2018-2019 WCC Preview

[slblions08]

I don’t know if you guys are as down on Dunlap as I am or what, but this is as dead of an October in awhile on these boards. I still root for my Lions as I see the student athletes as prisoners of their captive so I’m rooting for our guys to have a good season


AP rankings came out today and they have Gonzaga #3, but no love for St. Mary’s. It seems after never having good nonconference wins and not getting rewarded with an NCAA birth, the national perception on them is down.

Nice to see Bateman on the preseason squad. Lions picked to finish 7th which is an improvement from last. However I have a hard time believing they are better than Pepperdine


www.google.com/amp/s/www.deseretnews.com/article/900037629/wcc-mens-basketball-byu-tabbed-by-coaches-to-place-3rd.amp

[lionlife]

I'm looking forward to this season! I can be optimistic as long as no games have been played, right? Also, the talent looks to be much higher than last year's team, so I think we'll take a few of the close games we lost last year (or the games we led in and caved at the end of the game).

[pumpfake]

Really nice in-depth WCC review here: www.three-man-weave.com/3mw/wcc-basketball-preview-2019. Lions picked 9th. Ouch! Review goes to great pains to talk about how deep the WCC is. I love our league. That said, we need to finish in the top half.

[slblions08]

Usually we do some kind of predictions here. I am going to toss some into the ring.

1. Gonzaga - duh. Nobody else on their level. Sucks about Tillie missing their non-conference games they need for a good seed. But then they might get underseeded in the Dance, maybe like 4-5. They tend to do well as an underdog. I think an Elite 8 team should be realistic. Got them at around 15-1 because Tillie will be back at conference time.

2. BYU - I think their talent eventually climbs to the top because St. Mary's is shaky. Also I think their non-conference schedule will have them more prepared. I think Rose is on the hot seat and he pulls a rabbit out of his hat to be better early on and avoid the bad losses. I say they go 12-4

3. St. Mary's - I think theres a chance they slip up, but I think they're good enough to hang in there. 11-5 and this time a lower tier NIT bid

4. San Diego - I think they complete their mini rise into the top part of the standings and finish 9-7 post Lamont Smith. They have some nice talent and they flirt with 20 wins by March CIT time.

5. Pacific - Stoudamire gets them close, but not close enough. Last year was the element of surprise and they lose on talent and because other teams are ready for them. 7-9

6. Santa Clara - I think Herb Sendek feels a little heat and plus he has a roster that looks more like he wants it. I don't think the team is impressive, but they'll randomly beat BYU or St. Mary's and some of the other middle of the pack to accumulate a 6-10 record

6. Pepperdine - Kind of like last year's Pacific. They seemed to look dangerous at the end of year as guys get healthy. They have more talent coming in this year. I think they sneak a couple surprise wins. Romar coming to Pepperdine is like Herm Edwards going to ASU. I have them going 6-10.

6. San Francisco- I think they start to fall off this season. Something tells me even though they pull of .500 records year after year this is the one that catches up to them. I have them at 6-10

9. Loyola Marymount - Another 5-11 record coming in. They will once again go 0-5 against the big 3. Dunlap got his first win over a "top 3 team" over BYU last year, but the Cougs were pretty down. He still hasn't proven to be competitive with the Gaels or Zags. They also get swept by Pepperdine who they struggle to beat and who this year is better in talent and coaching. Thats already 7 losses. 5-4, or a winning record, against all the other teams is the positive end of that spectrum.

10. Portland - Can't seem them winning too many games. I have them finding 3-13 and Terry Porter is on the hotseat even though he is a Portland guy.

[longtimelionfan]

Nov 4, 2018 23:17:37 GMT -5 slblions08 said:

Usually we do some kind of predictions here. I am going to toss some into the ring.

1. Gonzaga - duh. Nobody else on their level. Sucks about Tillie missing their non-conference games they need for a good seed. But then they might get underseeded in the Dance, maybe like 4-5. They tend to do well as an underdog. I think an Elite 8 team should be realistic. Got them at around 15-1 because Tillie will be back at conference time.

