2018-19 #WCChoops Schedule | What We Learned 2/25/19  |  Crumpacker 2018-19 Archives

By John Crumpacker
#WCChoops Columnist

As it turns out, 16 is better than 18, which means that less is more.

When the West Coast Conference made the decision this season to reduce its men’s basketball schedule from 18 league games to 16 in order to enhance teams’ non-conference slates and better position the second- and possibly third-place teams for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid, it also created unexpected drama in the last week of the regular season.

Two teams, BYU (10-5) and Pepperdine (6-9), have already completed 15 conference games and do not play until the last day of the regular season on Saturday. Gonzaga (14-0), Saint Mary’s (10-4), San Francisco (9-5), Santa Clara (7-7), Loyola Marymount (6-8), San Diego (6-8), Pacific (3-11) and Portland (0-14) all play twice.

What that means is only three teams have locked in positions for the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas from March 7-12. Gonzaga is No. 1, Pacific is No. 9 and Portland is No. 10. The remaining teams will scrap for the most advantageous positions in the hope of securing byes into the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds.

If the last week of the WCC season is a ship navigating treacherous waters, USF is at the helm. The Dons control the week … unless they are usurped by Saint Mary’s. All the Gaels need to do in the cozy confines of McKeon Pavilion to nail down the second seed and secure a double bye into the semifinals is to defeat Portland on Thursday and No. 1-ranked Gonzaga on Saturday night.

Good luck with the latter.

USF, meanwhile, has a favorable finishing schedule with home games on the Hilltop vs. San Diego on Thursday night and LMU on Saturday afternoon in the WCC’s Game of the Week.

The Game of the Week will truly be the game of the week only if the Dons win both games to leapfrog from their current fourth place past Saint Mary’s and BYU and into second at 11-5, as they hold the tiebreaker over the Gaels and Cougars. Calling Frankie Ferrari!

If that indeed happens for USF, it means coach Kyle Smith’s team will have a week to rest (and, presumably, practice a little) for a semifinal game at the Orleans Arena on March 11. What coach would not want to give his players a day or two off at this point in the season?

Meanwhile, in the middle of the pack, Santa Clara has a chance to finish 9-7 if it defeats LMU and Portland while either San Diego or LMU have a chance to dash USF’s hopes of finishing second to Gonzaga.

Such drama might not be unfolding if the WCC had stayed with an 18-game league schedule for 2018-19. There have been only a few upsets around the WCC this season, with USF beating BYU in Provo, Pepperdine defeating Saint Mary’s in Malibu and San Diego toppling the Dons in the Slim Gym.

Might there be another upset or two in the final week of regular season, such as Saint Mary’s over Gonzaga and USF losing at home to either San Diego or LMU? A shortened conference season makes such drama possible.

What We Think

1. We broached this subject earlier in the season and are even more convinced now: Gonzaga’s Brandon Clarke should make it a clean sweep of the WCC’s awards as Newcomer of the Year (no one else is remotely close), Defensive Player of the Year (see previous comment) and Most Valuable Player, with all due respect to such worthies as teammates Rui Hachimura and Josh Perkins, USF’s Ferrari, BYU’s Yoeli Childs and Saint Mary’s Jordan Ford. It’s not Clarke’s fault that he checks all the boxes. In addition to averaging 16.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, Clarke is No. 1 in the NCAA in field goal percentage (.684, a tick ahead of Duke’s Zion Williamson), No. 2 in total blocked shots (90) and No. 3 in blocks per game (3.1).
2. By season’s end, the WCC has a good chance of having six of its 10 teams with at least 20 wins. Two are already there in Gonzaga (27-2) and USF (21-7). Closing in on 20 wins are Saint Mary’s (19-10), BYU (18-12), LMU (18-10) and San Diego (17-12). Five teams reached the 20-win benchmark last season. It’s worth mentioning again that the WCC is a league of distinguished coaches. Said LMU coach Mike Dunlap, “What we want to do … is get to 20 wins and get to postseason play and push the bar a little higher for this program.’’
3. Given the improvement he’s made from his freshman season to his sophomore season, what might Pepperdine’s Colbey Ross achieve as a junior in 2019-20? While the Waves dwell in the bottom half of the conference standings, Ross has elevated his game to an elite level nationally. The point guard leads the WCC in assists per game at 7.4 and is No. 5 nationally. He’s tied for No. 1 in the NCAA in free throws attempted (241) and is No. 3 in free throws made (204). Lorenzo Romar will enjoy coaching Ross next season.

Follow the three dots…
Gonzaga has won its seventh straight WCC regular season title and is going for its fifth undefeated conference season. … The Zags already own the NCAA record for most consecutive conference road victories at 30 and can extend that mark to 32 this week at Pacific on Thursday and at Saint Mary’s on Saturday. … The Zags continue to lead the nation in scoring at 90.7 per game, a figure that looks more like the location of a radio station on the hit parade. … LMU is 14th nationally in points allowed per game at 62.3. … Saint Mary’s Ford is 22nd in the NCAA in scoring (21.8) while BYU’s Childs is 30th (21.2).