WCC
Could Tim Floyd's Resignation Further Weaken the WCC?
by Zach Bell on Jun 10, 2009 7:43 AM PDT
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Tim Floyd has been on a two-month roller coast ride that finally ended yesterday at rock bottom. The former USC coach was reportedly about to be named the head man at Arizona a few months ago before a change of heart that kept him at Southern Cal. You have to wonder how he feels about that decision now. Floyd is now out as the Trojan head basketball coach and his departure has left the college basketball world scratching its head. Floyd's "resignation" now adds fuel the fire that is USC athletics. The basketball and football programs have come under investigation by the NCAA for potential recruiting violations and Tim Floyd was specifically implicated for his handling of OJ Mayo.
What happens at USC from here on out, we could really care less about here at SSF but the head coaching vacancy definitely caught our eye. If Floyd would have left USC a few months ago and taken the job at Arizona, the Trojans probably could have avoided some of this recruiting mess and landed one of the bigger fish of college basketball, maybe even Pitt's Jamie Dixon. Now, however, they are going to have a tough time finding a well-established coach like that to jump ship for a program that has really taken a beating recently. For this reason, I would not be stunned if current St. Mary's coach Randy Bennett was on the shot list for the USC job.
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Quick Primer for the WCC Tournament
by Zach Bell on Mar 5, 2009 1:07 PM PST
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It's hard to believe that postseason play begins tomorrow for the West Coast Conference. After a very odd year, even by WCC standards, the top of the conference looks the way most people thought it would at the start of the season. Gonzaga continued their dominance over the conference with a 14-0 record and St. Marys, despite losing Patty Mills, battled back to overcome Portland and take the #2 spot which gives them a two game bye. Don't expect too much from the low seeds in the conference tournament. The bottom half of the conference has proven to be quite terrible and I would not be surprised at all if we had no upsets throughout the entire tournament.
continue reading after the jump for a few things to watch for in Las Vegas...
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WCC Power Rankings 8.0: That's All, Folks
by Zach Bell on Mar 2, 2009 8:00 AM PST
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Well, the regular season in the West Coast Conference is over and, while their were a few small surprises, the conference is basically the way we assumed it to be. Sure, USD and Portland swapped places this season thanks to the injury to Brandon Johnson and the emergence of Nik Raivio, but other than that, it was status quo. Gonzaga and St. Mary's largely dominated the conference even though Patty Mills missed a solid chunk of the season. The Zags were able to go undefeated in conference for the third time in a couple of decades. There were a few rough patches for Gonzaga this season, especially the first half of the St. Mary's game but overall, it was a banner year for the Bulldogs as undefeated conference seasons are extremely rare. Here is the eighth a final version of the WCC Power Rankings (explanations after the jump).
| Rank | Slipper Still Fits' Rank |
Movement |
| 1 | Gonzaga Bulldogs (23-5) | - |
| 2 | St. Mary's Gaels (24-5) | - |
| 3 | Portland Pilots (18-11) | - |
| 4 | Santa Clara Broncos (15-16) | - |
| 5 | San Diego Toreros (15-15) |
- |
| 6 | San Francisco Dons (11-18) |
+1 |
| 7 | Pepperdine Waves (8-22) |
-1 |
| 8 | Loyola Marymount Lions (3-27) |
- |
rankings explained after the jump...
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WCC Power Rankings 7.0: Down the Stretch
by Zach Bell on Feb 24, 2009 12:32 AM PST
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Well, there probably won't be much change in these rankings for the rest of the season. Gonzaga secured another regular season conference title and the rest of the conference has fallen back into place after the unusual week we experienced last week. A lot of credit has to go to the job that Randy Bennett did with St. Mary's this season. The Gaels appeared to be spiraling out of control after the loss of Patty Mills. They were smoked by Portland right after the injury but have come back to win their last three games and establish themselves as a top mid-major team. Here is how EveryDayeZag sorted out the rankings at this point in the season.
| Rank | Slipper Still Fits' Rank |
Movement |
| 1 | Gonzaga Bulldogs (21-5) | - |
| 2 | St. Mary's Gaels (22-5) | - |
| 3 | Portland Pilots (18-9) | - |
| 4 | Santa Clara Broncos (14-15) | - |
| 5 | San Diego Toreros (14-15) |
+3 |
| 6 | Pepperdine Waves (8-20) |
-1 |
| 7 | San Francisco Dons (10-17) |
-1 |
| 8 | Loyola Marymount Lions (2-26) |
-1 |
continue reading after the jump for EDZ's rankings explained...
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WCC Power Rankings 6.0: Plenty of Movement
by Zach Bell on Feb 16, 2009 12:45 PM PST
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It was a wild week in college basketball and an even more wild week in the West Coast Conference. We thought that the conference had basically mellowed out after the Mills injury but the Toreros of San Diego have been making some moves; sadly for them it has been in the wrong direction. USD has lost six of their last seven, including one very astonishing loss. The good news is that EDZ and I still agree on the conference power rankings. Here they are...
| Rank | Slipper Still Fits' Rank |
Movement |
| 1 | Gonzaga Bulldogs (19-5) | - |
| 2 | St. Mary's Gaels (20-5) | +2 |
| 3 | Portland Pilots (16-9) | -1 |
| 4 | Santa Clara Broncos (14-14) | -1 |
| 5 | Pepperdine Waves (8-18) |
+1 |
| 6 | San Francisco Dons (9-17) | +1 |
| 7 | Loyola Marymount Lions (2-24) |
+1 |
| 8 | San Diego Toreros (13-13) |
-3 |
continue reading after the jump for the rankings explained...
