West Coast Conference 2010-2011 early season predictions
Lets read up on this shall we. What is the West Coast Conference? Who the hell plays in that tiny conference.? Where is it? Why is there a write up on this conference? Lets take a look at this up and coming powerful basketball conference challenging the PAC-10 on the West Coast for talented basketball players. Here is the line up of the conference.
Loyola Marymount
Santa Clara
San Francisco
Saint Marys
San Diego
Pepperdine
Portland
Gonzaga
.
Being that I listed Loyola Marymount first lets take a look at them. Not one player graduated off of this team and they return every single player. The Lions are gonna be hungry this year because this is the year for them to make some noise. They return every single starter and beat the following strong teams.
USC was beat by them but last year was a down year early in the season for the Trojans. The Trojans werent on track yet.
Notre Dame was beating by them by 2 points in a thriller in the early season
Gonzaga took a massive loss to them in the late season
Portland took a massive loss to them in the late season.
The Lions have a very strong recruiting class coming in also with there star recruit coming from Findlay Prep. 6'8 Godwin Okonji received a 90 out of 100 on the scouts rating scale. But any player coming Findlay Prep is gonna be a power player.
Santa Clara is also undergoing a lot of changes this season and also didnt graduate any seniors. They return a more experienced team full of depth. And a strong class of players coming in to play. Somehow the Broncs recruiting staff got a hold of 2 ELITE POWER FORWARDS that are going to do wonders in the WCC. They lost to UNLV by 3 points last year but other then that they had a very weak Out of Conference schedule.
The DONS of San Francisco went 7-7 in the WCC last year but turned a lot of heads in the college basketball world when they beat Gonzaga 81-77 in OT. Dior Lowhorn went off in that game and nailed 22 points going 5 of 7 from the 3. But sadly he was a Senior and has now Graduated from the program. The Dons graduated 3 seniors but only 1 of them was a starter. They have a interesting recruiting class coming in consisting of 6 freshmen coming to play. They are set to be impact players but not high impact players like Santa Claras Power Forwards
The Gaels of Saint Mary's put on a show in the NCAAs and proved that they could compete with the best of the best. Rolling Richmond and then going on to beat Villanova before ending there season against Baylor which was the tallest and strongest team in the NCAAs last year IMO. They graduated Omar Samhan though the teams leading scorer. They return an Arsenal of perimter shooters but im not sure how strong there gonna be when they need to work the ball in the post. The have a High Impact recruit coming in though. Stephen Holt is projected to be one of the top 3 point guards in the West. He graduated from Jesuit Oregon High School which was a power house at basketball last season. Will the magical run continue though? I dont think so. Some other teams are gonna invade
San Diego scheduled a good preseason out of conference schedule last year and beat the likes of Stanford,Oklahoma, and Houston. Which is pretty decent. But only went 3-11 in the WCC. 2 of the 5 starters were seniors though and have now recently graduated, But I am highly impressed with there recruiting class bringing in the #45 SG in the country and #41 Center in the country. But in order for this team to make noise this year there gonna have to have a lot of help from there incoming freshmen. San Diego should go atleast .500 though in the season.
Pepperdine is a joke of a joke in the WCC . I dont even wanna give this pathetic program a write up. 2 strong freshmen prospects coming in but its the coaching staff that is butchering this program.
The Portland Pilots were a hell of a team last year that had all the build to be an elite program. But now there on the bottom of the stepping stone rebuilding after graduating the likes of Nieduymer,ITO,Smeulders, Campell and Ravio thats a lot of shoes to fill. But do return Jared Stohl a dynamic player that can handle the ball well next year for his young squad. They have 6 freshmen coming to play which all received good ratings especially for a program like Portland getting a hold of a class like this. There making OREGON look like crap though and recruting = talent to the DUCKS. Will this team make noise next year. Maybe but most likely not yet. Give them 2 years and there gonna be hungry .
And last but not least the King of the Throne in the WCC the Bulldogs of Gonzaga University. Gonzaga ended up going 12-2 in conference play last year and won the highly touted Maui Invitational last year. They graduated there Lottery player though Matt Bouldin and there giant in the post Will Foster. Who did try his best but had awful hands lol. Steven Gray will most likely take over the point and will be capable of leading the Bulldogs. Gray is an excellent player who learned a lot from Bouldin. There Big man Sacre also returns with a highly talented Kelly Olynk. I still think this team will end up in the top 2 of the WCC most likely winning the WCC again though.
