2016–17 West Coast Conference men's basketball season explained

2016–17 West Coast Conference men's basketball season
Color:	9B1743
Color Text:	FFFFFF
League:	NCAA Division I
Sport:	Men's basketball
Pixels:	120px
No Of Teams:	10
Season:	Regular season
Season Champs:	Gonzaga
Second Place:	Saint Mary's
Mvp:	Nigel Williams-Goss
Mvp Link:	West Coast Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year
Finals:	Tournament
Finals Link:	2017 West Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
Finals Champ:	Gonzaga
Finals Runner-Up:	Saint Mary's
Finals Mvp Link:	West Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament#List of finals
Seasonslistnames:	Basketball
Prevseason Link:	2015–16 West Coast Conference men's basketball season
Prevseason Year:	2015–16
Nextseason Link:	2017–18 West Coast Conference men's basketball season
Nextseason Year:	2017–18

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.

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. 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

Team	Head coach	Previous job	Years at school	Overall record	Sweet Sixteens
style=	BYU	Dave Rose	Dixie State	12	8	1
style=	Gonzaga	Mark Few	Gonzaga (asst.)	18	17	6
style=	Loyola Marymount	Mike Dunlap	Charlotte Bobcats	3	0	0
style=	Pacific	Damon Stoudamire	Memphis Grizzlies (asst.)	1	0	0
style=	Pepperdine	Marty Wilson	Pepperdine (assoc.)	7	0	0
style=	Portland	Terry Porter	N/A	1	0	0
style=	Saint Mary's	Randy Bennett	Saint Louis (asst.)	16	5	1
style=	San Diego	Lamont Smith	New Mexico (asst.)	2	0	0
style=	San Francisco	Kyle Smith	Columbia	1	0	0
style=	Santa Clara	Herb Sendek	Arizona State	1	8	1

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

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

Rankings

See main article: 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings.

**Legend**
	Improvement in ranking
	Drop in ranking
	Not ranked previous week
align=center style="width:20px; border:1px solid #aaaaaa; background:white;"	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.

	style= width=75	BYU	style= width=75	Gonzaga	style= width=75	LMU	style= width=75	Pacific	style= width=75	Pepperdine	style= width=75	Portland	style= width=75	Saint Mary's	style= width=75	San Diego	style= width=75	San Francisco	style= width=75	Santa Clara
GON	LMU	PAC	PEPP	PORT	SMC	USD	USF	SCU -->	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	–	GON	LMU	PAC	PEPP	PORT	SMC	USD	USF	SCU -->
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

See main article: 2017 West Coast Conference men's basketball 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
1	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
2	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
3	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
4	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

See main article: 2017 NCAA Division I men's basketball 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	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–1 Total: 6–2

Notes and References

Web site: 2016-17 Championship Schedule . April 8, 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150408080555/http://www.wccsports.com/ot/16-wcc-championships.html . April 8, 2015 . mdy-all .
Web site: WCC's scheduling experiment will end. January 26, 2016.
Web site: Calendar moves forward for Midnight Madness. May 3, 2013.
News: Gonzaga thumps Pacific, earns another WCC title. Spokesman.com. July 31, 2017. en.
News: No. 1 Gonzaga moves to 29-0, clinches another WCC title. February 24, 2017. Sporting News. July 31, 2017.
News: Gonzaga men advance to WCC tournament-title game for 20th straight year. March 6, 2017. The Seattle Times. July 31, 2017. en-US.
News: No. 4 Gonzaga beats No. 19 Saint Mary's 74-56 in WCC final. Associated Press. chicagotribune.com. July 31, 2017. en-US.
News: WCC Announces 2016-17 Men's Basketball All-Conference Team News. Official Athletics Site. July 31, 2017. en. https://web.archive.org/web/20170731235211/http://www.wccsports.com/news/wcc-announces-2016-17-men-s-basketball-all-conference-team-02-27-2017. July 31, 2017. dead. mdy-all.
News: Gonzaga gets No. 1 seed for West Region. EndPlay. March 12, 2017. KIRO. July 31, 2017. en-US.
News: Gonzaga Advances to National Championship After South Carolina Rally Falls Short. Goldberg. Rob. Bleacher Report. July 31, 2017. en-US.
Web site: Suspended coach Verlin no longer at Pacific. January 5, 2018.
Web site: Article 404 - Houma Today - Houma, LA. Houma Today. January 5, 2018. March 22, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160322145454/http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20160316/APS/303169759. dead.
Web site: Santa Clara Fires Basketball Coach Kerry Keating. March 16, 2016.
Web site: Sendek Hired as Men's Basketball Coach. March 29, 2016.
Web site: San Francisco fires coach Walters after 8 seasons. January 5, 2018.
News: Kyle Smith new San Francisco basketball coach. DOUG. FEINBERG. January 27, 2017. en-US. sandiegouniontribune.com.
Web site: Portland Pilots fire men's basketball coach Eric Reveno. OregonLive.com. March 16, 2016.
Web site: Kyle Smith Named Head Men's Basketball Coach. April 1, 2016.
News: Portland Pilots hire Terry Porter as men's basketball coach. January 23, 2017. en-US. OregonLive.com.
News: 2016-17 WCC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll, All-WCC Team Unveiled News. Official Athletics Site. July 31, 2017. en. https://web.archive.org/web/20170801001203/http://www.wccsports.com/news/2016-17-wcc-men-s-basketball-preseason-poll-all-wcc-team-unveiled-10-30-2016. August 1, 2017. dead. mdy-all.
Web site: WCC Tournament Preview and Postseason Awards: Can anyone knock off Gonzaga?. Hines. Travis. March 1, 2017. CollegeBasketballTalk. July 31, 2017.
News: WCC Announces 2015-16 Men's Basketball All-Conference Team News. Official Athletics Site. July 31, 2017. en. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160305144745/http://www.wccsports.com/news/wcc-announces-2015-16-men-s-basketball-all-conference-team-02-29-2016. March 5, 2016. mdy-all.