Five-minute season preview: West Coast Conference
Yahoo Sports will break down the top 10 leagues for the upcoming college basketball season working backward from No. 10 to No. 1. Here’s a look at our No. 10 league, the West Coast Conference.
If the central question facing the West Coast Conference for the past 15 years has been whether anyone can truly challenge Gonzaga, then the answer this season is the same as most previous ones.
No, not even close.
The gap between the Zags and the rest of the WCC is as wide as ever thanks to the return of a trio of big men who comprise one of the nation’s elite frontcourts. Skilled forward Kyle Wiltjer is a national player of the year candidate because of his ability to score inside and out, massive center Przemek Karnowski clogs the lane and scores effectively around the rim and promising Domantas Sabonis has the combination of strength and mobility to rebound effectively and defend in the paint or out to the perimeter.
Gonzaga’s backcourt lacks as many familiar faces, but there’s no shortage of talent. Former highly touted recruit Josh Perkins will likely take over at point guard for four-year starter Kevin Pangos after missing most of his freshman season with a broken jaw. Perkins had been averaging 6.3 points and 4.3 assists in 22.8 minutes at the time of his injury. Returners Silas Melson, Eric McClellan and Kyle Dranginis will likely compete for playing time at wing.
Though Gonzaga will miss the steady leadership of Pangos and the outside shooting and lockdown perimeter defense of Gary Bell, the Zags can still be every bit as good as last year’s 35-win Elite Eight squad without them if the replacements in the backcourt step up. To have a chance to make its first Final Four, Gonzaga will need Perkins to make sound decisions with the ball in his hands and the wings to play strong defense and knock down the open shots they get because of all the defensive attention the frontcourt trio will receive.
The program best equipped to take advantage should Gonzaga unexpectedly falter is once again BYU, which should contend for a third straight NCAA tournament bid despite the graduation of all-time leading scorer Tyler Haws.
Senior guard Kyle Collinsworth, one of the most unique talents in all of college basketball, will be the face of the BYU program this season after averaging 13.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.6 steals last year. His supporting cast will include sharpshooter Chase Fischer and heralded freshman Nick Emery in the backcourt and a deep frontcourt highlighted by returners Nate Austin and Corbin Kafusi and Utah State transfer Kyle Davis.
Defense will determine whether BYU can transition from perennial bubble team to a squad that has a chance to do real damage in March. The Cougars have scored and surrendered points at a head-spinning pace in recent years, however, there’s reason to believe this year’s team will be able to generate more stops. Emery had a reputation as a tenacious defender in high school, Davis was a proficient rebounder and shot blocker at Utah State and between Austin, Kafusi, Davis, Jamal Aytes and Noah Hartsock, BYU has an abundance of interior depth.
In the past, it was Saint Mary’s who has been the other team in the mix with BYU and Gonzaga, but this might be a challenging season for the Gaels. They lost all five starters from a 21-win NIT team, most notably all-conference big man Brad Waldow. Emmett Naar and Boston College transfer Joe Rahon form a solid backcourt and Dane Pineau has some promise in the paint, but the Gaels are only being projected to finish in the upper half of the conference because Randy Bennett’s program has earned that sort of faith.
The team more likely to break up a potential Gonzaga-BYU one-two finish is Pepperdine, which returns all five starters and most of its key reserves from an 18-win team that swept a pair of games from the Cougars and played the Zags close twice as well. Santa Clara also could be dangerous if a supporting cast emerges to help all-conference guard Jared Brownridge.
MAKING A LIST
Best shooter: Jared Brownridge, Santa Clara. In a league that features Brownridge, BYU’s Chase Fischer and Gonzaga’s Kyle Wiltjer, there’s no shortage of options for this category. The nod goes to Brownridge for making 43.3 percent of his threes last season despite attempting more than seven per game and facing defenses geared to stop him from getting a clean look. Brownridge also shot 86.2 percent from the foul line, the highest clip of any returning WCC player. 
