The college hoops offseason is painfully long. But we're almost through it! And now it's time to get ready/informed for 2014-15 with our month-long worth of ample preseason content here at CBSSports.com. We'll be previewing all of the major conferences in addition to giving you a bevy of other features. Today's lookahead examines the West Coast Conference. And be sure to head here for our hub of preseason goodies.
For the past 15 seasons, the Gonzaga Bulldogs has been the class of the West Coast Conference. Sure, occasionally a few schools have had strong cycles of players that have allowed them to compete, and maybe even steal a championship. But since Mark Few took over as coach, the Bulldogs have won 13 out of 15 regular-season conference championships, 11 of 15 WCC tournaments, and made the NCAA Tournament every season.
That doesn't look like it'll change this year, as the Bulldogs potentially have their most talented team during Few's tenure -- which is saying a lot. Three-time All-WCC performer Kevin Pangos is back for his final go-around, and he's joined by returnees Przemek Karnowski and Gary Bell to go along with newcomers Kyle Wiltjer, Byron Wesley, and Domantas Sabonis. They begin the season in the top 15 nationally and have legitimate Final Four aspirations.
But just because Gonzaga will likely run roughshod over the league doesn't mean that it won't be a fun ride. BYU returns last year's WCC player of the year, Tyler Haws, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard that is likely the favorite to lead the nation in scoring. Saint Mary's brings in a few high-major transfers to team up with unconventional big man Brad Waldow. And even teams like San Diego and Portland return much of their ~.500 squads last season. The league has depth this year, and it seems like it probably should end up as at least a two-bid league.
So with that, let's get to the preview:
Coach's Take:
Thoughts on the league overall:
"I think it's going to be interesting. Some teams have a lot of returning guys, like San Diego and Portland. Can they make the leap? You have a team in Loyola Marymount that will be entirely new. BYU returns a lot of familiar faces and has (Kyle) Collinsworth returning from an ACL injury, so we'll see where he's at. Saint Mary's is interesting, they have some experienced guys and transfers, but will they be as good as the pieces they had before and lost the last couple of years? And Gonzaga has a lot of talent, but will they be able to put it together? They have a lot of new faces that will be playing some significant roles. So I would say the overall thought is question marks."
Best team in the conference outside of Gonzaga:
"I would have to go with BYU just becuase they have a strong home court advantage, they have an All-American candidate coming back, and depending on if Collinsworth is healthy, he's a guy that could start for any team in the league."
Best player in the conference:
"Tyler Haws will put up the best scoring numbers, but I would say Pangos affects winning the most. At both ends, he's an all-around player. Gets others involved. Able to defend his position. He's more built to win than Haws. Haws is more built to get 30, but how many shots will he take to get there?"
Projected Order of Finish
1. 
Gonzaga
As already discussed, the Bulldogs are the cream of the crop in the WCC. The question isn't how talented they are; it's pretty obvious that they among the most talented teams in the country. The bigger question is simply how those pieces will mesh together. Joining Pangos, Bell and Karnowski in the starting lineup from last year will likely be Wiltjer, a transfer from Kentucky who sat out last season, and Wesley, a graduate transfer from USC. This represents one of the most talented starting fives in the NCAA, but that doesn't mean the Bulldogs lack for depth either. The talented freshman Sabonis will be joined on the bench by more experienced players Angel Nunez and Kyle Dranginis. It's questionable whether or not the pieces will all mesh perfectly together, but if Few can figure out a way to get everyone to fit into their roles, this is absolutely a Final Four contender.
2. 
