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After keeping a close eye on the WCC the last two months, what are your thoughts on which teams are playing the best basketball and who will be fighting for second and third place.
Tier One
1 - Gonzaga - as long as they keep turnovers down and keep shooting well from the 3 point line, they will be impossible to stop. Right now, I am looking for them to go undefeated with only possible loss at San Francisco
Tier Two
2 - San Francisco should be undefeated except for their miserable shooting game at GCU. They have good balance and can score at all three levels. Next to the Zags, they have the best backcourt in the conference.
Their win over Davidson is looking better all the time since Davidson just beat Alabama in an away game, the same team that beat the Zags by double digits.
3 - Santa Clara - Providing Vrankic stays healthy, they might be the team to beat for third place. Vrankic not only is a good scorer and rebounder but he is excellent at help running the offense down low. They beat
Stanford, Nevada and TCU by around twenty points in each game. Although the St. Marys and BYU have some good wins, both teams shooting (especially 3 pointers) has be WILDLY inconsistent.
4 - BYU has had some really bad breaks in losing their two top centers. In spite of that, they have battled tough in most games. They looked awful in their losses to UVU and Creighton. Despite giving up a lot of height, they have been
outrebounding almost all their opponents. Next to the Zags and SF, they probably have the best backcourt in the WCC. However, their shooting had been wildly inconsistent. As many good 3 pt. shooters as they are supposed to
have, the stats don't reflect it. They have been playing tough defensively and rebounding has been excellent but you never know which BYU teams shows up, the one that goes 3 of 19 from 3 against
Liberty or has 19 turnovers against Vanderbilt.
5 - St. Marys - This could be a flip with BYU depending on which team shows up any given night. In their San Diego State and Colorado State games they looked bad but in most of their other games they have played
fairly well, especially their defense. Again, just like BYU, their 3 point shooting has been inconsistent and when they are shooting poorly they will not be able to stay with better teams. Their first three game should let
us know where they will finish (vs SF, at Santa Clara & BYU).
Tier Three
6 - Loyola Marymount - They have the most ability of all the other teams in Tier 3 and they might end up knocking off some the of the teams in Tier 2.
7 - San Diego - Playing better than expected, will see how they do in conference.
8 - Pepperdine - A lot of losses but played some good teams tough for at least some of the games.
9 - Portland - More wins than expected but against weak competition. This could be the year they get out of the bottom of the cellar.
10 - Pacific - Really struggling, especially on offense.
Tier One
1 - Gonzaga - as long as they keep turnovers down and keep shooting well from the 3 point line, they will be impossible to stop. Right now, I am looking for them to go undefeated with only possible loss at San Francisco
Tier Two
2 - San Francisco should be undefeated except for their miserable shooting game at GCU. They have good balance and can score at all three levels. Next to the Zags, they have the best backcourt in the conference.
Their win over Davidson is looking better all the time since Davidson just beat Alabama in an away game, the same team that beat the Zags by double digits.
3 - Santa Clara - Providing Vrankic stays healthy, they might be the team to beat for third place. Vrankic not only is a good scorer and rebounder but he is excellent at help running the offense down low. They beat
Stanford, Nevada and TCU by around twenty points in each game. Although the St. Marys and BYU have some good wins, both teams shooting (especially 3 pointers) has be WILDLY inconsistent.
4 - BYU has had some really bad breaks in losing their two top centers. In spite of that, they have battled tough in most games. They looked awful in their losses to UVU and Creighton. Despite giving up a lot of height, they have been
outrebounding almost all their opponents. Next to the Zags and SF, they probably have the best backcourt in the WCC. However, their shooting had been wildly inconsistent. As many good 3 pt. shooters as they are supposed to
have, the stats don't reflect it. They have been playing tough defensively and rebounding has been excellent but you never know which BYU teams shows up, the one that goes 3 of 19 from 3 against
Liberty or has 19 turnovers against Vanderbilt.
5 - St. Marys - This could be a flip with BYU depending on which team shows up any given night. In their San Diego State and Colorado State games they looked bad but in most of their other games they have played
fairly well, especially their defense. Again, just like BYU, their 3 point shooting has been inconsistent and when they are shooting poorly they will not be able to stay with better teams. Their first three game should let
us know where they will finish (vs SF, at Santa Clara & BYU).
Tier Three
6 - Loyola Marymount - They have the most ability of all the other teams in Tier 3 and they might end up knocking off some the of the teams in Tier 2.
7 - San Diego - Playing better than expected, will see how they do in conference.
8 - Pepperdine - A lot of losses but played some good teams tough for at least some of the games.
9 - Portland - More wins than expected but against weak competition. This could be the year they get out of the bottom of the cellar.
10 - Pacific - Really struggling, especially on offense.
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