WCC MBB Results

up7587 wrote:Sheesh, no posts for several days.  I suspect many of us are deflated by the two losses last week to PSU and Fullerton.  We thought they were winnable games, and were excited by the prospect of entering conference play at 9-3. 7-5 just doesn't feel so good, and the Pilots are playing poorer just as other WCC teams are stepping up.
In the last several days:
UOP beat PAcific Union, and and USF beat Ill. St.
USF lost to San Diego St.
LMU beat Morgan St.

Latest update of WCC power rankings has the Pilots drop from 3rd to 7th.
http://www.midmajormadness.com/2016/12/27/wcc-power-rankings-team-of-week-conference-play

I note that the first three conference games are against the three teams at the bottom of the power rankings.

Frustration is probably right. Hopefully the team got as much rest this past week as PN did and will have fresh legs for the conference season.

Yeah, those last two games were deflating from a fan's perspective. I've got to imagine the coaches and players felt the same. I hope the break has served everyone well.

As up7587 notes, these first three conference games are a chance to get some wins. If we're going to achieve that top-half finish that was so elusive for Reveno's teams, we've got to win these games.

The following two games... probably not too likely we win those.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:Yeah, those last two games were deflating from a fan's perspective. I've got to imagine the coaches and players felt the same. I hope the break has served everyone well.

As up7587 notes, these first three conference games are a chance to get some wins. If we're going to achieve that top-half finish that was so elusive for Reveno's teams, we've got to win these games.

The following two games... probably not too likely we win those.

Agreed. If we go 0-2 @Pac and @SCU, it will be hard to improve our standing. As we will be playing in gyms with no students and (likely) small crowds for these, we really need to get 2 wins.

blacksheep wrote:Frustration is probably right.  Hopefully the team got as much rest this past week as PN did and will have fresh legs for the conference season.  

Yeah, I guess frustration best explains my feelings, but with the coaching staff, not the student-athletes.

The "preseason" is generally regarded as the games before the WCC season begins.  It's really nice to win preseason games, especially if you're using those games to play very tough opponents and boost your rating for the post-season, like GU has done.  But for the Pilots it should have been an opportunity to develop "bench" players as a means of increasing their team and individual basketball skills and their confidence in tight game situations.

Instead we saw the staff ask players to go 40 minutes over and over including one 50 minute game.  I know some on this forum have disagreed with my assertion that too many minutes leads to leg fatigue and possible injury in young people... and apparently the coaching staff also disagrees....but I did not, and do not see this coaching philosophy working in the long run as some players remain unprepared and others fatigued.

With only two games per week on the schedule until Las Vegas, I'm sure we'll see 5 or 6 players as prepared as much as they can be for WCC play, but at what price?  For the sake of the Pilots record, the sanity of Pilots fans, and for the well-being the the individual players, I hope my fears are unfounded....

Opening night of WCC play:
GU beat PU 92-62
BYU beat SCU 89-59
USF beat USD 80-74
SMC won @ LMU 72-60
Oh yeah, UP won at UOP 80-76

Looks like it'll be Portland, BYU, Gonzaga, and St Mary's all at 2-0 after the first weekend.

Huge shout out to Coach Rev and Georgia Tech - big 75-63 home win over #9 UNC today!

After the opening weekend, 4 teams are atop conf. standings at 2-0: GU, SMC, BYU and UP. USF and SCU are 1-1. LMU, UOP, USD and PU are 0-2.

Current KenPom rankings are:
GU #10
SMC #16
BYU #57
--
UP #156
USF #168
LMU #171
SCU #192
--
UOP #225
USD #254
PU #259

For reference, Fullerton is now #290, PSU is #211, so nothing can be taken for granted,

It's great to be 2-0! But we were 2-0 last year, too...

Our two wins this week were against bottom tier teams. The competition gets better starting on Thursday at Santa Clara. Should be a great backcourt matchup between Wintering/Johnson and Brownridge/Feagin. Let's keep it rolling and make hay against another middle-of-the-pack team -- with their student section still empty.

