West Coast Conference Men's Basketball Preview 2022-2023

Photo by Connor Buestad - Section925

By Seth Miller

With the NCAA men's basketball season about to kick off next week, it's time to look into what each team in the West Coast Conference has to offer this season. This year's transfer portal has every team donning new faces which makes it hard to predict just how much of an impact they will have on their respective teams.

The WCC is looking to be a very competitive conference, with teams like Santa Clara, San Francisco and St. Mary's who are looking to put together a resume good enough to find a way into the tournament. Front runner Gonzaga returns too many familiar faces for them not to be considered the heavy favorite to win the conference.

With the departure of Todd Golden (Florida) the conference returns 9 of its 10 head coaches. San Francisco replaced him with an in-house coach Chris Gerlufsen, but they should have enough talent left over to still be one of the better teams. Look out for Portland to be the surprise breakout teams as they return one of the most experienced rosters. All in all 2022-23 season should be an interesting one

BYU COUGARS 

The Cougars are coming off a 5th place finish in the WCC and are hoping to improve this season with a haul of transfers. Mark Pope has his hands full after losing 10 players from his 21-22 team (three to graduation, including leading scorer Alex Barcello, one left for his Morman Mission, and six to the transfer portal). Their top returning player is Fousseyni Traore, a 6'6" sophomore forward who averaged 9.5 points in 23.6 minutes per game last season. It will be interesting to see how this team comes together but the competitiveness of this BYU squad might just hinge on the development of Atiki Ally Atiki. The extremely athletic big man will hopefully take a leap in his second season under Pope. Incoming point guard, and Coastal Carolina transfer, Rudi Williams (who averaged 14.7 ppg last season) will be taking over for Barcello this year. Williams will need to score at a high level and this new iteration of the BYU Cougars will need to gel quickly for Mark Pope's team to maintain the level of success of which their boosters are accustom. 

GONZAGA BULLDOGS

Mark Few brings back another loaded squad hoping to make a long run in March. Headlined by preseason favorite to win National Player of the Year, and the WCC's reigning POY, Drew Timme announcing his return, along with junior small forward Julian Strawther (both pulling their names out of the NBA draft) there is legitimate cause for the "Championship-or-bust" buzz in Spokane once again. They also return starting shooting guard Rasir Bolton, who shot 46% from deep last season. The Zags add Southern Conference player of the year in guard Malachi Smith, and LSU big man Efton Reid. A major key to this season's success might land on the shoulders of sophomore point guard Nolan Hickman, who takes over the offensive reins from Andrew Nembhard (now playing for the Indiana Pacers). The Zags are hoping this is the season they can finally get over the hump and win their first national championship...and honestly, anything less than cutting down the nets will be a giant let down for a fan base whose expectations are reasonably "sky high".

LOYOLA MARYMOUNT LIONS

Coming off a season with only 3 conference wins, LMU is hoping to climb up the ladder in the WCC. They return point guard Jalin Anderson who will need to fill in for Eli Scott who graduated. They added a few nice pieces in the transfer portal including 7'1" center Rick Issanza from Oklahoma. Stan Johnson in his third season at the helm has a real chance to turn this LMU squad into a competitive team this season. To do so their defense must improve from last season where opponents averaged 74.1 points against them.

PACIFIC TIGERS

After only winning 8 games last season it seems like the only place this team can go is up. Coach Leonard Perry is in his second year after taking over from Damon Stoudamire. They landed 2 transfers from Oklahoma St. that they are hoping can both become impact players for the Tigers. They return Luke Avdalovic who averaged 10 points per game, the 6'5" senior out of Folsom high school should improve on that scoring average this season. Overall this seems to be another rebuilding year for the Tigers in this competitive conference.

PEPPERDINE WAVES

The Waves spent 2021-22 season in the cellar of the WCC. After only accumulating one win during conference play, Lorenzo Romar is hoping for a turnaround this season. Pepperdine returns Maxwell Lewis, a promising 6'7" sophomore who averaged 11 points a game last season. Also returning is sophomore guard Mike Mitchell Jr. who along with Lewis were both all WCC freshman. Romar has some nice developmental pieces, but for this season to be successful their interior defense will need to be vastly improved.

