Just making a placeholder thread for any discussion about this year’s tournament. Here is a link to the official WCC Tournament website with schedule (includes Women’s and Men’s): 2024 Credit Union 1 WCC Basketball Championship - West Coast Conference
2 Likes
I am rooting for dons to finish second so the horrible zag fans have to show up on Sat!
3 Likes
Interesting they kept the Sunday bye with BYU leaving.
Many Zag fans still show up on Saturday. They are a dedicated bunch.
I’ve asked the same question – puzzling, isn’t it? Kinda gives a huge benefit to 3 and below seeds who get through to the semifinals, that day of rest can be huge.
1 Like
I don’t know this for sure, but I suspect that ESPN has a say in it all. Note that the Sat, Mon, and Tues men’s game are all on ESPN. All other games, both men and women, are on ESPN +. Gotta fill those programming slots, and they already have plenty of content on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday, not so much.
2 Likes
Given that we’d have to play SMC to get into the Final game, I think it’s better for us to see Gonzaga win tonight. Blemish the Gaels’ conference record with a home loss, sow the seeds of doubt, and perhaps draft a blueprint for SCU to copy when (if) we play them on the Monday night…assuming we get past the quarterfinal game.
Thoughts?
2 Likes
Would rather play SMC than Zags right now. That said Zags are likely to make easy work of the WCC Tourney.
3 Likes
I think the Jefferson loss has been more impactful than I would have thought, but he had really been coming into his own. Without him they just don’t have the bodies in the frontcourt to match the zags.
3 Likes
I agree with betterer, this tourney is the zags to lose the way they are outclassing the league right now
4 Likes
Side game:
Who do you think SCU’s first opponent in Vegas will be?
Not that it really matters as UOP, Pepp, and USD are all terrible, but for my money I suspect Pepp will be our opponent.
I think it’ll be USD. Of those three teams, the Toreros have the best coaching
Link to the WCC release and bracket:
Seedings Announced For 2024 Credit Union 1 WCC Men’s Basketball Championship - West Coast Conference (wccsports.com)
Our game is slotted for 7pm Saturday on ESPN2.
Wouldn’t have said this 6 weeks ago, but we’re probably better off having to play SMC in semis instead of GU given that Jefferson is out and GU is peaking and playing their best basketball. I think last night’s game showed that GU is the better team at the moment.
Re: who we’ll play in our 1st game…Pepp should beat Pacific. Pepp vs. USD is a toss-up, they split their head to head games. Pepp has more high end talent IMO (Ajayi, Porter, Mallette) but USD is better coached and defends a little better and USD has decent talent of their own w/ McKinney, Jamerson, a young and raw but talented Kevin Patton plus Deuce Turner is getting hot (30pts last night and avg 26pts in his two games vs. the Broncos).
I think we have proven we can beat or lose to anybody it just depends which team shows up for the game. I just hope we don’t look past the first game to the SMC matchup or else we wont get there. Gonzaga is looking to be the best right now but SMC will come into the tourney with an axe to grind. We already lost to USD once and while we beat Pepperdine nothing is certain with the Broncos. I do believe we have the talent to win the tourney and just want them to play their best, limit turnovers, hit the boards, make free throws, and play D. GO BRONCOS!!!
5 Likes
Absolutely Maddog.
I didn’t state who I’d rather play between Pepp and USD because as you’ve implied, what matters more is whether the Broncos show up or not.
If the team that lost to Portland and USD shows up with crappy defense, low energy and poor execution and TO’s on offense then we could lose to just about anyone including Pacific.
But we can hang with if not beat anyone if we play better D with energy and physicality and play play smarter on O w/ limited TO’s and decent player and ball movement.
So which team will show up??? I’ve given up predicting how this team will fare and wouldn’t bet a dollar on either side of the line regardless of what the spread is.
4 Likes
I get the age old idea of never overlooking an opponent, but if Sendek has any hoops sense at all he’s practicing with SMC in mind for the next week (partly because you won’t know who your first opponent is until the night before). Forget UOP, Pepp and USD and concentrate on the paradigm that Gonzaga used to defeat SMC last night.
Besides if you can’t beat the dregs of that league at this point in the season then you have no chance against the top teams.
6 Likes
THIS.
Mark Few basically drew up the blueprints for how to beat the Gaels. We don’t have the A-grade personnel to do it exactly the same way, but we can incorporate those principles into our game plan.
RE: who I’d rather see us play first, that’s simple: I’d rather face Pepp or UoP vs. USD, simply because we’d have an opponent who already played 2 games in 2 nights (and neither #8 nor #9 team has a deep bench). Probabilistically, though, I think we end up facing USD.
3 Likes
I honestly hope we make it to the SMC game and walk away from that one with a win!!! In three years against the Gaels we have beaten them once (despite having more talent/weapons and even athleticism). It’s been the most frustrating experience and I really thought we were gonna break the curse when we came within one point after being down by 28. A Saint Mary’s take down - to me - would be like winning the WCC championship. If we get down by FOUR in the first few mins - I want to see IMMEDIATE adjustments. I’m tired of the 8 point deficit before changes are made.
3 Likes
I concur with everyone’s comments above, but IMO the Broncos played their best defensive game in conference last night against the Dons.
I thought the help defense was solid, limiting guard penetration, doubling down low, and active hands in stripping the ball without fouling. Defensive rebounding was on point too. As we all know, there are going to be nights when shots are not falling, but defense and rebounding is about desire and hustle.
We saw that last night with the Broncos collectively, which bodes well for our chances to beat anybody in Vegas.
5 Likes
It would be a real treat if USF could figure out how to get by Gonzaga in the semifinals (assuming they win their Sat game). An SCU-USF final game would be precious.
I can only dream…
6 Likes
If that happens, I’d fly down for it
4 Likes