2022–23 West Coast Conference men's basketball season

The 2022–23 West Coast Conference men's basketball season began with practices in September 2022 and ended with the 2023 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament in March 2023. This was the 72nd season for WCC men's basketball, and the 34th 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.

2022–23 West Coast Conference men's basketball season
LeagueNCAA Division I
SportMen's basketball
Number of teams10
Regular season
Tournament
Basketball seasons
2022–23 West Coast Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 19 Saint Mary's 14 2   .875 27 8   .771
No. 9 Gonzaga 14 2   .875 31 6   .838
Santa Clara 11 5   .688 23 10   .697
Loyola Marymount 9 7   .563 19 12   .613
San Francisco 7 9   .438 20 14   .588
BYU 7 9   .438 19 15   .559
Pacific 7 9   .438 15 18   .455
Portland 5 11   .313 14 19   .424
San Diego 4 12   .250 11 20   .355
Pepperdine 2 14   .125 9 22   .290
2023 WCC tournament winner
Rankings from AP poll

This was the final WCC season for BYU, which joins the Big 12 Conference on July 1, 2023.

Head coaches

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Coaching changes

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Two new head coaches will lead their team in the WCC during the 2022-23 season. On March 6, the University of San Diego announced that they had released Sam Scholl as head coach.[1] Then, on April 6, USD announced that Steve Lavin, who previously had coached at both UCLA and St. John's, had been hired as the new head coach.[2] Due to Todd Golden accepting the position as basketball coach at the University of Florida, San Francisco also had a coaching change.[3] The long time assistant coach Chris Gerlufsen was hired as head coach at USF on March 18.[4]

Coaches

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Team Head coach Previous job Years

at school

Overall

record

WCC

record

WCC

Tournament record

NCAA

Tournaments

Sweet

Sixteens

BYU Mark Pope Utah Valley 4 68–26 (.723) 32–12 (.727) 2–3 (.400) 1 0
Gonzaga Mark Few Gonzaga (asst.) 24 658–129 (.836) 318–32 (.908) 47–5 (.904) 22 11
Loyola Marymount Stan Johnson Marquette (asst.) 3 24–27 (.471) 10–17 (.370) 2–2 (.500) 0 0
Pacific Leonard Perry Pacific (asst.) 2 8–22 (.267) 3–11 (.214) 0–1 (.000) 0 0
Pepperdine Lorenzo Romar Arizona (asst.) 5 96–115 (.455) 22–40 (.355) 5–4 (.556) 7 3
Portland Shantay Legans Eastern Washington 2 19–15 (.559) 7–7 (.500) 1–1 (.500) 1 0
Saint Mary's Randy Bennett Saint Louis (asst.) 22 481–201 (.705) 244–93 (.724) 26–18 (.591) 8 1
San Diego Steve Lavin St. John's 1 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 8 4
San Francisco Chris Gerlufsen San Francisco (asst.) 1 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0 0
Santa Clara Herb Sendek Arizona State 7 97–84 (.536) 46–45 (.505) 5–6 (.455) 8 1

Notes:

  • Year at school includes 2022–23 season.
  • Overall and WCC records are from time at current school and are through the beginning of the 2022–23 season.

Preseason

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Conference realignment

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On September 10, 2021, BYU was one of four schools (the others being Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF) that accepted invitations to join the Big 12 Conference beginning with the 2023-24 athletic season.[5] Therefore, BYU will remain a member of the WCC for the current season, with the WCC potentially dropping to 9 teams for the 2023-24 season.[6] West Coast Conference commissioner Gloria Nevarez indicated that the conference is open to adding additional schools to the conference to ensure "continued success" for the league.[7]

Preseason poll

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2022-23 WCC Preseason Men's Basketball Coaches Poll[8]
Rank Team (First Place Votes) Points
1. Gonzaga (9) 81
2. Saint Mary's (1) 73
T-3. BYU 57
T-3. San Francisco 57
5. Portland 48
6. Santa Clara 43
7. Pepperdine 33
8. San Diego 31
8. Loyola Marymount 17
10. Pacific 10

All-WCC Preseason Men's Basketball team

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Honor Recipient
Preseason All-WCC Team Rasir Bolton, Gonzaga
Alex Ducas, Saint Mary's
Logan Johnson, Saint Mary's
Keshawn Justice, Santa Clara
Houston Mallette, Pepperdine
Tyler Robertson, Portland
Khalil Shabazz, San Francisco
Julian Strawther, Gonzaga
Drew Timme, Gonzaga
Fousseyni Traore, BYU