PORTLAND PILOTS

This team could be very good this season! The Pilots return 4 starters, all of whom averaged over 10 points a game, and are headlined by senior Tyler Robertson (15.3 ppg). Along with Robertson, are guards Chris Austin (14.4 ppg) and Mike Meadows (10.2 ppg) as well as 6'8" forward Moses Wood (14.2 ppg). The one weakness this team has is size, so their hope is that one of their bigs makes a jump to being a rim protector that they desperately need. The Pilots are looking to improve on their 7-7 record in the WCC in head coach Shantay Legans second year as the head coach.

SAN DIEGO TOREROS

After another down year in 21-22, San Diego made a big splash by hiring new head coach Steve Lavin, formerly the head coach of St. John's and UCLA. Lavin takes over a program that, despite a massive roster turnover, returns five players; four of whom contributed meaningful minutes for the underperforming Toreros. The returners are led by Senior Marcellus Earlington (6'7" 230lb guard/small forward) who received All-WCC Honorable Mention last season after leading the team in scoring with 13.2 ppg and was second on the team in rebounding with 6.7 rpg, as well as grad student guard Jase Townsend who pitched in 11.3 ppg. Lavin will be surrounding Earlington and Townsend with 12 newcomers, two of whom were starters in the Pac-12 last season. Eric Williams Jr., a 6'7" wing, rode the portal from Oregon and Jaiden Delaire, a 6'9" forward, left Stanford to join the re-tooled Torero roster. Lavin has enough athletes, not to mention plenty of players with high level experience, to vault his new team to the top half of the WCC in his first year, but it will be heavy lifting to integrate a new system with all the new players at his disposal.

SAN FRANCISCO DONS

The former university of the recently deceased NBA Hall of Famer Bill Russell, will look to start anew after losing Todd Golden this season to University of Florida. On the bright side they return guard Khalil Shabazz, who should be one of the league's top scorers after averaging 13.7 points per game last year while playing second-fiddle to the explosive Jamaree Bouyea who graduated. Bouyea (Palma High School in Salinas) and his 17.3 points a game last year will be missed, but his leadership on and off the court creates some big shoes for Shabazz to fill. Golden's departure was the biggest news for the Dons in the offseason, but they still have some solid pieces for a team that has been tough to beat over the last few seasons. The big question ahead of this season is what first year head coach Chris Gerlufsen will do with his first opportunity at the helm.

SANTA CLARA BRONCOS

The Broncos are coming off a stellar 2021-22 campaign that found them as the #3 team in the WCC. This season is going to be a step back though after losing 1st round draft pick Jalen Williams to the NBA, as well as losing Josip Vrankic to graduation. This year's team will revolve around 5th year senior forward Keshawn Justice. Justice averaged 13 points per game while shooting 42% from beyond the arc. Coach Herb Sandek and his high tempo offense should still be able to put up points this year, but losing 2 players the caliber of Williams and Vrankic will be difficult for them to overcome if they want to stay in the top half of the WCC.

SAINT MARY'S GAELS

Randy Bennet has been one of the best coaches in college basketball for a long time. The Gaels lose their top 2 scorers from a year ago, a season that led them to a #18 overall ranking in the AP poll. However, they do bring back shooting guard Logan Johnson, who looks to be the team leader this season. Alex Ducas also returns, but the Gaels are going to need several players to take a leap forward and step up in a big way. Look for Augustas Marciulionis, the son of former Golden State Warriors great Sarunas Marciulionis, to see a significant amount of meaningful minutes this year. The sophomore guard is a good shooter with a great family lineage. Incoming freshman from Campolindo high school (Moraga) and top 125 recruit Aidan Mahaney joins the Gaels this year. Mahaney played with Randy Bennet's son, Cade, in high school and adds some depth to the backcourt as a combo guard who can get to the basket as well as shoot the 3. Hopefully this season will be the one in which 7'4" center Matt Van Komen can stay healthy and provide them with the rim protection they need after losing Mathias Tass to graduation.