2. BYU - I think their talent eventually climbs to the top because St. Mary's is shaky. Also I think their non-conference schedule will have them more prepared. I think Rose is on the hot seat and he pulls a rabbit out of his hat to be better early on and avoid the bad losses. I say they go 12-4

3. St. Mary's - I think theres a chance they slip up, but I think they're good enough to hang in there. 11-5 and this time a lower tier NIT bid

4. San Diego - I think they complete their mini rise into the top part of the standings and finish 9-7 post Lamont Smith. They have some nice talent and they flirt with 20 wins by March CIT time.

5. Pacific - Stoudamire gets them close, but not close enough. Last year was the element of surprise and they lose on talent and because other teams are ready for them. 7-9

6. Santa Clara - I think Herb Sendek feels a little heat and plus he has a roster that looks more like he wants it. I don't think the team is impressive, but they'll randomly beat BYU or St. Mary's and some of the other middle of the pack to accumulate a 6-10 record

6. Pepperdine - Kind of like last year's Pacific. They seemed to look dangerous at the end of year as guys get healthy. They have more talent coming in this year. I think they sneak a couple surprise wins. Romar coming to Pepperdine is like Herm Edwards going to ASU. I have them going 6-10.

6. San Francisco- I think they start to fall off this season. Something tells me even though they pull of .500 records year after year this is the one that catches up to them. I have them at 6-10

9. Loyola Marymount - Another 5-11 record coming in. They will once again go 0-5 against the big 3. Dunlap got his first win over a "top 3 team" over BYU last year, but the Cougs were pretty down. He still hasn't proven to be competitive with the Gaels or Zags. They also get swept by Pepperdine who they struggle to beat and who this year is better in talent and coaching. Thats already 7 losses. 5-4, or a winning record, against all the other teams is the positive end of that spectrum.

10. Portland - Can't seem them winning too many games. I have them finding 3-13 and Terry Porter is on the hotseat even though he is a Portland guy.

[LIONS90045]

Slb got Gonzaga and Portland right.

[longtimelionfan]

I’m not good at this but I intended to copy SLB’s preseason post - which I just reposted above - because I thought it would be fun to look back now that the regular season is over and in advance of the WCC Tournament. I do so not to pick on SLB; to the contrary he was good enough to record his preseason thoughts and prognostications. I do so for fun and also because many of us offer lots of opinions early on and looking back allows us to see how correct or oftentimes how incorrect we were.

SLB is a frequent and thoughtful poster. Personally, I often disagree with SLB’s opinions but that is really unimportant. What is fun is that SLB has genuinely held beliefs supporting his view and the debate is fun. For example, the reasons SLB gives for his predicted order of finish above are genuinely held but it turned out quite different.

We all knew the Zags would be at the top but I think we all underestimated how good the Spokane bunch would be. An NCAA Tourney No. 1 seed seems all but assured and the overall number 1 seed is not out of the question if the Zags win the WCC Tourney as expected.

BYU was a disappointment and I view its 3 seed in the WCC Tournament a bit of a gift. If USF doesn’t fade and our Lions don’t collapse in the last few minutes of the second half at Gersten, BYU would be seeded below both.

SMC did step back and is lucky to be the 2. I would not be surprised to see SMC lose its semifinal game and without the double bye I wouldn’t have necessarily picked them to make it there.

USD faded down the stretch too. In the tournament and next year we’ll get a better view of Scholl’s true abilities. We’ll also see how he recruits.

I think Pacific and Pepperdine finished where both should have. I’m not really impressed with the coaching ability of either head coach. Both live off their recruiting - which I believe is illicit. IMO, these are the WCC “bandit” schools.

SLB was right with his placement of Santa Clara. Much to my surprise, however, right now Santa Clara, Gonzaga and the Lions are playing the best basketball in the WCC.

The surprises to SLB’s prognostication are USF and LMU. Both won 20 or more and should meet again in a Saturday night quarterfinal match. If that happens it will be two 21 game winners and, like, yesterday should be an excellent and exciting game. My further prediction is the winner of that game plays Gonzaga much closer than the finals opponent.

Let’s enjoy the WCC Tournament.

[ironlion]

I expected more from Pacific- after two close losses to BYU by 3 and USF by 1 they seems to have lost their confidence. USD should have better record but it hit with injury bug in middle of conference play. Vegas should be fun- several teams capable of make a run.

[LIONS90045]

Actually I appreciate slb’s efforts to assess the teams.
If LMU didn’t fold in the second half of USD and BYU games, we could have finished 4th or higher. Let’s hope we can continue the high level of play into the tourney.