In the two months since the Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga men’s basketball teams were voted 1-2 in the preseason West Coast Conference preseason poll, something unexpected has happened. Not history-making, but a scenario we have not seen for years. Seventeen years to be exact.
The necessary context is that the Zags and Gaels have been extraordinary during pre-conference play most of that time. And those early successes against teams outside the WCC have set them up for championship runs within the conference.
Keep in mind that it’s been since the 2001-02 season that anyone other than Gonzaga or Saint Mary’s earned even a share of the WCC regular-season title. And most of the time, we saw it coming like a freight train roaring through November and December.
If you recall the 2016-17 season, the Zags were 12-0 and the Gaels 10-1, giving them a sparkling combined record of 22-1 entering league play.
They were 27-3 in 2019-20, 24-4 in 2012-13 and 18-2 in 2020-21. On and on it goes.
This season, the 13th-ranked Zags are 9-4, the Gaels 9-6. That adds up to 18-10, and those 10 nonconference defeats are more than the two have totaled before WCC play since they were 17-14 in 2006-07. How long ago was that in basketball years? Stephen Curry, now in his 15th NBA season, was a college freshman that year.
Gonzaga returned just two starters from a 31-win team that reached the West Regional final of the NCAA tournament last season, and has faced a gauntlet of elite opponents, including Purdue, Syracuse, UCLA, USC, Washington, UConn and San Diego State.
Saint Mary’s brought back three starters from a team that shared the WCC regular-season crown with Gonzaga, won 27 games and advanced to the second round of the NCAAs. So far this season, the Gaels still are the only team to beat 15th-ranked Colorado State (12-1), and they did it in Fort Collins.
Both teams have been very good at times, despite facing schedules stacked with serious opponents. Both also have looked vulnerable, at least by their standards.
Gonzaga lost by 10 points at home to 2023 Final Four participant San Diego State team on Friday — its first nonconference home defeat since losing to UCLA in December 2015.
Saint Mary’s has maintained its standard on defense, but the Gaels also are struggling from the perimeter. They rank last in the league in 3-point accuracy at 29 percent and are hoping to snap All-WCC sophomore Aidan Mahaney out of a shooting slump.
So here’s the big question: Can anyone in the WCC can use this opportunity to step into the mix? Is there another team ready to challenge at the top?
USF (11-4) appears best positioned, ranking second in the WCC in both scoring offense and scoring defense and leading the conference in turnover margin and field-goal accuracy. The Dons’ NET computer ranking of No. 39 was the WCC’s best entering games on Sunday (Saint Mary’s 51, Gonzaga 56).
Santa Clara (9-6) leads the WCC in 3-point accuracy. LMU (7-7) is a top-4 team at both ends of the floor. Pepperdine (7-8) finally has its roster intact with the recent return to health of big men Jevon Porter and Boubacar Coulibaly, who combine to stand just three inches shy of 14 feet. San Diego (9-5 entering Sunday) has shown improvement and won its first eight home games.
Of course, no one will be surprised if Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s wind up at the top again this season. They expect to be there and they have the respect of the rest of the WCC.
But maybe there is opportunity for someone else to make noise near the top of the standings. Conference play begins Thursday and what promises to be a fascinating season awaits.
LAST WEEK’S BIG THING: The Santa Clara women’s basketball team trekked to Tempe, Ariz., and knocked off Arizona State, 65-55, on Saturday afternoon. The Broncos got 23 points from Tess Heal and 19 from Olivia Pollerd to win for the 12th time — their highest nonconference victory total since the 1990-91 season, when they went on to post a 28-3 record and captured both the WCC and WNIT titles.
THIS WEEK’S BIG THING, PART 1: The week’s most intriguing men’s game has Saint Mary’s visiting San Diego on Thursday. The Gaels have won the past 18 meetings between the programs but the Toreros have been very good at home so far this season.
THIS WEEK’S BIG THING, PART 2: An early-season women’s showdown Thursday when Northwest rivals Gonzaga and Portland — picked 1-2 in the conference by the coaches — square off on the Pilots’ home floor. Portland beat the Zags, 64-60, in last year’s WCC tournament title game and also won when the teams clashed in the 2020 conference tournament semifinals. The Pilots haven’t beaten Gonzaga in the regular season since 2009.
USF TOPS JERRY RICE’S ALMA MATER: USF’s 92-42 victory over Mississippi Valley State on Saturday was no surprise. Jonathan Mogbo totaled 16 points, 10 rebounds, five steals and four assists as one of five Dons to score in double digits.
The Delta Devils fell to 0-13 with the defeat, all of them on the road. An historically black university from the Southwestern Athletic Conference, Mississippi Valley State has played road games against LSU, Oklahoma, UConn, TCU and Baylor.
USF was the fourth WCC team to beat the Devils, joining Santa Clara, Pacific and Gonzaga. Only one of their 13 games so far has been closer than 29 points.
Why do they do it? Criss-crossing the country to play “guarantee games” provides critical paydays for the athletic department and is business as usual for the Delta Devils. Remarkably, since the start of the 2010-11 season, they have played nonconference games in 38 different states.
The Delta Devils finally make their home season debut Saturday against Alabama State in their SWAC opener.