WCC Breakdown and Predictions

Now that the OOC portion of everyone's schedule is winding down, I thought it might be a good time to look at the WCC as a whole and speculate how BYU will do over the long haul of an 18 game conference schedule. The WCC is currently 71-32 overall (68.9%) and not one team has a losing record. The WCC according to RealTimeRPI is ranked as the #8 conference and is the #18 conference SOS. Here's a closer look at each team:



Team........Record....RPI....SOS...KenPom....Top50...Top100...Best W.......Worst L

St. Mary’s.....8-0........9......44......28...........3-0.......5-0......BSU, ND St...None

Gonzaga......10-1.......17.....30......17...........2-0.......5-0......NM St, WV....Dayton

Pacific.........8-1........29.....114....97...........0-1.......2-1......USU, Fresno..Oregon

BYU............8-4........21.....4.......50...........1-3.......3-3......TX, Stanford..Utah

San Diego.....8-4.......190....280...141...........0-3........0-0.....San Diego St.. IL-Chicago

LMU............6-4.......180....306...148...........0-1........0-3.....Cal-Poly........Valpo

Portland.......6-4.......224....297....158..........0-1........0-1.....Columbia......Mont. St.

San Fran.......6-4.......270....298....169..........0-1........0-1.....Cleve. St...... Nevada

Pepperdine...6-5.......201.....243....197.........0-0........0-1......UC Irvine....San Jose St

Santa Clara...5-5.......275.....273....157.........0-1........0-1......Radford.....Fullerton St



The top 4 teams look solid with maybe Gonzaga and St. Mary's a step ahead of BYU and Pacific. BYU has to hold home court with all teams (especially the top 2), and sneak a road win or maybe 2 at Gonzaga, St. Mary's and/or Pacific. They need to handle everyone else on the road which won't be an easy task. My blue-goggled prediction says 15-3 or 16-2. Reality says 13-5 or 14-4. I like the blue-goggled version. Go Cougars!

Watched St Mary's last night. All I have to say is that if that is really how good they are, they finish fourth at best but probably 5th or 6th.



I am thinking we split with Gonzaga and sweep everyone else. Pacific ends up in third with SF or SD in 4th and 5th followed by SM. I suddenly feel a whole lot better about our chances of finishing at least in 2nd but more than likely finishing at least tied for 1st. I think we go 17-1 at worst in conference this year.

imuakahuku wrote:
Watched St Mary's last night. All I have to say is that if that is really how good they are, they finish fourth at best but probably 5th or 6th.



I am thinking we split with Gonzaga and sweep everyone else. Pacific ends up in third with SF or SD in 4th and 5th followed by SM. I suddenly feel a whole lot better about our chances of finishing at least in 2nd but more than likely finishing at least tied for 1st. I think we go 17-1 at worst in conference this year.

I now disavow all the above. Apperantly our team is in love with the zone. Looking at the stats I am positive they probably did zone nearly the whole first half (and not having even watched the game). Two weaknesses of zone are uncontested 3's (leads to a higher make % for the other team) and less rebounds for your team. I don't blame the attack mentality but the execution is supposed to lead to open shots and not forced shots. Looks like Gonzaga will probably be the only WCC team dancing this year. What a disappointment.

Here are a couple threads form the WCC board on how the WCC is viewed by the conference:



The WCC is back in front of the MWC

http://wccboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=388" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Putting the WCC On Notice

http://wccboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=391" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;