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WCC Power Rankings 4.0
by Zach Bell on Feb 2, 2009 7:52 PM PST
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This was quite the interesting week for the West Coast Conference and you can see that by the amount of change in EDZ's power rankings. The Gaels, Toreros, and Dons all had very difficult weeks, especially the Gaels who's cute 18-1 record was blown up by Gonzaga and Portland. To add some injury to that insult, St. Mary's Patrick Mills broke his hand. Meanwhile, Gonzaga and Portland continue to ease through West Coast Conference play. Many thought that the Pilots would fade once the conference schedule began but they have not wavered. Santa Clara has also been very good lately and John Bryant continues to impress. Pepperdine, USF, and LMU continue to show enthusiasm for next season...
| Rank | EDZ's Pick | Movement | BuffZag's Pick | Movement |
| 1 | Gonzaga Bulldogs (16-4) | +1 |
Gonzaga Bulldogs (16-4) | - |
| 2 | Portland Pilots (15-7) | +1 |
Portland Pilots (15-7) | +1 |
| 3 | St. Mary's Gaels (18-3) | -2 |
St. Mary's Gaels (18-3) | -1 |
| 4 | Santa Clara Broncos (11-13) | +1 |
San Diego Toreros (12-10) | - |
| 5 | San Diego Toreros (12-10) | -1 |
Santa Clara Broncos (11-13) | - |
| 6 | Pepperdine Waves (5-18) | +1 |
Pepperdine Waves (5-18) | - |
| 7 | San Francisco Dons (9-13) | -1 |
San Francisco Dons (9-13) | - |
| 8 | Loyola Marymount Lions (1-22) | - |
Loyola Marymount Lions (1-22) | - |
continue reading after the jump for our rankings explained...
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WCC Power Rankings 3.0
by Zach Bell on Jan 26, 2009 9:30 PM PST
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I used to be a strong believer in the stark revival of the West Coast Conference this year. LMU had a new coach, great transfers, and a strong recruiting class, Pepperdine had tons of youth and welcomed back a coach from the glory days, and San Francisco and Santa Clara both have players in contention for WCC Player of the Year. It turns out this is not enough at all. All four of these teams continue to be about as inconsistent as possible and the jury is still out on San Diego. Let's see how these teams stack up in ESPN's InsideRPI. USD is at 133, USF is at 167, Santa Clara is at 213, Pepperdine is at 303, and LMU is at 310 which is very kind because that means their are 33 teams behind LMU which I'm not sure is accurate.
Anyways...rant over, here is our third installment of WCC power rankings...
| Rank | EDZ's Pick | Movement | BuffZag's Pick | Movement |
| 1 | St. Mary's Gaels (18-1) | - |
Gonzaga Bulldogs (14-4) | - |
| 2 | Gonzaga Bulldogs (14-4) | - |
St. Mary's Gaels (18-1) | - |
| 3 | Portland Pilots (13-7) | +1 |
San Diego Toreros (12-8) | - |
| 4 | San Diego Toreros (12-8) | -1 |
Portland Pilots (13-7) | - |
| 5 | Santa Clara Broncos (9-13) | +2 |
Santa Clara Broncos (9-13) | +1 |
| 6 | San Francisco Dons (8-12) | -1 |
Pepperdine Waves (4-17) | +1 |
| 7 | Pepperdine Waves (4-17) | -1 |
San Francisco Dons (8-12) | -2 |
| 8 | Loyola Marymount Lions (1-20) | - |
Loyola Marymount Lions (1-20) | - |
continue reading after the post for our rankings explained...
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WCC Power Rankings 2.0
by Zach Bell on Jan 19, 2009 5:16 PM PST
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It's a real shame to see how bad the West Coast Conference is. In our second week of power rankings, there are only three legit teams in this conference. Gonzaga, St. Mary's, and San Diego have all been impressive throughout the season. Portland has been another bright spot in the WCC but won't challenge for the championship. After that...it gets really bad. Here is how they stack up after a couple conference games...
| Rank | EDZ's Pick | Movement | BuffZag's Pick | Movement |
| 1 | St. Mary's Gaels (17-1) | - |
Gonzaga Bulldogs (12-4) | - |
| 2 | Gonzaga Bulldogs (12-4) | - |
St. Mary's Gaels (17-1) | - |
| 3 | San Diego Toreros (12-7) | - |
San Diego Toreros (12-7) | +1 |
| 4 | Portland Pilots (11-7) | - |
Portland Pilots (11-7) | +1 |
| 5 | San Francisco Dons (8-11) |
+1 |
San Francisco Dons (8-11) | +1 |
| 6 | Pepperdine Waves (4-15) |
+1 |
Santa Clara Broncos (7-13) | -3 |
| 7 | Santa Clara Broncos (7-13) |
-2 |
Pepperdine Waves (4-15) | - |
| 8 | Loyola Marymount Lions (1-18) | - |
Loyola Marymount Lions (1-18) | - |
continue reading this post for our rankings explained...
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