2022–23 West Coast Conference men's basketball season

2022–23 West Coast Conference men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Men's basketball
Number of teams	10
Regular season
Tournament

2022–23 West Coast Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	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

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.

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

Head coaches

Coaching changes

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

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

Conference realignment

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

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

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

Main article: 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

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	Wk 16	Wk 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

Conference matrix

	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

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

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

WCC tournament

Main article: 2023 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament

	First round Thursday, March 2					Second round Friday, March 3					Third round Saturday, March 4					Semifinals Monday, March 6					Championship Tuesday, March 7
																1	Saint Mary’s	76
											4	Loyola Marymount	63			5	BYU	69
						5	BYU	82			5	BYU	73								1	Saint Mary's	51
	8	Portland	92			8	Portland	71													2	Gonzaga	77
	9	San Diego	74													2	Gonzaga	84
											3	Santa Clara	87			6	San Francisco	73
						6	San Francisco	80			6	San Francisco	93*
	7	Pacific	84			7	Pacific	63
	10	Pepperdine	71

* denotes overtime period

NCAA Tournament

Main article: 2023 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

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

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

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. 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.