into David Stockton at Atilano's Mexican restaurant after the game. Unfortunately I was not operating this blog at the time so our conversation was far less substantive than it could have been.

On New Years Eve the Zags took an early break from WCC play with a trip to Cincinatti to face Xavier. Sam Dower had a breakout game on national TV and the Zags beat the Musketeers, in another battle for "best mid-major", 72-65. Gary Bell showed his incredible defensive ability by holding then all-American candidate Tu Holloway to just two points. At the start of 2012 the Zags were 11-2. 

Santa Clara came to town for the Zags first game of the new year and got beat down by 22.

The Zags winning streak ended in brutal form at Saint Mary's, with an 83-62 loss to the Gaels. Another omen, the Gaels now had wins over both BYU and Gonzaga and sat alone atop the conference standings.
The Zags bounced back with wins over Loyola Marymount, San Diego, San Francisco and Portland and took a four game win streak into their first trip to Provo and the Marriott Center. The Cougars had three losses already in WCC play. Two of which were at home including a loss to Saint Mary's in their previous game that gave the Gaels the season sweep. BYU bounced back from their losses and kept themselves in the WCC title hunt with an 83-73 win over Gonzaga. Gonzaga now sat two games back of Saint Mary's in the standings and only one above the Cougars.

Another four game winning streak followed. The second win in that streak was critical. The Gaels, ranked #13, came to Spokane, and left bruised from a 73-59 revenge beatdown. Gonzaga stayed alive in the WCC title hunt thanks to a season split with the Gaels. Loyola Marymount would go on to beat Saint Mary's to put the Zags into a tie with Saint Mary's for first place. 

Unfortunately for the Zags, San Francisco still had to be faced on the Hilltop. Gonzaga has been unable to win much at San Francisco and this year was no different. The only difference being the loss put ownership of the WCC title out of Gonzaga's hands. San Francisco won 66-65 thanks to a last second bucket.

In the Zags next game they got revenge on BYU with a 74-63 win in Spokane. Finishing up WCC play with a win over San Diego, the Zags were 23-5, 13-3 in WCC play, and for the first time since 2000, did not own at least a share of the WCC regular season title.

In the WCC tournament the Zags faced BYU in their first game and beat the Cougars once again, this time 77-58. Gonzaga faced rival Saint Mary's in the WCC Tournament Final. This time it was Saint Mary's with the upper hand, for the first time ever. Gonzaga's historic streak was on the line. The game was a classic in the rapidly developing rivalry. Elias Harris hit a three at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime but Saint Mary's was too much, and they won 78-74. 

Gonzaga entered Selection Sunday at 25-6. They drew a 7 seed and were sent to face 10 seed West Virginia in Pittsburgh, PA. The Mountaineers, with the worse seed, were playing just over an hour from their campus while Gonzaga was playing across the country. The Zags beat up on the Big East representative with a 77-54.
The Win resulted in a round of 32 match up with 2 seed Ohio State. The Zags had the lead over the Buckeyes for most of the first half. Jared Sullenger, The Ohio State University's highly touted big man who surprisingly returned for his sophomore season, was held in check pretty well. At the half the Buckeyes had a two point lead. For the first ten minutes of the second period the Buckeyes pulled away but Gonzaga made a run to close the lead to two with six minutes remaining. Gary Bell hit an extremely tough, well defended three with 12 seconds left to cut the lead to four but the Buckeyes would hit some free throws and push the lead to seven. The Zags lost 73-66 but had a lot to be happy about going forward.