Best playmaker: Kyle Collinsworth, BYU. Even though he was coming off a torn ACL suffered during the WCC tournament the previous year, Collinsworth emerged as maybe the league’s best all-around player last season. The stat sheet-stuffing 6-foot-6 guard averaged 13.8 points, 6.0 assists and 8.7 rebounds, posted a NCAA record six triple-doubles and was a nightmare for opposing defenses off the dribble because of his ability to score and distribute.
Best defender: Domantas Sabonis, Gonzaga. The size, mobility and toughness of Sabonis was key to a Gonzaga defense that ranked 25th in points per possession surrendered last season. The 6-foot-10 sophomore is big and strong enough to defend opposing centers in the post and to dominate the boards, yet he is also effective defending the pick and roll and staying in front of forwards off the dribble. One of his few weaknesses defensively is his tendency to pick up fouls quickly, an issue mitigated somewhat by Gonzaga’s frontcourt depth.
Top NBA prospect: Domantas Sabonis, Gonzaga. In addition to Sabonis’ exceptional defense and rebounding, the Lithuanian big man has good touch around the rim. He averaged 9.7 points and 7.1 rebounds per game as Gonzaga’s third big man a year ago, doing most of his damage in the paint and on the offensive glass. He sometimes struggles to finish against length around the rim and he lacks much range on his jump shot, but he still projects as a potential mid-to-late first-round pick next June and a solid role player in the NBA.
Best backcourt: BYU. Even though the Tyler Haws era is over in Provo, BYU has no shortage of perimeter talent. It starts with Collinsworth, the conference player of the year candidate who collected a record-setting six triple-doubles last season as a junior. Joining Collinsworth in the starting lineup will almost certainly be Chase Fischer, the sweet-shooting former Wake Forest transfer who hit 41.5 percent of his threes last season while scoring 13.2 points per game. The last starting spot may go to Nick Emery, a freshman who BYU fans have been waiting years to finally see in a Cougars jersey. Emery, the younger brother of ex-BYU star Jackson Emery, is a capable shooter, ball handler and defender.
Best frontcourt: Gonzaga. Not only is this the WCC’s top frontcourt, it may be the nation’s best as well. Mammoth 7-footer Przemek Karnowski is a physical back-to-the-basket center who thrives around the rim. Six-foot-10 Kyle Wiltjer is the ideal complement, a classic inside-outside threat who’s comfortable shooting from the perimeter but can also back down smaller defenders in the paint. And Sabonis could be the best of all of them someday, which is why Mark Few intends to dabble with playing all three of his elite big men together this season even if that requires him to play more zone defensively.
Best recruiting class: Gonzaga. The Zags had the WCC’s best 2015 recruiting class even though its crown jewels are transfers who won’t play until the 2016-17 season. Ex-Washington star Nigel Williams-Goss averaged 15.6 points and 5.9 assists last season for the Huskies and could be the WCC’s best player once he becomes eligible. Six-foot-9 Missouri transfer Jonathan Williams is a double-double threat who should help soften the blow if Sabonis turns pro after this season.
Coach on the rise: Pepperdine’s Marty Wilson. Each year Wilson has been at Pepperdine, the Waves’ win total has increased, from 10 in year one, to 12 in year two, to 15 in year three, to 18 last season. With all five starters and most of the bench back from last season, Wilson not only has a chance to continue that trend but also seize the role of top challenger to Gonzaga should BYU falter.
Coach on the hot seat: Portland’s Eric Reveno. The coach who’s probably the most uneasy entering the season is Reveno, who enjoyed success early in his tenure at Portland but hasn’t finished higher than sixth in the league the past four years. Aiding Reveno’s cause is a strong recruiting class, a history of consistently graduating players and good relationship with athletic director Scott Leykam. Nonetheless, Reveno doesn’t have much proven frontcourt talent and he doesn’t appear to be getting any closer to elevating the Pilots into the league’s upper tier.
FACTS AND FIGURES
New coaches: Lamont Smith (San Diego)
Regular-season winner last season: Gonzaga
Tourney winner last season: Gonzaga
League RPI rank in each of past 3 seasons: 2014-15: 9th, 2013-14: 9th, 2012-13: 10th
NCAA bids the past three seasons: 6 (Gonzaga 3, BYU 2, Saint Mary’s 1)
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