Saint Mary's
The Gaels have even more question marks due to incoming transfers than the Bulldogs do. They retain Waldow, the vampire mouthpiece-wearing centerpiece of their roster from last season, and guard Kerry Carter, but lose the services of Stephen Holt (STEVE HOLT!), Beau Levesque and James Walker, each of whom were on the floor for at least 60 percent of the Gaels' court time last season per KenPom. Luckily, Randy Bennett will be able to slot in direct replacements for each of these players from the transfer window -- it's just up to him to make the pieces fit. Former Stanford point guard Aaron Bright is probably the strongest piece of that class. Bright is 10th all time in Cardinal history in assists, and was the 2012 NIT MVP. His opponent in that 2012 NIT championship game was Joe Coleman of Minnesota, who will also be suiting up for the Gaels this season after transferring when Richard Pitino took over the Golden Gophers. Coleman, the 2011 Minnesota Mr. Basketball, is a slasher at off-guard. A third high-major transfer joins their ranks as well in Desmond Simmons, a 6-7 forward who should complement Waldow nicely. Bennett has his work cut out for him making sure all of the pieces fit together here, and depth could be a problem as the Gaels are down two scholarships after the Keith Moss incident forced the NCAA to sanction the program. But if everything goes right, this team should compete for an NCAA Tournament berth and battle for second place in the conference.
3. 
BYU
The team the Gaels will likely battle for second place with is BYU, another team with many additions and subtractions. However, one constant that can always be counted on is Haws, one of the best scorers in the country. He's one of the few players in the country that can knock down a shot from any spot on the floor within 25 feet of the basket. The offense will flow through him, and whether they win or lose most nights will be a function of whether or not he's making shots. He's obviously not a question mark. The biggest one of those surrounding the Cougars is the health of All-WCC performer Kyle Collinsworth who, prior to tearing his ACL in March, led the team in rebounding, assists and steals in conjunction with being their second-leading scorer last year. Collinsworth is ahead of schedule on his recovery and may play in the Cougars' first game of the season in mid-November. Beyond those two constants, much has changed. Former starting point guard Matt Carlino is gone after transferring to Marquette, and center Eric Mika was called for his mission trip early last year and will return to the university in 2016. Replacing them will be transfers Chase Fischer, a shooter from Wake Forest, and Jamal Aytes, a frontcourt player from UNLV eligible in December. Ultimately, this team will live or die depending on the health of Collinsworth and the ability of Haws. They could make the tournament, but my guess is that they're on the outside looking in at the moment.
4. 
San Diego
Once you get beyond the top three, this conference becomes a crapshoot. I'll go with San Diego, led by Bill Grier, to finish fourth. The former long-time Gonzaga assistant has been at the helm of the Torreros since 2007-08, which was the last time San Diego had made the postseason before last year's appearance in the CIT. Grier's team is led by one of the best shooters in the country in Johnny Dee, a 6-foot guard that shot 41 percent from 3-point range and an NCAA-leading 94.5 percent from the free-throw line on his way to averaging 16.6 points per game. Next to him at the guard spots are diminutive point guard Christopher Anderson, a senior that led the conference in assist rate and finished second in steal rate, and Georgian (the country, not the state) wing Duda Sanadze. Center Dennis Kramer will have to be replaced, but that should be done internally between the contributions of returning starter Jito Kok and senior Simi Fajemisin. Like last year, I'd expect that San Diego mounts a couple of home court upsets while ultimately falling short of the NCAA Tournament.
5. 
Portland
The Pilots return just about everyone from their team last year that went an unlucky 7-11 in conference. Three-year starter Ryan Nicholas is the only player of consequence that won't be back for head coach Eric Reveno, who may be in something of a put-up-or-shut-up situation this year after suffering three consecutive losing seasons. Kevin Bailey and Thomas van der Mars will lead the way. Bailey led the team in scoring with 16.5 points per game last year before getting injured for the final seven games of the season, and van der Mars was their efficient 6-11 forward who led the conference with a 62.7 percent true-shooting rate. Lead guards Bryce Pressley and Alec Wintering also return, and European big men Volo Gerun and Riley Barker should replace Nicholas by teaming with van der Mars to provide some big lineups that few teams in the WCC can match up against. I'll say that Reveno does just well enough to keep his job this season by leading the Pilots to a .500 record in league and a postseason berth.
