It wasn’t only a media day devoted to the West Coast Convention at Resorts World in Las Vegas however the Mountain West Convention as nicely. You possibly can even say for the Pac-12 Convention with a number of applications from each the WCC and MWC transferring to the Convention of Champions in 2026-2027.
A few quotes from the MWC portion within the morning stood out. Boise State head coach Leon Rice was requested about Gonzaga’s head Mark Few becoming a member of a league the place his voice might not carry as a lot energy within the Pac-12. That’s merely simply not the case as Few receives respect from all of his faculty basketball colleagues and everybody listens to what he has to say.
“I received’t say this to his face, however when he says one thing about basketball and issues like that, he’s normally proper.” – Leon Rice
San Diego State head coach Brian Dutcher was requested concerning the addition of Gonzaga to the Pac-12. The Zags and the Aztecs might be proper on the prime of the convention as each applications have been within the nationwide championship as soon as within the final 4 seasons.
“I simply suppose if you begin any dialog with a basketball convention that features San Diego State and Gonzaga, it’s an excellent factor.” – Brian Dutcher
Onto the WCC portion within the afternoon, Randy Bennett and his Gaels joined the Area of 68 the place Rob Dauster requested him in the event that they had been going to maintain the Gonzaga-Saint Mary’s rivalry going previous 2025-2026. Bennett and Few had been even noticed by Theo Lawson of the Spokesman-Evaluation chatting for a bit.
“Not an enormous shock to see Gonzaga depart… We have now. We have to get that carried out.” – Randy Bennett
As for the Zags, in attendance together with Few was Graham Ike, Ben Gregg and Nolan Hickman. Few was thrilled to have the trio of seniors together with everybody else from final season come again to Spokane for yet one more run collectively. The switch portal haul of Michael Ajayi, Khalif Battle, Emmanuel Innocenti and Braeden Smith (redshirting this season) was great to accumulate however the return of Gonzaga’s veteran expertise from 2023-2024 is that rather more vital to have.
“Retention is a lot extra vital than addition.” – Mark Few
To nobody’s shock, Gonzaga was picked to win the West Coast Convention with 9 of the 11 first-place votes from the top coaches going to the Zags. Saint Mary’s acquired a primary place vote and surprisingly, USF acquired the opposite.
With that being stated, that is positively trying like a three-bid league for the NCAA Match. Gonzaga at all times appears to be like ahead to the Bay Space street journeys due to the attractive surroundings and the competitiveness these applications convey. This season is not any exception with Saint Mary’s, USF and Santa Clara all making a case for an at-large bid to the Large Dance.
That is the strongest the center half of the league has seemed in a very long time with the additions of Washington State and Oregon State. Though, the underside half from Portland and on is a dumpster hearth.
It hasn’t occurred since 2018 however the Zags had 4 gamers named to the WCC preseason group in Graham Ike, Ryan Nembhard, Nolan Hickman and Michael Ajayi. The one different applications with a number of gamers named was Saint Mary’s in Augustas Marciulionis and Mitchell Saxen in addition to Santa Clara in Adama Bal and Carlos Stewart.
I’m advantageous with Saxen successful the WCC Defensive Participant of the Yr once more and he positively may however Marciulionis higher not come away with the WCC Participant of the Yr once more. It’s both Ike’s or Nembhard’s for the taking.
Much less that three weeks till #6 Gonzaga tips-off the 2024-2025 season on the Spokane Enviornment towards #8 Baylor on November 4th at 8:30 PM PT on ESPN2.
Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga College graduate from the Bay Space… Observe him on Twitter @a_cravalho
