A loaded Gonzaga roster looks to take back the conference title in a new-look WCC.
As the benefactors of conference realignment — for now — the WCC boasts 11 teams and the healthiest middle-of-the-pack the conference has seen since receiving three bids to the tournament in 2022.
After an inconsistent season, Gonzaga is back in the conversation nationally as a potential Final Four team with a rotation centered on six experienced seniors. They’ll look to wrestle back the league champion honors from Saint Mary’s, who bring back the league’s player of the year and defensive player of the year.
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The battle for third is wide open, with San Francisco, Santa Clara, Washington State, and Loyola Marymount all having cases as teams that could test the top two. The Dons and Broncos return major minute-earners and scorers, while the Cougars’ new head coach David Riley brought several key contributors with him from Eastern Washington.
The lower half of the league is full of upheaval as Pacific and Pepperdine begin new head coaching regimes. Further north, Portland looks at life without do-everything point forward Tyler Robertson and Wayne Tinkle’s Beavers start anew out of the confines of the Pac-12. If the additions of Washington State and Oregon State can pad out the middle and lower half of this conference, perhaps whoever finishes third in the conference can be a viable option for a tournament bid.
Projected Order of Finish
1. Gonzaga Bulldogs
Days before last season began, the Zags found themselves stuck with limited options due to transfer wing Steele Venters’ ACL tear. The on-the-fly adjustments resulted in their worst nonconference record in 14 seasons, but Mark Few’s team found its groove and reached its ninth straight Sweet 16 appearance. But even as the Zags got back to their winning ways and Ryan Nembhard (12.6 ppg, 6.9 apg) and Graham Ike (16.5 ppg, 7.4 rpg) found a foothold in their new home, there was an ever-present ceiling to what the Zags could accomplish without a shot creator and typical spacing.
With a staggering 81 percent of its minutes back from last year, Gonzaga prioritized filling those aforementioned gaps. Cue the arrivals of graduate senior guard Khalif Battle (14.8 ppg at Arkansas) and senior forward Michael Ajayi (17.2 ppg, 9.9 rpg at Pepperdine), two players who had the highest usage for their previous teams. Battle solves the scoring issue from the backcourt, adding multi-level scoring but especially rim pressure and drawing fouls. Of the nearly 15 points Battle averaged last season, 5.8 came from the free throw line (72.7 FT rate).
Ajayi is a three-level scorer who, at 6-7, is just as comfortable bouncing off of defenders in the post as knocking down catch-and-shoot threes. In addition to averaging just shy of a double-double, he shot 47 percent from deep at Pepperdine. The Washington native’s growth has been remarkable, going from an unranked junior college player to a starting forward with NBA draft potential for a top-10 team — all in less than three years.
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