2017-2018 WCC MBB Conference Results

StudentPilot wrote:I was in Sacramento before Christmas to watch the Pilots beat Sacramento St., but tonight it was a different story as the Hornets scored 47 points in the second half to beat Portland State, 80-75.

Seems like every time we go to a Vikings game we bring them bad luck (0-2), so yesterday we headed over to Lewis & Clark for another afternoon game against Sacramento State.  

The Hornets played a very slow and spread offense totally frustrating PSU and came away with the win, 71-61....they're now 0-3 with guys wearing purple in the stands.

Deonte North didn't play, but ex-Zag Ryan Edwards did, and he played pretty well before fouling out after about 15 minutes of play.

StudentPilot wrote:The Hornets played a very slow and spread offense totally frustrating PSU and came away with the win, 71-61....they're now 0-3 with guys wearing purple in the stands.

What about that November game that PSU won, with a couple thousand folks wearing purple in the stands?

I don't understand how PSU fell so far from their preseason heights. What went wrong?

DoubleDipper wrote:Nearing the halfway point in the WCC season, and some starting to look forward to the postseason, it's a good time to look at the RPI of each of the teams, and in parenthesis, each team's strength of schedule (SOS):

36 -- SMC (154)
57 -- GU (160)
73 -- BYU (188)
144 -- UOP (78)
148 -- USD (222)
199 -- USF (161)
232 -- UP (108) UP had an RPI of 253 before the road sweep vs. USD and LMU
253 -- LMU (168)
266 -- SCU (181)
315 -- PU (129)

As UP is playing the top two teams in the WCC this week, we can expect to see some movement in both RPI and SOS...

Yes, we did see some movement in RPI and strength of schedule (SOS):

31 -- SMC (143)
57 -- GU (165)
69 -- BYU (154)
142 -- USD (252)
147 -- UOP (69)
186 -- USF (126)
217 -- UP (76) UP moves up 15 spots in RPI and 32 places in SOS....unfortunately, we lost twice! )
266 -- SCU (206)
285 -- LMU (202)
323 -- PU (162)

NoPoNeighbor wrote:What about that November game that PSU won, with a couple thousand folks wearing purple in the stands?

Oh yeah, I forgot....that game was on Veterans Day.

To be honest, I was not at that game, but instead was in Washington, DC with my family where my grandfather was being honored at a Veterans Day ceremony.

up7587 wrote:I don't understand how PSU fell so far from their preseason heights.  What went wrong?

KenPom still likes them....but they dropped from their season high #117 a week ago to #137 after losing to Sacramento State at Lewis & Clark on Saturday.

In Big Sky play, they rank #12 out of 12 in 3-point offense and defense, but partly because of their up-tempo style they rank #1 in offensive rebounds and #2 in steals and forcing turnovers.

The Portland Pilots get a little love from KenPom, coming in at #257 this week...gaining 60 spots since their defeat by CS Fullerton in December, and up 25 spots after their losses to GU and SMC last week.

Rest of the WCC:

#14 Gonzaga 69, San Diego 59
Loyola Marymount 76, BYU 69
Pacific 63, Santa Clara 45
#13 Saint Mary's 79, San Francisco 43

LMU over BYU. Delightful.

Pilots in 8th place. One ahead of LMU. One behind USF. Two behind SCU in 6th place. Hope LMU celebrates their BYU win, a lot.

With BYU at Gonzaga, and Pacific playing at Pepperdine on Saturday, the Tigers have a great chance to move into a third place tie with the Cougars. Whoodathunkit?

Watched the BYU at LMU matchup, and frankly, the Lions were the far better team last night.  

The Pilots are going to have to put a lid on Scott (19 points) and Batemon (28 points/10 rebounds), and they're going to have to keep Markusson from disrupting their inside game  if they are to repeat their win over LMU two weeks ago.

Can't really say LMU dominated start to finish, but I think they led the last 33 minutes of the game, even though the commentators kept saying, "here come the Cougars" as BYU would make a little run followed by the Lions doing the same.  

An LMU win doesn't really help the Pilots, but it sure was a satisfying victory over BYU.  Interesting that so few people were at the game, including those dressed in blue and white. But the Cougar fans made themselves obvious late in the game when the ushers had to control two     who were on the edge of the court complaining about a foul called on Childs that replay showed (over and over) was the correct call.

up7587 wrote:I don't understand how PSU fell so far from their preseason heights.  What went wrong?

They're now 3-6 in Big Sky play after losing at "home" to Idaho last night, 97-88.. North did not play.

USD had a poor first half against SMC, but came back to make it a close game in the 2nd half. A couple missed FTs, a missed wide open 3Pt shot, and SMC hangs on for a three point win, 65-62.

USD had the ball at the end down 3. SMC did not foul, and USD got another good look for the tie, but missed. Poor strategy. I think take the foul.

