2016–17 West Coast Conference men's basketball season
Sports season
The 2016–17 West Coast Conference men's basketball season began with practices on September 30, 2016 and ended with the 2017 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament March 2–7, 2017.[1] The regular season began on November 11, 2016, with the conference schedule starting December 29, 2016.[2] [3] This was the 66th season for WCC men's basketball, and the 28th under its current name of "West Coast Conference". The conference was founded in 1952 as the California Basketball Association, became the West Coast Athletic Conference in 1956, and dropped the word "Athletic" in 1989.
On February 18, 2017, Gonzaga clinched a share of the regular season title with win over Pacific . The title was Gonzaga's 16th title in the prior 17 years.[4] Gonzaga clinched the outright regular season conference title on February 24 by beating San Diego .[5]
For the ninth consecutive year, the West Coast Conference tournament was held at the Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada from March 3 through March 7, 2017. Gonzaga, appearing in the conference final for the 20th consecutive year,[6] defeated Saint Mary's to win the conference championship.[7] As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament .
Gonzaga's Nigel Williams-Goss was awarded Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year by the conference.[8] Gonzaga's Mark Few was named coach of the year for the 11th time.[8]
Two WCC schools received bids to the NCAA tournament: Gonzaga and Saint Mary's. Gonzaga received the No. 1 seed in the West region.[9] Gonzaga advanced to the National Championship for the first time in school history, losing to North Carolina .[10] The conference's record in the Tournament was 6–2. BYU also received a postseason bid to the National Invitation Tournament while San Francisco received an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational tournament .
Head coaches
Coaching changes
On March 3, 2016, it was announced that Pacific head coach Ron Verlin was no longer employed by the university.[11] Interim coach Mike Burns was also released from his employment with the school.[11] On March 16, the school announced that Damon Stoudamire would be the new head coach.[12]
On March 7, 2016, head coach Kerry Keating was fired by Santa Clara .[13] On March 29, the school hired Herb Sendek as head coach.[14]
On March 9, 2016, San Francisco head coach Rex Walters was fired.[15] On March 30, the school hired Kyle Smith as head coach.[16]
On March 15, 2016, Portland fired head coach Eric Reveno .[17] He finished at Portland with a 10-year record of 140–178. On April 1, the school announced that Terry Porter had been hired as head coach.[18] [19]
Coaches
Notes:
Year at school includes 2016–17 season.
Overall and WCC records are from time at current school and are through the beginning of the 2016–17 season.
Preseason
Zach Collins at the 2016 McDonald's All-American Game
Preseason poll
Source[20]
Rank
Team
1.
Gonzaga (7)
2.
Saint Mary's (3)
3.
BYU
4.
Pepperdine
5.
Santa Clara
6.
Loyola Marymount
7.
Pacific
8.
Portland
9.
San Francisco
10.
San Diego
(first place votes)
All-WCC Preseason Men's Basketball team
Recipient
School
Jared Brownridge
Santa Clara
Nick Emery
BYU
Przemek Karnowski
Gonzaga
Eric Mika
BYU
Lamond Murray Jr.
Pepperdine
Emmett Naar
Saint Mary’s
Josh Perkins
Gonzaga
Dane Pineau
Saint Mary’s
Joe Rahon
Saint Mary’s
Alec Wintering
Portland
Source[20]
Rankings
Legend
Improvement in ranking
Drop in ranking
Not ranked previous week
RV
Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll
(Italics )
Number of first place votes
Pre/ Wk 1
Wk 2
Wk 3
Wk 4
Wk 5
Wk 6
Wk 7
Wk 8
Wk 9
Wk 10
Wk 11
Wk 12
Wk 13
Wk 14
Wk 15
Wk 16
Wk 17
Wk 18
Wk 19
Post
BYU
AP
C
Gonzaga
AP
14
14
11
8
8
8
7
7
5
5
4
3
1 (46)
1 (59)
1 (60)
1 (60)
4 (2)
4 (1)
2 (6)
C
13
14
11
8
8
8
7
6
4
5
4 (3)
3 (3)
1 (24)
1 (28)
1 (29)
1 (29)
4 (1)
4 (1)
2 (1)
2
Loyola Marymount
AP
C
Pacific
AP
C
Pepperdine
AP
C
Portland
AP
C
Saint Mary's
AP
17
17
15
12
12
20
19
19
19
21
23
21
18
20
22
20
20
19
22
C
19
17
15
13
11
20
19
19
19
21
23
21
19
20
21
18
18
19
21
NR
San Diego
AP
C
San Francisco
AP
C
Santa Clara
AP
C
WCC regular season
Conference matrix
This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.