Rankings

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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

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16

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17

Wk

18

Final
BYU AP NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
C NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
Gonzaga AP 2 2 6 14 18 15 11 10 9 8 6 14 12 16 13 12 10
C 2 2 5 12 18 15 12 11 10 8 6 14 14 16 12 12 10
Loyola

Marymount

AP NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
C NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
Pacific AP NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
C NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
Pepperdine AP NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
C NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
Portland AP NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
C NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
Saint

Mary's

AP NV RV RV NV NV RV RV NV RV RV RV 22 18 15 17 15 17
C RV RV RV RV NV RV RV RV RV RV 24 22 18 14 17 14 16
San

Diego

AP NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
C NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
San

Francisco

AP NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
C NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
Santa

Clara

AP NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV
C NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV NV

Regular season

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Conference matrix

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BYU Gonzaga Loyola Marymount Pacific Pepperdine Portland Saint Mary's San Diego San Francisco Santa Clara
vs. BYU 2–0 1–1 0–2 1–1 0–1 2–0 0–1 1–1 2–0
vs. Gonzaga 0–2 1–1 0–1 0–2 0–2 1–1 0–1 0–2 0–2
vs. Loyola Marymount 1–1 1–1 1–1 0–2 0–2 1–1 1–1 1–0 1–0
vs. Pacific 2–0 1–0 1–1 0–2 1–1 1–0 0–2 2–0 1–1
vs. Pepperdine 1–1 2–0 2–0 2–0 1–1 1–0 2–0 1–0 2–0
vs. Portland 1–0 2–0 2–0 1–1 1–1 2–0 0–2 1–1 1–0
vs. Saint Mary's 0–2 1–1 1–1 0–1 0–1 0–2 0–2 0–2 0–2
vs. San Diego 1–0 1–0 1–1 2–0 0–2 2–0 2–0 1–1 2–0
vs. San Francisco 1–1 2–0 0–1 0–2 0–1 1–1 2–0 1–1 2–0
vs. Santa Clara 0–2 2–0 0–1 1–1 0–2 0–1 2–0 0–2 0–2
Total 7–9 14–2 9–7 7–9 2–14 5–11 14–2 4–12 7–9 11–5

Early season tournaments

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The following table summarizes the multiple-team events (MTE) or early season tournaments in which teams from the West Coast Conference will participate.

Team Tournament Dates Result
BYU Battle 4 Atlantis[9] November 23–25 7th
Gonzaga Phil Knight Invitational[10] November 24–27 3rd
Loyola Marymount Jamaica Classic November 18–20 1st
Pacific Pacific MTE[11] November 22–28
Pepperdine Diamond Head Classic December 22–25
Portland Phil Knight Invitational[10] November 24–27 8th
Saint Mary's Wooden Legacy November 23–24 2nd
San Diego Las Vegas Invitational November 25–26 4th
San Francisco Hall of Fame Classic November 21–22 1st
Santa Clara Bahamas Championship November 18–20 2nd

WCC Player/Freshman of the Week

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Throughout the year, the West Coast Conference names a player of the week and a freshman of the week as follows:[12]

Week Date Player of the Week Freshman of the Week
1 November 14, 2022 Brandin Podziemski, Santa Clara Aidan Mahaney, Saint Mary's
2 November 21, 2022 Eric Williams, San Diego Chance Stephens, LMU
3 November 28, 2022 Tyler Robertson, Portland Alden Applewhite, Portland
4 December 5, 2022 Brandin Podziemski (2), Santa Clara Aidan Mahaney (2), Saint Mary's
5 December 12, 2022 Drew Timme, Gonzaga Aidan Mahaney (3), Saint Mary's
6 December 20, 2022 Drew Timme (2), Gonzaga Dallin Hall, BYU
7 December 27, 2022 Maxwell Lewis, Pepperdine Jevon Porter, Pepperdine
8 January 2, 2023 Drew Timme (3), Gonzaga Aidan Mahaney (4), Saint Mary's
9 January 9, 2023 Keylan Boone, Pacific Aidan Mahaney (5), Saint Mary's & Moe Odum, Pacific
10 January 16, 2023 Logan Johnson, Saint Mary’s Aidan Mahaney (6), Saint Mary's
11 January 23, 2023 Cam Shelton, LMU Aidan Mahaney (7), Saint Mary's
12 January 30, 2023 Julian Strawther, Gonzaga Aidan Mahaney (8), Saint Mary's
13 February 6, 2023 Mitchell Saxen, Saint Mary's Aidan Mahaney (9), Saint Mary's
14 February 13, 2023 Cam Shelton (2), LMU Jevon Porter (2), Pepperdine
15 February 20, 2023 Brandin Podziemski (3), Santa Clara Aidan Mahaney (10), Saint Mary's
16 February 27, 2023 Brandin Podziemski (4), Santa Clara & Cam Shelton (3), LMU Jevon Porter (3), Pepperdine