Against teams in the WCC not named Saint Mary's, BYU or Gonzaga, the Dons went 13-0 last season. However, losing six of their seven games against the top tier of the league meant that San Francisco was NIT-bound, where it lost handily in the first round to LSU. Things won't get easier this season, as the Dons need to replace all-league performer Cole Dickerson due to graduation, along with all-league honorable mention sharpshooter Avry Holmes due to a transfer. To replace some of this production, the Dons picked up transfer Uche Ofoegbu from SMU. Ofoegbu had other high-major offers as a strong slashing wing, so he could make an immediate impact for Rex Walters. He'll join returnees Kruize Pinkins, who will likely be an all-WCC player, and Mark Tollefson, a floor-stretching big man that knocks down 3s and is efficient around the rim. There's going to be a regression within the conference because the Dons lost quite a bit in Dickerson and Holmes, but they have a pretty easy out-of-conference slate which means 20 wins is a possibility again.
7. 
Santa Clara
The Broncos are returning one of the top backcourts in the league in sophomore Jared Brownridge and senior Brandon Clark. Brownridge was the freshman of the year in the league last season, and the senior lead guard Clark was right behind his scoring pace averaging nearly 17 points per game himself. There's a good chance that they will be the highest scoring twosome in the league this season, but Santa Clara will likely struggle to break into the top half of the league because of their frontcourt. They often played small last year, but without the services of Jerry Brown and John McArthur the team will be counting heavily on improvement from seniors Yannick Atanga or Robert Garrett. I feel pretty confident saying that they'll knock off one or two of the big boys with a hot shooting night, but without much of a serviceable frontcourt they will be hardpressed to improve upon last season's record.
8. 
Pepperdine
Pepperdine also returns a majority of its roster from last season, when the Waves were well on their way to earning a postseason berth until a tailspin at the end of the year where they lost six of their final seven -- three of which were at home. Coach Marty Wilson still hasn't led the team to a winning record going into his fourth season as head coach, and, like Reveno, may need some success to stick around. Luckily, the Waves return all-league performer Stacy Davis, who averaged 15.1 points and 7.6 rebounds as an undersized forward. He'll need a new partner in the frontcourt though, as the Waves lose 6-9 forward/center and WCC defensive player of the year Brendan Lane to graduation. Returning to man the backcourt will be Jeremy Major and Malcolm Brooks. Major was particularly valuable as a freshman last year, averaging 9.1 points and 4.5 assists per contest. Letting Major and Davis grow and peak together over the next two years seems like Pepperdine's best chance to return to relevance. However, an eighth-place finish in the league this year might mean that Wilson won't be around to reap the benefits.
New head coach Mike Dunlap, formerly of St. John's and the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats, has cleaned house from last year's 4-14 debacle. Seniors Anthony Ireland and Alex Osborne are gone due to graduation, and other contributors Gabe Levin, C.J. Blackwell, Ben Dickenson and Nick Stover have transferred. The only significant piece remaining is sophomore guard Evan Payne, who averaged 15.5 points during his freshman campaign. Dunlap scrambled to patch together a roster filled with international players and junior college transfers. No one knows what to expect from this team talent-wise, but if Dunlap's past coaching stops are any example you know what you're getting stylistically. This team is going to play hard defensively until the whistle blows, press and trap the hell out of everyone with his patented 1-1-3 man-zone hybrid, and hit the floor on every loose ball. That alone should be enough to scrap out a few league wins while Dunlap continues to build the team he wants.
10. 
Pacific
The Tigers will also be fielding a new team this year, but unlike LMU they did not bring in a former NBA head coach with a very well-known system to lead the program. Pacific lost seven of their top eight scorers from a year ago, and 11 of the 15 players on the roster are going to be seeing their first Division I game action this season. Among the returnees, it seems a pretty safe bet that guard T.J. Wallace and center Gabriel Aguirre start for the Tigers. Among the newcomers, junior college players Eric Thompson, a voracious rebounder at the power forward spot, and Dulani Robinson, a small, quick combo guard, seem to be the most intriguing guys. But ultimately, it's just impossible to come away from looking at this team with anything but a massive question mark.