BYU
Gonzaga
LMU
Pacific
Pepperdine
Portland
Saint Mary's
San Diego
San Francisco
Santa Clara
vs. Brigham Young
–
1–1
0–0
0–2
1–1
0–2
2–0
1–1
0–2
1–1
vs. Gonzaga
1–1
–
0–0
0–2
0–2
0–2
0–2
0–2
0–2
0–2
vs. Loyola Marymount
2–0
2–0
–
0–2
1–1
0–2
2–0
1–1
1–1
1–1
vs. Pacific
2–0
2–0
0–0
–
1–1
1–1
2–0
0–2
2–0
2–0
vs. Pepperdine
1–1
2–0
0–0
1–1
–
1–1
2–0
1–1
2–0
2–0
vs. Portland
2–0
2–0
0–0
1–1
1–1
–
2–0
2–0
2–0
2–0
vs. Saint Mary's
0–2
2–0
0–0
0–2
0–2
0–2
–
0–2
0–2
0–2
vs. San Diego
1–1
2–0
0–0
2–0
1–1
0–2
2–0
–
2–0
1–1
vs. San Francisco
2–0
2–0
0–0
0–2
0–2
0–2
2–0
0–2
–
1–1
vs. Santa Clara
1–1
2–0
0–0
0–2
0–2
0–2
2–0
1–1
1–1
–
Total
12–6
17–1
8–10
4–14
5–13
2–16
16–2
6–12
10–8
10–8
All-WCC awards and teams
On February 28, the conference announced conference awards.[21] [22]
Honor
Recipient
Player of the Year
Nigel Williams-Goss , Gonzaga
Coach of the Year
Mark Few , Gonzaga
Newcomer of the Year
Joe Rahon, Saint Mary’s
Defensive Player of the Year
Nigel Williams-Goss , Gonzaga
All-WCC First Team
Jared Brownridge , Santa Clara
T. J. Haws , BYU
Calvin Hermanson, Saint Mary's
Przemek Karnowski , Gonzaga
Jock Landale , Saint Mary's
Eric Mika , BYU
Lamond Murray Jr., Pepperdine
Joe Rahon, Saint Mary's
Johnathan Williams , Gonzaga
Nigel Williams-Goss , Gonzaga
All-WCC Second Team
Brett Bailey, San Diego
Ronnie Boyce III, San Francisco
Brandon Brown, Loyola Marymount
Zach Collins , Gonzaga
K. J. Feagin, Santa Clara
All-WCC Freshman Team
Yoeli Childs , BYU
Zach Collins , Gonzaga
T. J. Haws, BYU
Charles Minlend, San Francisco
Jordan Ratinho, San Francisco
All-WCC Honorable Mention
Olin Carter III, San Diego
Jazz Johnson , Portland
Nate Kratch, Santa Clara
Jordan Mathews , Gonzaga
Emmett Naar , Saint Mary’s
Josh Perkins , Gonzaga
Chris Reyes, Pepperdine
Buay Tuach , Loyola Marymount
T. J. Wallace, Pacific
Alec Wintering, Portland
Postseason
West Coast Conference tournament
Session
Game
Time*
Matchup
Score
Television
First round – Friday, March 3
1
1
6:00 PM
No. 8 Pepperdine vs. No. 9 Pacific
84–89
BYUtv
2
8:00 PM
No. 7 San Diego vs. No. 10 Portland
55–60
BYUtv
Quarterfinals – Saturday, March 4
2
3
1:00 PM
No. 3 BYU vs. No. 6 Loyola Marymount
89–81
BYUtv/RTRM /CSNBA
4
3:00 PM
No. 4 Santa Clara vs. No. 5 San Francisco
76–69
BYUtv/RTRM/CSNBA
3
5
7:00 PM
No. 1 Gonzaga vs. No. 9 Pacific
82–50
ESPN2
6
9:00 PM
No. 2 Saint Mary's vs. No. 10 Portland
81–58
ESPN2
Semifinals – Monday, March 6
4
7
6:00 PM
No. 1 Gonzaga vs No. 4 Santa Clara
77–68
ESPN
8
8:30 PM
No. 2 Saint Mary's vs No. 3 BYU
81–50
ESPN2
Championship – Tuesday, March 7
5
9
6:00 PM
No. 1 Gonzaga vs. No. 2 Saint Mary's
74–56
ESPN
*Game times in PT . Rankings denote tournament seeding.