Of the Bottom 7 teams in the WCC, LMU probably looked the best in the opening weekend of conference play. Yeah, they went 0-2 at home, but they gave both SMC and BYU everything they could handle. The Lions are dangerous. They were the only Bottom 7 team unlucky enough to draw two Top 3 opponents in the opening weekend. The Pilots and USF had the most favorable opening weekend schedules.

Bottom 7 records vs Top 3
LMU: 0-2
Pacific: 0-1
Pepperdine: 0-1
Portland: 0-0
San Diego: 0-1
San Francisco: 0-0
Santa Clara: 0-1

vs other Bottom 7
LMU: 0-0
Pacific: 0-1
Pepperdine: 0-1
Portland: 2-0
San Diego: 0-1
San Francisco: 1-1
Santa Clara: 1-0

Our friendly WCC blogger Will Maupin has the Pilots back up to 4th in his WCC Power Rankings. But the big news is, he put Alec on his Team of the Week. Finally.

http://www.midmajormadness.com/2017/1/3/west-coast-conference-power-rankings-wcc-team-of-week

In other WCC game #3s:
the big two rolled easily
GU won @USF 95-80
SMC beat BYU 81-68
and the other teams had very close games (unlike the Pilots)
UOP won @USD 56-53
PU beat LMU 71-70

SCU follows their thrashing of the Pilots by dropping a game at LMU 66-56. Game was close until the very end. Brownridge only had 5 pts.

USD won at PU 76-68.

Given the postponement/cancelation of the Pilots game tonight I'm watching St. Mary's at USF. It's the first time I've watched St. Mary's this year and they're not looking that good. They seem to be dictating the pace of the game, but it's currently 22-21 at the under 4 media timeout in the first half. They're missing some easy layins tonight like another team I know did on Thursday. Neither offense was particularly effective early, but the scoring is starting to pick up a bit.

dholcombe wrote:Given the postponement/cancelation of the Pilots game tonight I'm watching St. Mary's at USF. It's the first time I've watched St. Mary's this year and they're not looking that good. They seem to be dictating the pace of the game, but it's currently 22-21 at the under 4 media timeout in the first half. They're missing some easy layins tonight like another team I know did on Thursday. Neither offense was particularly effective early, but the scoring is starting to pick up a bit.

SMC won 63-52. USF was down 3 with 7 minutes to play, and only made one FT and one layup the rest of the way. The Gaels made three 3P shots in a row to open up the lead.

Last night's WCC action went about as well as it could have for the Pilots, I guess -- based on the premise that we want our fellow Bottom 7 teams to beat up on each other, with no one clearly rising about the morass of mediocrity.

UPDATED:
Bottom 7 records vs Top 3
LMU: 0-2
Pacific: 0-2
Pepperdine: 0-1
Portland: 0-0
San Diego: 0-1
San Francisco: 0-2
Santa Clara: 0-1

vs other Bottom 7
LMU: 1-1
Pacific: 1-1
Pepperdine: 1-2
Portland: 2-1
San Diego: 1-2
San Francisco: 1-1
Santa Clara: 2-1

This week: USD strikes the first blow against a Top 3 team. Santa Clara emerges as the best of the Bottom 7. Pilots faceplant.

UPDATED 1/15:
Bottom 7 records vs Top 3
LMU: 0-3
Pacific: 0-2
Pepperdine: 0-1
Portland: 0-1
San Diego: 1-1
San Francisco: 0-3
Santa Clara: 0-1

vs other Bottom 7
LMU: 2-1
Pacific: 2-2
Pepperdine: 1-4
Portland: 2-2
San Diego: 1-3
San Francisco: 2-1
Santa Clara: 4-1

up7587 wrote:SCU follows their thrashing of the Pilots by dropping a game at LMU 66-56.

Beating UP is becoming a jinx. USD won at LMU tonight 69-92.
PU blown out at BYU 99-70, now 1-6.

