Injuries doomed the Gaels last season but if they stay healthy, they should once again factor in the league race. Saint Mary’s had an uncharacteristic down season a year ago, going 14-10, but it returns all 13 players, headlined by Logan Johnson, Tommy Kuhse, Dan Fotu, Alex Ducas and Matthias Tass. Utah basketball has indeed had a transfer problem, while Mark Pope has had success.9.Īs far as the WCC goes, the league is strong at the top besides Gonzaga and BYU, with Saint Mary’s, Loyola Marymount and San Francisco expected to challenge the Cougars for the No. 4, then the Cougars host Cleveland State in the season opener on Nov. The Cougars have also added a pair of key transfers in Te’Jon Lucas and Seneca Knight.īYU tips off the season with an exhibition game against Colorado Christian on Nov. He scored a career-high 19 points against Pacific. He led the Cougars in scoring (16.1 ppg), assists (4.3), steals (0.9), 3-point percentage (47.7%) and free-throw percentage (85.6%) a year ago as he was voted to the All-WCC first team and was also an AP All-America honorable mention.Īfter leading BYU in rebounding (7.1) last year, Lohner was named to the All-WCC Freshman Team. Two Cougars were named to the All-WCC preseason team - guard Alex Barcello and forward Caleb Lohner.īarcello decided to return for one more season with BYU after exploring NBA draft possibilities last spring. Are BYU’s Alex Barcello, Utah State’s Justin Bean among college basketball’s least appreciated players?.6 seed and fell to eventual Final Four-bound UCLA in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars return eight players from a team that earned a No. 1 recruit, 7-footer Chet Holmgren, the top-rated recruit in program history.īYU, meanwhile, finished 20-7 overall and 10-3 in the WCC last season. If that weren’t enough, Gonzaga signed the nation’s No. Returning is forward Drew Timme, who averaged 19 points and seven rebounds last season and is a National Player of the Year candidate.Īlso returning are Andrew Nembhard, Anton Watson and Julian Strawther. Last season, the Cougars placed second behind the Zags and lost to Gonzaga in the tournament championship game.Ĭoach Mark Few has seen the departure of Corey Kispert, Jalen Suggs and Joel Ayayi as well as longtime assistant Tommy Lloyd, who is now the head coach at Arizona.īut the Zags have, once again, reloaded. And it wasn’t surprising that BYU was picked to finish second. So it came as no surprise that they were voted to win the WCC in the preseason coaches’ poll Thursday. Here’s where BYU men’s basketball is predicted to finish in the West Coast Conference.
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