And here is how I think the season is going to conclude
1.Gonzaga
2.Santa Clara
3.Loyola Marymount
4.Saint Marys
5.San Diego
6.San Francisco
7.Portland
8.Pepperdine
Loyola Marymount
Santa Clara
San Francisco
Saint Marys
San Diego
Pepperdine
Portland
Gonzaga
.
Being that I listed Loyola Marymount first lets take a look at them. Not one player graduated off of this team and they return every single player. The Lions are gonna be hungry this year because this is the year for them to make some noise. They return every single starter and beat the following strong teams.
USC was beat by them but last year was a down year early in the season for the Trojans. The Trojans werent on track yet.
Notre Dame was beating by them by 2 points in a thriller in the early season
Gonzaga took a massive loss to them in the late season
Portland took a massive loss to them in the late season.
The Lions have a very strong recruiting class coming in also with there star recruit coming from Findlay Prep. 6'8 Godwin Okonji received a 90 out of 100 on the scouts rating scale. But any player coming Findlay Prep is gonna be a power player.
Santa Clara is also undergoing a lot of changes this season and also didnt graduate any seniors. They return a more experienced team full of depth. And a strong class of players coming in to play. Somehow the Broncs recruiting staff got a hold of 2 ELITE POWER FORWARDS that are going to do wonders in the WCC. They lost to UNLV by 3 points last year but other then that they had a very weak Out of Conference schedule.
The DONS of San Francisco went 7-7 in the WCC last year but turned a lot of heads in the college basketball world when they beat Gonzaga 81-77 in OT. Dior Lowhorn went off in that game and nailed 22 points going 5 of 7 from the 3. But sadly he was a Senior and has now Graduated from the program. The Dons graduated 3 seniors but only 1 of them was a starter. They have a interesting recruiting class coming in consisting of 6 freshmen coming to play. They are set to be impact players but not high impact players like Santa Claras Power Forwards
The Gaels of Saint Mary's put on a show in the NCAAs and proved that they could compete with the best of the best. Rolling Richmond and then going on to beat Villanova before ending there season against Baylor which was the tallest and strongest team in the NCAAs last year IMO. They graduated Omar Samhan though the teams leading scorer. They return an Arsenal of perimter shooters but im not sure how strong there gonna be when they need to work the ball in the post. The have a High Impact recruit coming in though. Stephen Holt is projected to be one of the top 3 point guards in the West. He graduated from Jesuit Oregon High School which was a power house at basketball last season. Will the magical run continue though? I dont think so. Some other teams are gonna invade
San Diego scheduled a good preseason out of conference schedule last year and beat the likes of Stanford,Oklahoma, and Houston. Which is pretty decent. But only went 3-11 in the WCC. 2 of the 5 starters were seniors though and have now recently graduated, But I am highly impressed with there recruiting class bringing in the #45 SG in the country and #41 Center in the country. But in order for this team to make noise this year there gonna have to have a lot of help from there incoming freshmen. San Diego should go atleast .500 though in the season.
Pepperdine is a joke of a joke in the WCC . I dont even wanna give this pathetic program a write up. 2 strong freshmen prospects coming in but its the coaching staff that is butchering this program.
The Portland Pilots were a hell of a team last year that had all the build to be an elite program. But now there on the bottom of the stepping stone rebuilding after graduating the likes of Nieduymer,ITO,Smeulders, Campell and Ravio thats a lot of shoes to fill. But do return Jared Stohl a dynamic player that can handle the ball well next year for his young squad. They have 6 freshmen coming to play which all received good ratings especially for a program like Portland getting a hold of a class like this. There making OREGON look like crap though and recruting = talent to the DUCKS. Will this team make noise next year. Maybe but most likely not yet. Give them 2 years and there gonna be hungry .
And last but not least the King of the Throne in the WCC the Bulldogs of Gonzaga University. Gonzaga ended up going 12-2 in conference play last year and won the highly touted Maui Invitational last year. They graduated there Lottery player though Matt Bouldin and there giant in the post Will Foster. Who did try his best but had awful hands lol. Steven Gray will most likely take over the point and will be capable of leading the Bulldogs. Gray is an excellent player who learned a lot from Bouldin. There Big man Sacre also returns with a highly talented Kelly Olynk. I still think this team will end up in the top 2 of the WCC most likely winning the WCC again though.
And here is how I think the season is going to conclude
1.Gonzaga
2.Santa Clara
3.Loyola Marymount
4.Saint Marys
5.San Diego
6.San Francisco
7.Portland
8.Pepperdine
