Former Gonzaga All-American Dan Dickau dives into each WCC program in regard to the NET Rankings and NCAA Tournament outlooks
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00:00 Dan Dick out here for Gonzaga Nation with a WCC
00:04 essentially update about a third of the way through conference
00:08 obviously
00:10 Probably a big Gonzaga fan, you know the struggles that they've had you know
00:15 The opportunities that they've taken advantage of we've gone over and over of the Purdue game the UCLA USC
00:22 struggles which have impacted Gonzaga's
00:26 Outlook in Ken Palm as well as the net so we don't need to get into Gonzaga
00:31 but what I wanted to do with this episode was kind of look at each team and kind of really
00:35 Break down the numbers and see how they will be
00:39 impacting other teams
00:42 throughout
00:43 The rest of league play as well as why their net rankings are what they are
00:48 And so we'll start at the top of the league right now
00:52 And I know you hate hearing this because it's st. Mary's that's at the top of the league
00:56 15 and 6 on the season they got off to a really poor start
01:00 They've won 11 of their last 12 now sitting at 6 and 0 in league
01:05 And they're ranked 18th in the net
01:08 They're receiving votes now in the coaches poll and the AP poll as is Gonzaga
01:14 Although Gonzaga has fallen out of the top 25
01:16 It's gonna take a win for either one of these two ball clubs in my estimation
01:21 As well as a couple teams losing in that 20 to 25 range for either one of these ball clubs to move
01:28 Into the top 25 but Gonzaga moving in the right direction after a home win against a good San Francisco team
01:35 but back to st. Mary's
01:37 Look at their big overall resume right now
01:41 They might have played the toughest non-conference. Actually, I can't say might have they did play the toughest non-conference of anybody in the WCC
01:50 Gonzaga had some big-time marquee games against top five top ten opponents and with that I'm saying
01:57 Purdue Yukon and now
02:00 Kentucky that will be
02:03 In a week or so in February at Rupp Arena in Lexington
02:07 But st. Mary's had a sneaky good schedule because they played a lot of really good
02:12 Quad two games and quad one games these teams in the Mountain West
02:17 Teams in the Pac-12 that are going to you know, bolster the resume win or lose
02:23 When you first start first off, we'll look at their
02:26 Losses, so st. Mary's as I mentioned six losses on the season two of those I would category
02:34 Categorize as bad losses and they're bad losses simply for the fact that quad three and quad four losses at home
02:41 To Weber State out of the big sky who's solid they got a really good player in Dylan Jones
02:47 who was borderline NBA prospect as
02:49 And then Missouri State is the other home loss now
02:53 Take for a second if you take those two out and they flip to wins
02:58 You'd be looking at 17 and 4 and instead of being 18 in the net to be honest with you
03:05 They'd probably be sitting around the 12 mark in the net and those are just the bad losses now
03:10 Let's look at the good losses. I guess or you could say okay losses for st. Mary's and
03:15 This is a gauntlet of teams that they've played
03:19 That were okay losses. They lost to San Diego State at home
03:24 San Diego State we all know
03:26 was a
03:28 Final four contender national title appearance team a season ago. They're going to challenge for the Mountain West
03:34 They're currently sitting right around 20 21 in the net so that loss
03:39 Isn't gonna hurt them, you know because San Diego State will not fall out of at least a quad to
03:45 Game it should end up being at the end of the year a quad one because that's a good program
03:48 Xavier out of the Big East
03:51 Same thing more likely. It's going to be a quad two because it was a neutral site game
03:56 But Xavier if they have some wins down the stretch of the Big East
04:00 There's no way they will falter and drop to a quad three so it won't hurt them too much, Utah out of the Pac-12
04:08 They're they're challenging for the Pac-12 title. There is no clear-cut
04:13 leader in the clubhouse right now for the Pac-12 title
04:17 because Arizona dropped another one this time on the road to Oregon State on a buzzer beater by Jordan Pope, but
04:24 There's there's no clear-cut
04:26 champion
04:29 In the Pac-12 right now Arizona's faltered at times Oregon's up and down although they're healthy now, Utah
04:36 Was looking really good and then they had a loss in the last week or so
04:40 Colorado you could throw them in the mix Washington State has had a couple good wins
04:46 Namely over over Utah recently, but no teams absolutely stand out in that league right now
04:52 So I don't know if if you're gonna see the Pac-12 with four teams
04:57 You might not even see the Pac-12 with three teams in this year. You're gonna have your automatic bid
05:01 you'll probably have one at large and
05:04 Possibly depending on if another team gets hot down the stretch
05:07 another second at large for three because the best league in the west coast right now is the Mountain West and that's where the last
05:16 Okay, you could deem loss for st. Mary's would be and that would be in Boise State on a neutral floor to
05:23 In Idaho Falls early in the season. They were in that game. I think it was a six-point game
05:29 So that was a close game. So those are the the losses for them the good wins that I think are gonna continue to really
05:36 help st. Mary's
05:38 is
05:40 UNLV
05:41 You know that should continue to be a quad to when they're the they're the mystery team in the Mountain West
05:47 They've got a ton of talent. They've beaten good teams on the road namely Boise State
05:51 But then they'll go on the road and get beat by a quad three
05:55 like Air Force, so
05:57 If UNLV keeps playing well, that's gonna also bolster st. Mary's and it's funny how I talk about this these
06:05 Teams and these results are so intertwined. So really if you've beaten a team
06:11 You want that team to have success the rest of the year?