Up in Spokane, the Zags got some help from the refs. In the 1st half, Williams got a tip-in, but he grabbed the rim with his off hand as he was tipping the ball, and they missed it. Then late, they got a steal, and Hachimura double dribbled during the run out, again the refs missed out, and BYU had to foul him and he made the FTs. Zags held on for the win, 68-60. BYU was awful from 3Pt, 3 of 20.

There's a theme today.  In addition to the 2nd half comeback by LMU, which they couldn't sustain, USD was down 12 at the half, and got as close as 2 with a minute to go. BYU was down 10 at the half, and tied it up after the first seven minutes of the 2nd half.  They tied again with under three minute to play, but couldn't ever get ahead.  And in a game still underway, SCU was down 12 at the half, and tied it up after 6 minutes in the 2nd half.

I guess a double digit lead at halftime is too relaxing.

Rest of the WCC:

#13 Saint Mary's 65, San Diego 62
#14 Gonzaga 68, BYU 60
Pacific 81, Pepperdine 72
San Francisco 70, Santa Clara 59

Pacific is now tied with BYU for 3rd place, beat their conference win record since joining the conference, and got their first back-to-back road wins since joining the conference. Good on them given their scholarship restrictions. Sucks they play the Zags next, they will most likely end up in a tie for 4th with USD.

USF and SCU are now tied for 6th place. If we upset USF next game (possibly, given USF's recent slumps and us being a much improved team since the first meeting) and SCU loses to BYU next game (most likely), we could end up joining the fray as well (not counting tiebreakers and all that).

There's probably no way that Landale at Saint Mary's doesn't receive his 5th WCC Player of the Week honor this week. He averaged 30 points and 15 rebounds in SMC's two wins.

Too bad for D'Marques Tyson, because otherwise he would have a strong case to receive the award this week. He averaged 19 points and shot 10 for 13 on three-pointers in the Pilots two wins (in only 22 minutes per game!).

Quick shout-out to SMC... they are ranked #11 in today's AP poll, their highest ranking in program history. (Surpassing a two-week run last season at #12.)

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/college-basketball-rankings-kentucky-duke-kansas-and-arizona-fall-in-ap-top-25/

The Zags are just one spot behind the Gaels at #12.

If they keep winning, would it be possible for the WCC to have two top-10 teams heading into the conference tournament? Has that ever happened before? (Maybe back in the day with USF and SCU or something like that?)

On the GU board, it was pointed out that two WCC teams are ranked higher than any Pac-12 school.

up7587 wrote:On the GU board, it was pointed out that two WCC teams are ranked higher than any Pac-12 school.

The all-important RPI rankings tell a different story:

18-Arizona
24-St. Mary's
38-Washington
43-Arizona State
44-USC
46-Gonzaga

UP dropped 11 spots to 228 after its home sweep of PU and LMU.
The Pilots strength of schedule is now 111; second in the WCC to UOP at 96.

The RPIs of UP's opponents this week are: USF - 165 and UOP - 143.

For some reason I still follow Sagarin's ratings.  He has a new rating system that gives more weight to recent games.  According to that, the top four in the WCC are:

St. Marys - 5
Gonzaga - 28
Pacific - 119
Portland - 131!

blacksheep wrote:For some reason I still follow Sagarin's ratings.  He has a new rating system that gives more weight to recent games.  According to that, the top four in the WCC are:

St. Marys - 5
Gonzaga - 28
Pacific - 119
Portland - 131!

Well no wonder you still like Sagarin!

It used to be, before the World Wide Web, Sagarin was all we got, and we had to wait until the Tuesday editions of USA Today hit the newsstands before we saw it...  

up7587 wrote:I don't understand how PSU fell so far from their preseason heights.  What went wrong?

Just continuing the Portland State theme here, the Viking's new arena appears to be coming along nicely and looks like it might be worth a curious trip to see next time I am in town. I have been following the progress with this webcam. The only thing that I am truly jealous of about it is the HD video board that they will install on the wall. That will be much better than what we currently have in Chiles.

If it's anything like their current video board it will be on the wall, too big bright and too close to the fans such that it blinds you the entire time you're in the arena and you leave with a headache. Please let it not be like that.

Rest of the WCC:

#12 Gonzaga 71, Pacific 61
#11 Saint Mary's 83, Loyola Marymount 62
San Diego 68, Pepperdine 66
BYU 80, Santa Clara 58

Pepperdine also had a shot as the buzzer to tie or win, but it was off a missed USD FT, and never had a chance.

No upsets. SMC and BYU were the only favorites who covered. Most of the games were under, except SMC-LMU was a push and BYU-SCU was over.

Pretty much no change in the standings, Pilots still alone in 8th place, one behind SCU. With 2 losses to USF, I think 6th place may be out of reach.