All of the Bottom 7 teams are going to end up with atrocious records against the Top 3. Overall record is now 1-19. We'll be lucky if the final record is any better than 4-38.

I'm more focused on the intra-Bottom 7 standings. With games against Pepperdine and San Diego, this coming week is a chance for the Pilots to get back into the upper echelon of the lower echelon.

UPDATED 1/24:
Bottom 7 records vs Top 3
San Diego: 1-1
Santa Clara: 0-2
LMU: 0-3
Pepperdine: 0-3
Portland: 0-3
San Francisco: 0-3
Pacific: 0-4

vs other Bottom 7
Santa Clara: 5-1
San Francisco: 4-1
Pacific: 2-2
LMU: 2-3
Portland: 2-3
San Diego: 2-4
Pepperdine: 1-4

In other games on 1/26:
GU blasted USD 79-43.
After being tied 30 all at half, SMC beat USF 66-46.  Must have been a hell of a halftime defensive adjustment.
LMU won another close game, beat UOP 79-73.
SCU beat BYU 76-68. Ties them at 6-3 in the standings.
Every home team won tonight.

Just finished watching the replay of the BYU at SCU game....it was the first time SCU had beaten BYU since 1972, and it was a stunning turnaround from the Broncos loss by 35 points in Provo at the beginning of WCC play.

Fourteen 3-pointers for SCU and 25 points from Brownridge really helped the cause.

Amazing what Coach Sendek has done with the players former Coach Keating left him.

BYU is now only 5-4 in games away from the Marriott Center, and they are 1-3 on the road in WCC play.

DoubleDipper wrote:Just finished watching the replay of the BYU at SCU game....it was the first time SCU had beaten BYU since 1972, and it was a stunning turnaround from the Broncos loss by 35 points in Provo at the beginning of WCC play.

I saw the end of that game where they mentioned that. I didn't realize it's been that long for them. And I thought we were bad with losing streaks...

I actually only tuned into the end of said game after seeing the CougarBoard on fire.

GU romped @PU 96-49.
SMC pulled away @SCU 72-59.
USF won @UOP 81-60.
BYU beat LMU 85-77.

UP tied for 8th place with UOP and PU.

GU won @BYU 85-75.
SMC won @UOP 74-70. Hmm, pretty close.
LMU won @USD 72-53. Big win.
USF beat PU 77-56, the only home victor tonight.

The conference is splitting into pretty clear divisions.
Division A: GU 11-0, SMC 10-1
Division B: BYU 7-4, SMC 7-4, USF 6-5
Division C: LMU 4-7, USD 4-7
Division D: UP, UOP, PU all 2-9

up7587 wrote:
The conference is splitting into pretty clear divisions.
Division A: GU 11-0, SMC 10-1
Division B: BYU 7-4, SMC SCU 7-4, USF 6-5
Division C: LMU 4-7, USD 4-7
Division D: UP, UOP, PU all 2-9

FYP, but I owe you at least one! 

Just watched the GU game....BYU down 19 at one point, but fought to close it to just 6 points with 1:15 to go before GU closed it out.  Great atmosphere in the Marriott Center!

Saturday's games:
PU beat UOP to break the 3-way tie at the bottom, 82-72.
SMC won at USD 71-27. Toreros scored 9 1st half points ( ).
GU beat SCU 90-55.
USF beat LMU 74-64

All home teams except USD won today. No team from a "lower division" beat a "higher division" team.

Couple surprises tonight:
GU won at LMU 90-60.
UOP beat USD 61-58, broke a 7 game losing streak.
USF held on and beat SCU 61-58.
PU beat BYU 99-83.

This leaves UP alone in 10th place, one behind UOP. PU, USD and LMU all 4-9, tied for 6th place. USF and BYU tied for 3rd at 8-5, one ahead of SCU. Still a dogfight to see which team will break out of the bottom four and avoid the play-in game.