06:14 So if you're a Gonzaga fan, you want them to root for Purdue for UConn for San Diego State for UW
06:21 You want those teams to perform well because then your metrics won't be hurt as bad either
06:27 And then the other good wins in the non-conference for st. Mary's
06:30 Colorado State who's currently ranked in the top 25 as well as New Mexico who's currently ranked in the top 25
06:36 So that's a quick snapshot at st. Mary's Gonzaga plays them twice
06:41 St. Mary's did beat San Francisco on the road. They will still have
06:46 San Francisco at home so plenty of opportunities for st. Mary's to continue to bolster in the quad one quad two
06:55 you know, they just came off of a
06:57 48 point home win against
07:00 Pacific where they held Pacific to 20% field goal shooting pretty unbelievable numbers
07:05 Next up we'll talk about in third place
07:09 Well, actually, sorry second place because they've got one more win than Gonzaga's Sarah Santa Clara
07:14 15 and 7 overall 6 and 1 in
07:17 The the conference obviously the one loss would have been against st. Mary's
07:23 in that Santa Clara team lost by 24 at home after they beat Gonzaga by
07:30 Believe it was three at home. So when you look at Santa Clara's
07:35 Resume right now good wins. They beat Oregon Washington State and Stanford out of the Pac-12
07:41 Obviously they beat Gonzaga at home as well
07:43 But they third year in a row
07:46 They had injuries in the non-conference and they weren't
07:49 Able to have their full roster to take advantage of some good opportunities on their schedule
07:54 to really bolster their non-conference improve their net so that maybe
07:58 some of those games could become quad one quad two opportunities for
08:02 other teams in the league as well as maybe get them to the point where they had a resume worthy of looking at and
08:08 At large because right now they sit at 106 in the net
08:11 That's obviously not gonna get you any type of consideration for the net, but those bad
08:17 Losses or I guess you could say opportunities
08:19 That they they really wish they could have taken advantage of that ended up as losses were Ohio State in the Big Ten
08:26 You know, I don't think Ohio State's as good as maybe
08:28 you know
08:31 people thought coming into this season, but
08:33 You know, they I think lost by 18 in that game. They lost at Cal who's been very up and down in
08:41 in the Pac-12
08:43 They lost to New Mexico and they lost to Utah State who might be the surprise team in all the country
08:49 And you'll see there's a common theme with a lot of West Coast conference teams
08:53 Playing the Mountain West this year and the Mountain West absolutely getting the best
08:58 of teams in the WCC
09:00 So that's second place Santa Clara third place Gonzaga right now
09:04 We won't need to get into them. We've talked about them throughout this this
09:10 Season so far so you have an idea what they are
09:13 But then you look at San Francisco the Dons who were just in Spokane last night Gonzaga won that game
09:18 basically by
09:21 the production of Graham EK down the stretch in the second half paired with
09:25 Anton Watson making big plays in a nice run with about seven eight minutes left in the game
09:30 And then they finished off with free throws but credit San Francisco. They did not quit. They didn't give up
09:36 They play a really fun style aggressive defensively and then offensively play with a lot of freedom split actions five out actions Jonathan
09:44 Mobo
09:44 I thought he was maybe the front-runner for player of the week or excuse me player of the year in the conference until the last
09:50 week or so
09:52 Because st. Mary's really limited him in the st. Mary's win and then Gonzaga really limited him as well
09:58 So a player who's been averaging
10:00 Double double throughout the year didn't get a double double in the last two games after having five in a row
10:06 So I don't think he would be the front-runner for player of the year in the conference anymore my eyes my estimation
10:12 That would be a Mahaney at this that this point in time, but back to USF
10:17 After the loss to Gonzaga, they only lot dropped one in the net
10:21 So they went from 58 to 59 and that kind of shows you the value of playing such a good schedule
10:26 When you when you have a loss to a quad one team in or a quad two, especially on the road
10:31 It really doesn't drop you too much
10:33 Their problem when you look at their resume and if they could somehow creep into that 50
10:39 45 50 category
10:41 Ranking in the net. That's when you start thinking. Well, maybe we have a chance for an at-large bid if we can pick up a a
10:48 Notable win down the stretch and make a run in the West Coast Conference tournament
