Coaches pick Gonzaga to repeat as WCC’s best
How to get through the basketball schedule during the coronavirus pandemic remains uncertain, but one thing is for sure: If the WCC men’s season is played, Gonzaga will be a heavy favorite to repeat as conference champion.
On Monday, the WCC released its head coaches’ poll, predicting how teams will finish in the coming season. Gonzaga received as many firstplace votes ( nine) as possible. The coaches are not allowed to vote for their own teams. BYU received the other firstplace vote — from the Zags’ Mark Few.
Gonzaga went 312 last season and won the WCC regularseason and conferencetournament titles. The Zags are a strong candidate to rank No. 1 when the national polls are announced.
BYU was picked second, followed by St. Mary’s, Pepperdine, USF and Santa Clara.
The conference also announced its 10man preseason AllWCC team. Each Bay Area school had one representative.
For the Gaels, it was junior forward/ center Matthias Tass, whose sophomore season was limited to 14 games because of a torn ACL he suffered Dec. 21. He figures to be a key for Randy Bennett’s team, which will need to replace guard Jordan Ford, who graduated, and forward Malik Fitts, who opted to go pro.
The Dons’ member of the preseason AllWCC team was senior guard Jamaree Bouyea. He averaged 12.2 points and 3.5 assists last season.
Senior forward Josip Vrankic was the Broncos’ representative on the preseason allconference team. Vrankic averaged 12.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game last season.
Teams can begin nonconference play Nov. 25. Conference play is scheduled to open Dec. 31 for some WCC teams and Jan. 2 for others. The WCC is considering options on how best to get in its conference season; one option is to play games in a bubblelike environment in Las Vegas.