Brayden Maldonado from Seattle U is the featured guest on this week's edition of the Field of 68's West Coast Conference Insider podcast. Maldonado leads the West Coast Conference in scoring and ranks tied for 12th in the nation with his scoring average of 23.3 ppg. The Redhawks are 3-1 to begin the year and have an opportunity for a big win when Seattle U plays at Stanford on Friday. 

Since Nov. 9, West Coast Conference men’s basketball teams are 27-4, which ranks third among all conferences during that span. Overall this season, West Coast Conference men’s basketball owns a winning percentage of .804, which ranks fifth among all conferences. Four teams remain unbeaten this season and 11 of the 12 teams boast winning records. The West Coast Conference currently ranks eighth in the KenPom conference rankings.

Among conference rankings, the West Coast Conference ranks No. 1 in the nation in field goal percentage (.488) and No. 2 in three-point field goal percentage (.364). Maldonado's .627 field goal percentage leads the conference.

The Field of 68 network hosts the West Coast Conference Insider podcast, featuring interviews with head coaches and student-athletes from men's basketball programs around the conference each week. Hosted by Jeff Goodman and Rob Dauster, the Field of 68 is a men's college basketball-centric network of podcasts and content. As of October 2025, The Field of 68 has built a combined audience of over 225,000 followers across its primary social media platforms. It currently boasts over 131K followers on X, over 59K on YouTube and over 38K on Instagram.

Timestamps are listed below for efficient viewing:

1:00 - West Coast Conference's strong non-conference start, specifically with Gonzaga
"Gonzaga has been the team that has been the most impressive to me. I've probably changed my opinion on them the most out of anybody...They are national title good...They are going to be an elite defensive team all year long...They are going to spend most of the season No. 1 in all of the metrics, and I really do believe that this team can go out and win a national championship."
- Rob Dauster 

6:10 - On Saint Mary's and Liam Campbell

7:10 - On the strength of the league overall right now
"LMU is now 6-0 and has a couple of quality road wins on its resume. Santa Clara is 5-0. They won at Xavier. They beat the brakes off of Nevada. Those are four teams at the top that are really good. They've [the conference] won games elsewhere that the middle part of the league looks like they're going to be good enough to have decent metrics so that playing in-conference is not going to drag you down. There are four teams right now that are in a spot where if they do well enough in conference play can get themselves into a position to be an at-large team [in the NCAA Tournament]." - Rob Dauster

8:05 - On LMU's hot start

10:35 - Brayden Maldonado joins the show

11:05 - Maldonado on Seattle U's strong start
"I like the way we've competed in these first four games, and them being at home is always a big help. Obviously, we'd like to be undefeated, but I'm super happy where we are right now, and I think we're trending in the right direction and we're improving every week." - Brayden Maldonado

11:40 - Maldonado on bouncing back from Seattle U's lone last-second loss

13:35 - Maldonado on his personal hot start 

15:20 - Maldonado on his teammate Will Heimbrodt

18:00 - Maldonado on multiple players' strong development from last season to this season

19:35 - Maldonado on his background playing basketball in the state of Colorado

23:25 - Maldonado on growing up in Alaska

25:45 - Maldonado on his interaction with a moose

27:28 - Maldonado on the test coming up at Stanford
"We'll learn a lot. Stanford is a big, physical team. They're a Power Four conference team, and they have those type of athletes. We're super excited for this matchup and the opportunity to go down there and play them. The biggest thing for us is how hard we compete and how focused we are on the little details." - Brayden Maldonado 

To watch the complete episode on YouTube, click here. To listen on Apple Podcasts, click here. 

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