10:53 But the problem is they're owing five in quad one games and that's not gonna get the attention of anybody in the selection committee
11:01 And they're also 10 and 0 in quad 4 so they really haven't challenged themselves
11:06 Kind of in that middle round middle grade of teams. They've either played good teams, which have been Gonzaga
11:12 and Santa Clara
11:14 Or they've played bad teams and obviously you got to take care of bad teams and take advantage of opportunities against the good teams
11:22 They're good wins. I guess if you could call them that
11:25 Would be Minnesota and Vanderbilt and really those teams those those ones are only considered good
11:31 for the fact that
11:33 They're against a Big Ten team and they're against an SEC team
11:35 but neither of those games or teams or programs are gonna move the needle in regards to
11:41 you know
11:44 Making someone say hey, they should be in the field of 68 at this point in time the losses
11:49 I mentioned their own five and quad one
11:51 You know talked about playing Gonzaga talked about st
11:55 Mary's but the other good teams that kind of fall in that quad one and I guess we'll throw them quad two games here
12:01 Would be they lost at Boise State who's currently a quad two
12:05 They lost at Grand Canyon
12:07 Which is currently a quad two and then at Arizona State they lost which would fall into a quad three
12:13 I believe but the name Arizona State brings a little more cachet simply because they're a Pac-12 team
12:20 And then Utah State on a neutral floor
12:22 so San Francisco scheduled up and they didn't quite take advantage of some of the games that they needed to but
12:28 You know, they're a dangerous team. That's for sure. I think there's a clear-cut
12:33 For best teams in the league and I would include San Francisco in that
12:38 But really I look at it's st. Mary's and Gonzaga again the the top two teams in the league. I do like Santa Clara
12:46 I do like San Francisco
12:48 So I clearly would put them in the top four, but I do think on the aga st
12:52 Mary's just a cut above to be in that top two
12:54 You move next out down to Loyola Maramount and they're there's such an interesting program such an interesting team
13:02 I think they've made really good strides understand Johnson, but they can't quite get over the hump
13:06 You know, they beat Gonzaga in Spokane a season ago
13:10 roster turnover
13:13 Has been interesting for them, which that's one of the names of the game in college basketball now is how
13:18 How do you keep as much cohesiveness in your roster from year to year?
13:23 And if anybody has that
13:25 Recipe you got to bottle it up and kind of keep
13:30 Recycling that year over year because I think that's you know, one of the key components right now to having success
13:37 In college basketball, but LMU sitting at 10 and 10 3 and 3 in league
13:43 You know, this is where now you're looking at net where these games for st
13:49 Mary's Gonzaga and to a certain extent San Francisco because of their net really don't help them
13:54 They can have an opportunity to hurt them because Loyola Maramont sits at 169 in the net
14:00 The only good win that you could see on their resume so far would be UNLV
14:06 And you know, he's a very interesting team. They're talented. They've had in injuries
14:10 They've got the Boone brothers one of them Keelan played at Pacific a season ago, but Caleb's been
14:15 Fantastic on the interior. They got a really good point guard indeed on Thomas jr
14:20 Who I know Gonzaga was recruiting. He should be a freshman or excuse me should be a senior in high school graduated early
14:27 And has having an impact for Kevin Kruger in Las Vegas
14:31 But you know, that's really the only good win for LMU if you look at the losses that you know
14:36 I guess you could deem them. Okay losses, but were
14:39 Opportunities for them to really kind of turn their season a little bit would have been a home loss to Yale who obviously
14:46 Played at Gonzaga to open the season. They're looking like they're in a dogfight for an Ivy League title with
14:54 Princeton and then they lost at Nevada at Colorado State again at the Mountain West which Mountain West
15:01 Really has dominated not just the WCC, but they've dominated Pac-12 and matchups as well
15:07 I believe head-to-head matchups Mountain West versus Pac-12 and WCC teams. They've won I think
15:12 75% of those games this season so clearly the Mountain West the best league on the west coast
15:19 Four teams in the Mountain West sit in the top 30 of net right now
15:23 The only other leagues that can say that are the Big Ten
15:26 The Big 12 and the SEC and those are obviously power five conferences
15:31 So a little bit about you know, how good that leagues been next you move to Pepperdine