NCAA tournament
The winner of the WCC tournament , Gonzaga, received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament . Saint Mary's received an at-large bid to the Tournament.
Seed
Region
School
First Four
First round
Second round
Sweet Sixteen
Elite Eight
Final Four
Championship
1
West
Gonzaga
N/A
defeated (16) South Dakota State 66–46
defeated (8) Northwestern 79–73
defeated (4) West Virginia 61–58
defeated (11) Xavier 83–59
defeated (7 E) South Carolina 77–73
eliminated by (1 S) North Carolina 65–71
7
West
Saint Mary's
N/A
defeated (10) VCU 85–77
eliminated by (2) Arizona 60–69
W–L (%):
0–0 (–)
2–0 (1.000)
1–1 (.500)
1–0 (1.000)
1–0 (1.000)
1–0 (1.000)
0–1 (.000) Total: 6–2 (.750)
See also
References
^ "2016-17 Championship Schedule" . Archived from the original on April 8, 2015. Retrieved April 8, 2015 .
^ "WCC's scheduling experiment will end" . January 26, 2016.
^ "Calendar moves forward for Midnight Madness" . May 3, 2013.
^ "Gonzaga thumps Pacific, earns another WCC title" . Spokesman.com . Retrieved July 31, 2017 .
^ "No. 1 Gonzaga moves to 29-0, clinches another WCC title" . Sporting News . February 24, 2017. Retrieved July 31, 2017 .
^ "Gonzaga men advance to WCC tournament-title game for 20th straight year" . The Seattle Times . March 6, 2017. Retrieved July 31, 2017 .
^ "No. 4 Gonzaga beats No. 19 Saint Mary's 74-56 in WCC final" . chicagotribune.com . Associated Press. Retrieved July 31, 2017 .
^ a b "WCC Announces 2016-17 Men's Basketball All-Conference Team | News" . | Official Athletics Site . Archived from the original on July 31, 2017. Retrieved July 31, 2017 .
^ EndPlay (March 12, 2017). "Gonzaga gets No. 1 seed for West Region" . KIRO . Retrieved July 31, 2017 .
^ Goldberg, Rob. "Gonzaga Advances to National Championship After South Carolina Rally Falls Short" . Bleacher Report . Retrieved July 31, 2017 .
^ a b "Suspended coach Verlin no longer at Pacific" . Retrieved January 5, 2018 .
^ "Article 404 - Houma Today - Houma, LA" . Houma Today . Archived from the original on March 22, 2016. Retrieved January 5, 2018 .
^ "Santa Clara Fires Basketball Coach Kerry Keating" . Retrieved March 16, 2016 .
^ "Sendek Hired as Men's Basketball Coach" . March 29, 2016.[permanent dead link ]
^ "San Francisco fires coach Walters after 8 seasons" . Retrieved January 5, 2018 .
^ FEINBERG, DOUG. "Kyle Smith new San Francisco basketball coach" . sandiegouniontribune.com . Retrieved January 27, 2017 .
^ "Portland Pilots fire men's basketball coach Eric Reveno" . OregonLive.com . Retrieved March 16, 2016 .
^ "Kyle Smith Named Head Men's Basketball Coach" . April 1, 2016.
^ "Portland Pilots hire Terry Porter as men's basketball coach" . OregonLive.com . Retrieved January 23, 2017 .
^ a b "2016-17 WCC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll, All-WCC Team Unveiled | News" . | Official Athletics Site . Archived from the original on August 1, 2017. Retrieved July 31, 2017 .
^ Hines, Travis (March 1, 2017). "WCC Tournament Preview and Postseason Awards: Can anyone knock off Gonzaga?" . CollegeBasketballTalk . Retrieved July 31, 2017 .
^ "WCC Announces 2015-16 Men's Basketball All-Conference Team | News" . | Official Athletics Site . Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved July 31, 2017 .
Teams Future teams Championships & awards Seasons