This is huge news. For the first time all season, Everydayezag and I agree on our WCC power rankings. We've both gone our separate ways over the past five weeks but it appears that the conference has gotten calmed down and everything is settling into place. Can you believe our top three's though? Gonzaga is the only team projected to finish in the top three that is still remaining in place. San Diego and St. Mary's have both been replaced by upstart Portland and the unpredictable Broncos of Santa Clara. The Gaels are Toreros have been bit hard by the injury bug and are seeing the ill effects. So without further build up, here is the evidence...
| Rank | EDZ's Pick | Movement | BuffZag's Pick | Movement |
| 1 | Gonzaga Bulldogs (17-5) | - |
Gonzaga Bulldogs (17-5) | - |
| 2 | Portland Pilots (15-8) | - |
Portland Pilots (15-8) | - |
| 3 | Santa Clara Broncos (13-13) | +1 |
Santa Clara Broncos (13-13) | +2 |
| 4 | St. Mary's Gaels (19-4) |
-1 |
St. Mary's Gaels (19-4) |
-1 |
| 5 | San Diego Toreros (13-11) | - |
San Diego Toreros (13-11) | -1 |
| 6 | Pepperdine Waves (6-18) | - |
Pepperdine Waves (6-18) | - |
| 7 | San Francisco Dons (9-15) | - |
San Francisco Dons (9-15) | - |
| 8 | Loyola Marymount Lions (1-23) | - |
Loyola Marymount Lions (1-23) | - |
And...since we agree on the rankings, I'm going to let everydayezag explain the choices because we've got pretty similar views on this one.
1) Gonzaga (17-5; 8-0) Despite the embarrassing performance against Memphis last weekend, the Zags remain the cream of the crop in the WCC. This team could pretty much end the WCC race this Thursday with a win over the reeling St. Mary's Gaels.
2) Portland (15-8; 6-2) As I watched Portland play a terrific first half in their loss to Gonzaga on Thursday, all I could think about was how good this team will be next season. Keep in mind that the Pilots will not lose one player to graduation off this roster. How crazy would it be to see the Portland Pilots in the top 25 next season?
3) Santa Clara (13-13; 5-4) Here come the Santa Clara Broncos. After opening WCC play with 4 consecutive losses, the Broncos have won 5 in a row and are playing tremendous basketball. They are receiving great contributions from their supporting cast, and I would not be surprised to see the Broncos in the WCC tournament championship game.
4) St. Mary's (19-4; 6-3) After seeing this team without Patty Mills for the last two weeks, I am hard pressed to remember a team that relied so much on one player to do everything. The Gaels are a shell of the team that was nationally ranked two weeks ago, and are quickly fading to irrelevance.
5) San Diego (13-11; 5-4) It was nice to see the Toreros play hard after their disappointing weekend in the Pacific Northwest. While USD lost a tough game to Santa Clara, they bounced back with a solid win over USF. However, without Brandon Johnson, there is no way USD makes any noise in the WCC tournament.
6) Pepperdine (6-18; 3-5) It was good to see Pepperdine take care of business against LMU. The Waves are slowly starting to learn how to win under Tom Asbury, and they have one of the best young talents in the conference in Keion Bell. In the victory over LMU, Bell scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
7) USF (9-15; 1-8) Not only is USF struggling to win, it is now at the point where the Dons are not even competitive. USF lost to both St. Mary's and USD by double-digit points, and it sadly appears like they have thrown in the towel on the season. I hope that Rex Walters can get this team focused next year, or he could have a very short stay in the Bay Area.
8) LMU (1-23; 0-8) There is nothing that hasn't been said already.