Our Preseason All-WCC Team
G: Kevin Pangos, Gonzaga
G: Tyler Haws, BYU
G: Johnny Dee, San Diego
F: Brad Waldow, Saint Mary's
F: Przemek Karnowski, Gonzaga
Our Preseason WCC Player of the Year
Kevin Pangos, Gonzaga
I'm just going to come out and say that if Tyler Haws leads the nation in scoring, there's no way he's not winning this award. It's just what's going to happen. He won it last year finishing sixth, and gaudy scoring totals tend to be eye-catching. But as the coach we talked to above mentioned, there's just no one else in the conference who affects the game like Pangos does. He does an excellent job controlling the pace of the game, knocks down seemingly every open three-pointer, and doesn't turn the ball over. This season, he'll need to be even better getting all of his teammates involved becuase of the talent influx in Spokane. But if anyone is up to the challenge, it's Pangos.
Our Preseason WCC Newcomer of the Year
Byron Wesley, Gonzaga
Kyle Wiltjer will have a two-year impact, and there's a chance Domantas Sabonis has the best long-term impact on the league. But for this particular season, Wesley is the guy. Wesley cobbled together nearly 18 points and 6.4 rebounds per night at USC last year going up against a strong Pac-12. He'll have a size and athletic advantage on most of the wings he'll go up against nightly in the WCC. I'd look for him to have a huge sole season in Spokane. It's also worth keeping an eye on the Saint Mary's newcomers, including Aaron Bright and Joe Coleman.
Our Preseason WCC Coach of the Year
Randy Bennett, Saint Mary's
While Mark Few faces many of the same challenges that Bennett does in integrating new players into his roster, the talent advantage that Few has is just so strong that he might preclude himself from winning. Bennett not only has to bring together a bunch of new faces, but also has to deal with reduced scholarships, which will undoubtedly hurt the depth of his team. If Bennett can lead the Gaels to the tournament again this season, he'll be a very deserving winner of this award for the third time.
Three Numbers to Know
-.109: Portland's luck last season, according to KenPom. They were the tenth-most unlucky team in the NCAA last season. Even a small regression to the mean with largely the same roster as last season would likely give Portland a .500 conference record.
36.8: As a conference, the league shot 36.8 percent from three-point range last season, tied for first in the NCAA with the Patriot League. Be that good offense, poor three-point defense, or a combination of both, it's clear that this is a shooter's league and that shouldn't change this season with the transfer additions the league has brought in.
93.8: Gonzaga's defensive efficiency in conference games last season per KenPom. The difference between Gonzaga's defensive efficiency and second place San Francisco's at 105 was one and a half times bigger than the difference between San Francisco and 10th place Pacific at 112.6. That 11.2-point difference between first place and second place was the second-largest in the nation in any conference. In fact, Gonzaga has had the best defensive efficiency in the West Coast Conference every year since 2008.
| CBSSports.com Experts Predict the WCC | ||||||
 Gary Parrish @GaryParrishCBS |
 Matt Norlander @MattNorlander |
 Chip Patterson @Chip_Patterson |
 Jerry Palm @jppalmCBS |
 Jon Rothstein @JonRothstein |
 Doug Gottlieb @GottliebShow |
|
| 1. |  Gonzaga |
Gonzaga |
Gonzaga |
Gonzaga |
Gonzaga |
Gonzaga |
| 2. |  BYU |
BYU |
BYU |
BYU |
BYU |
BYU |
| 3. |  St. Mary's |
St. Mary's |
St. Mary's |
St. Mary's |
St. Mary's |
St. Mary's |
| 4. |  Portland |
Portland |
Portland |
 San Francisco |
Portland |
 San Diego |
| 5. | San Francisco |
San Francisco |
San Diego |
Portland |
San Francisco |
San Francisco |
| 6. | San Diego |
 Santa Clara |
San Francisco |
San Diego |
San Diego |
Portland |
| 7. | Santa Clara |
San Diego |
 Pepperdine |
Pepperdine |
Santa Clara |
Santa Clara |
| 8. | Pepperdine |
Pepperdine |
Santa Clara |
Santa Clara |
 Loyola Marymount |
Pepperdine |
| 9. |  Pacific |
Pacific |
Pacific |
Loyola Marymount |
Pepperdine |
Pacific |
| 10. | Loyola Marymount |
Loyola Marymount |
Loyola Marymount |
Pacific |
Pacific |
Loyola Marymount |