15:36 They're always kind of one of the enigmas, you know in the league. They've got talent
15:42 They just can't seem to put it all together and that goes for this year, but they've also had injuries
15:47 Which hasn't helped Jumante Porter, maybe their best player leading scorer
15:51 Actually, I believe second in scoring NBA prospect missed a number of games due to injury
15:57 But Pepperdine sits at 9 and 13 you go down their schedule. I don't see a
16:01 Good win that you could say hey, this is gonna help them
16:05 This is gonna help the league kind of move other teams
16:09 Net rankings needle in the right direction as the season goes on to 47 in the net as I may have mentioned
16:16 The losses they had again you look at against the Mountain West. They lost to UNLV. They lost to New Mexico
16:22 They lost to Colorado in the Pac-12 and they lost at Louisville, you know of those games
16:27 Maybe if they could have beat UNLV, which was a home game would have been big
16:32 Maybe if they could have snuck a win out at Louisville in the Big East
16:37 We're actually sorry the ace. Yeah, the I will I don't know if let me build in the ACC or Big East
16:42 I know they've had transition but you know, the that hasn't been a program that is
16:48 Succeeded much at all in recent years Louisville, even though they are
16:52 Traditionally a good program, you know, then you go to the bottom three of the league
16:56 Well, then you go to the next, you know team only the Toreros USD sitting at 250 in the net
17:03 So right around where Pepperdine is again, it's not gonna help your net in any way
17:07 You kind of make got to make sure you just handle business
17:10 Whether it's Homer or away, it's it's not gonna help or hurt you too much
17:14 It might actually hurt you more that's gonna help you but there's 11 and 10 the only good win you could look at on their
17:20 Schedule would be Arizona State in the Pac-12
17:24 That was a surprise when it happened and I think that was you know
17:28 Giving a lot of people some excitement and some expectations that maybe USD
17:32 Was going to be better than thought they're now sitting at one one of five in the league
17:36 You know, and I think when you look at it, they built a non-conference to have success with the young roster
17:43 They did that but again sometimes in doing that you play non d1s or you play really poor d1s
17:49 And I think that you know over excited a lot of people myself included about how good
17:55 And how quick that turnaround was happening in San Diego under Steve Labin, but losses that were maybe opportunities
18:03 Stanford it was a at Stanford, you know Stanford's kind of one of those unique teams in the Pac-12
18:10 They've got a lot of talent, especially this year, but they've always kind of been in that middle
18:14 It's been a number of years since they've gotten in that large bid to the NCAA tournament
18:18 So you would have thought maybe they could have snuck that one out, but they didn't and then again another Mountain West team
18:24 gay a game where
18:27 WCC didn't take advantage of an opportunity that would have been at Utah State
18:31 In a lot of these teams when they schedule Utah State in the non-conference
18:35 They probably thought there was a really good chance, but Danny Sprinkle has done an amazing job at Utah State
18:41 Maybe the front-runner for coach of the year. They didn't return a single
18:46 Player who scored a point from a season ago
18:49 When he came in and it's been an absolutely amazing a turnaround
18:54 Based on what they had on their roster when he took the rock the the job to what they're doing now a phenomenal story in
19:02 Logan, Utah, but now you move to the bottom two teams in the WCC at least in regards to net rankings and also
19:09 in the standings
19:11 Portland Pilots sitting at 316 in the net
19:14 7 and 14 overall 1 and 5 in league when you look up and down
19:20 You really don't see a good win
19:23 That you can kind of hang your hat on
19:26 They've had injuries again this year. They had to dismiss a player at break
19:32 It just wasn't fitting in he wasn't buying into to what coach Shantae leggings was trying to build there and that really hurt their chemistry
19:40 Early in the non-conference some of the injuries that they've had have been
19:44 You know two games here three games there for certain players
19:48 Chris Austin came back from a brutal leg injury a couple years ago hasn't been his self just because of how
19:54 Devastating that injury was but you know Tyler Robertson, you know gives it as all every night
20:00 He might be one of the best players in league, but unfortunately
20:03 He has to do too much for Portland and they haven't been able to really kind of turn the corner in year three