Postseason

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WCC tournament

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First round
Thursday, March 2
Second round
Friday, March 3
Third round
Saturday, March 4
Semifinals
Monday, March 6
Championship
Tuesday, March 7
1Saint Mary’s76
4Loyola Marymount635BYU69
5BYU825BYU731Saint Mary's51
8Portland928Portland712Gonzaga77
9San Diego742Gonzaga84
3Santa Clara876San Francisco73
6San Francisco806San Francisco93*
7Pacific847Pacific63
10Pepperdine71

* denotes overtime period

NCAA Tournament

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School Seed Region First round Second round Sweet 16 Elite Eight Final Four Championship
Gonzaga 3 West Defeated (14 W) Grand Canyon 82–70 Defeated (6 W) TCU 84–81 Defeated (2 W) UCLA 79–76 Lost to (4 W) UConn 82–54
DNP
Saint Mary's 5 West Defeated (12 W) VCU 63–51 Lost to (4 W) UConn 70–55
DNP

All-WCC Awards and Teams

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On March 2, 2022, the West Coast Conference announced the following awards:[13]

Honor Recipient School
Player of the Year Brandin Podziemski Santa Clara
Drew Timme Gonzaga
Coach of the Year Randy Bennett Saint Mary’s
Defensive Player of the Year Logan Johnson Saint Mary's
Newcomer of the Year Brandin Podziemski Santa Clara
Sixth Player of the Year Malachi Smith Gonzaga
All-WCC First Team Logan Johnson Saint Mary's
Aidan Mahaney Saint Mary's
Brandin Podziemski Santa Clara
Tyrell Roberts San Francisco
Mitchell Saxen Saint Mary's
Khalil Shabazz San Francisco
Cam Shelton LMU
Carlos Stewart Santa Clara
Julian Strawther Gonzaga
Drew Timme Gonzaga
All-WCC Second Team Marcellus Earlington San Diego
Keshawn Justice Santa Clara
Maxwell Lewis Pepperdine
Fousseyni Traore BYU
Moses Wood Portland
All-WCC Freshman Team Juan Sebastian Gorosito Portland
Dallin Hall BYU
Aidan Mahaney Saint Mary's
Moe Odum Pacific
Jevon Porter Pepperdine
WCC Honorable Mention Keylan Boone Pacific
Alex Ducas Saint Mary's
Spencer Johnson BYU
Keli Leaupepe LMU
Tyler Robertson Portland
Anton Watson Gonzaga

References

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  1. ^ "Steve Lavin hired as hoops coach at struggling University of San Diego". KPBS Public Media. April 8, 2022. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
  2. ^ "Lavin returns to coaching at struggling San Diego". ESPN.com. April 7, 2022. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
  3. ^ Hall, Graham. "Florida hires Todd Golden as men's basketball coach". USA TODAY. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
  4. ^ "Ex-Hawaii coach Chris Gerlufsen named new head coach at San Francisco". spectrumlocalnews.com. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
  5. ^ Lundquist, Casey. "BYU Athletics to Join the Big 12 in 2023". BYU Cougars on Sports Illustrated: News, Analysis, and More. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
  6. ^ "What BYU leaving the WCC means for both the conference and Gonzaga". krem.com. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
  7. ^ "West Coast Complication: Exploring the future for Gonzaga and the West Coast Conference without BYU | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
  8. ^ "Gonzaga Picked to Win 11th Straight WCC Championship". wccsports.com. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
  9. ^ McCombs, Robby (July 29, 2022). "Matchups Set for Battle 4 Atlantis, BYU to Open Versus USC". Vanquish The Foe. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
  10. ^ a b Lawson, Theo (July 25, 2022). "Gonzaga to open Phil Knight Legacy against Portland State, could face Purdue in semifinal". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
  11. ^ CDobbertean (March 9, 2022). "2022-23 Men's College Basketball Early Season Tournaments and Exempt Multi-Team Events (MTEs)". Blogging the Bracket. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
  12. ^ "Shelton And Podziemski Share Final UCU WCC Men's Basketball Player Of The Week Accolade".
  13. ^ "Timme Tabbed WCC Player Of The Year". WCC Sports.