20:10 For Shantae leggings a couple of the games that were maybe
20:14 opportunities missed
20:17 They went to the Diamondhead Classic where unfortunately they went 0-3 in that Christmastime tournament in Hawaii
20:23 You know, they they lost to Hawaii. They lost to Temple
20:27 Teams that maybe out of the whack and out of the a-10 really would have kind of helped move the needle
20:33 Especially, you know at 810, you know, it's a a league that this year is
20:37 Statting out a little bit higher than the WCC
20:40 So that would have helped and then two other losses that they would have loved to have maybe taken advantage of at Nevada
20:46 They weren't really in that game
20:48 But then they they played Grand Canyon and they played them at home and they played them well
20:53 For a good stretch of that game, but Grand Canyon too much to overcome. They got a really good backcourt
20:58 And you know Grand Canyon quietly is moving up in the net. I believe last I checked on particular for them
21:05 They're sitting around 40
21:07 So that would have been a terrific opportunity for Portland had they been able to win that one
21:12 But they couldn't quite get it done and then rounding out
21:15 the WCC
21:18 You know a disappointing
21:22 Performance this season quite frankly is
21:24 Pacific 6 and 15 on the year. Oh and 6 in league a lot of these games. They haven't even been in unfortunately
21:32 They just lost by 48 on the road in Moraga to st. Mary's they shot 20% from the field
21:38 And you know didn't have a single player in double figures, which is hard to imagine
21:43 But 28 points for that for a game at the division one level that that's that's hard to fathom
21:49 but shows you a little bit what st. Mary's can do defensively, but
21:53 They actually do have what might be deemed a okay win and that's at Cal
21:59 and then losses
22:02 You know the only other quad one or two game that I can quickly find on their schedule is at Nevada
22:09 And so really what it shows you is their their
22:11 Schedule was all against the quad threes quad fours and non d1s
22:16 Which aren't going to improve your net in any way and they haven't been able to get
22:20 Any traction any momentum going in the right direction to win those games and so now you look at their net
22:27 358 out of
22:31 362 teams in division one in the net and that really is bringing a lot of teams down in the league
22:37 I mean if you quite frankly if you look at the bottom four teams net Pepperdine 247
22:41 USD 250 UP at 316 and Pacific at 358 in the net
22:46 That's really pulling the league's numbers down
22:49 Even if those could all be you know 225 ish
22:53 It would really help st. Mary's Gonzaga Santa Clara and San Francisco's Nets when when?
23:01 They face those opponents, but 358 in the net
23:05 They actually did play Gonzaga still plays them twice so Gonzaga is gonna take a negative hit when they play
23:14 Pacific I'm sure in the net but
23:16 interesting thing is they did have a common opponent in the non-conference as the Gonzaga and that's the
23:23 362nd out of 362 teams in the net, Mississippi Valley State
23:28 And Pacific played them at home and they only won
23:32 68 to 65 so
23:35 really dragging down the league in in the the
23:39 statistic numbers the analytical numbers
23:42 Is Pacific so deep dive into the league and into the the net into the?
23:50 Results up till now and how it's impacted programs with their net and the opportunities
23:56 They're out there really for for Gonzaga or st. Mary's and San Francisco and to a certain extent
24:03 Santa Clara what they have to do now is
24:08 They cannot lose to any teams in the bottom half of the league that being loyal to Marymount Pepperdine
24:15 USD UP and Pacific
24:17 Losses to any of those teams will be disastrous in the net for the four teams on the top of the standings now for Santa
24:25 Clara and
24:26 USF if there's any way they can sneak out a win against
24:30 Sant st. Mary's or Gonzaga that is going to be a huge
24:36 Boost in the right direction. I know Santa Clara still plays at st. Mary's. I know Gonzaga st. Mary's matchup twice
24:42 st. Mary's and San Francisco play one more time
24:45 Gonzaga and San Francisco play one more time at the Chase Center not on campus at USF
24:52 So the that actually bodes well for Gonzaga's
24:54 you know
24:57 Findings just simply because USF can be a tough place to play for them. But you know, that's kind of where we're sitting
25:04 With with the league and with the net so lots of interesting things going on about a third of the way through
25:11 Thanks for joining Gonzaga nation as always. We'll check you out again real soon
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