WCC Basketball: A lack of seniors this season could make next year special

Every year, the question is asked whether WCC basketball can become the best mid-major league. Here is why the 2018-19 season could be a golden year.

Life in the WCC is pretty much the same every year. Gonzaga dominates the league, Saint Mary’s is the runner-ups, and BYU comes in third. Behind them are seven other teams, who after usually bad non-conference performances, beat each other up to have bad metrics and numbers. That drags down the league’s numbers as a whole, making them a 1-2 bid conference.

This year is looking more of the same, with the Zags in a good spot, the Gaels needing to beat the Zags, and the Cougars needing to beat them both. San Diego has improved, but for the most part, everyone else is a sub-200 RPI team. That’s for the teams, but as for the players, there’s a very positive note to take away

Take a look at each team. When you take the top three scorers from each program right now, only seven players total are seniors (three are from Saint Mary’s). Here are some stats about the WCC overall:

Only 2 of the top-10 scorers are seniors and 5 of the top-20
Only 1 of the top-10 distributors is a senior and 3 of the top-20
Only 6 of the top-20 rebounders are seniors

That’s a lot of talent coming back from all aspects of basketball. Now here’s a team-by-team look at what each program loses/gains for the 2018/19 season:

San Diego loses a couple of rotation players, ut returns three potential All-WCC players who are all juniors.
San Francisco is in good shape. Preseason All-WCC sophomore Charles Minlend will redshirt after a shoulder injury. But outside of Chase Foster, everyone else returns, including freshman leading scoring Souley Boum.
Pacific already have a couple of impressive wins, returns the top six scorers and will have even more depth next year.
Pepperdine will lose the often-injured point guard Amadi Udenyi, but the current top-four scorers are all underclassmen.
LMU loses Steven Haney, but returns everyone else, including James Batemon and Eli Scott.
Portland will need to replace a top rebounder in Philipp Hartwich, but all the main scorers are underclassmen, including the Porter brothers.
Santa Clara loses Henry Caruso, but returns basically everyone else, including KJ Feagin, who averages 17 points per game.
BYU has no seniors on the roster and Yoeli Childs is only a sophomore. The team also has a couple of Mormon missionaries who will be back next year as well.
Gonzaga loses Silas Melson, but have a couple of double-digit scoring guards to take his place. Leading scorer Johnathan Williams also graduates, but San Jose transfer Brandon Clarke, who averaged 18 and 8 a year ago, will slide right in next year. Also, this is Gonzaga, they always reload.
Saint Mary’s is the one team that will be losing key players, as Jock Landale, Emmett Naar and Calvin Hermanson (top three scorers this year) will all be gone. But there’s two things to remember. One, there’s no juniors on the roster, so the next era of Gaels will be playing together for a while. Also, head coach Randy Bennett runs an excellent offensive system that will function with whoever is on the roster.

Now while all of this is exciting for WCC hoops fans, there are scenarios that could derail this. There are players who can transfer, like Devin Watson of the Dons two years ago. Sophomore Eric Mika unexpectedly went pro last year, and after averaging 16.6 ppg and 6.4 rpg, LMU forward Adom Jacko went pro and went to Europe after his junior year, a bad loss for the Lions.

Next: Where Gonzaga and Saint Mary's stands in latest Bracketology

Things can and will likely change, but there’s a ton of talent likely going to come back next year, in a way that hasn’t happened in recent years. Maybe that will allow the WCC to have a breakthrough season, and send a bunch of teams to various postseason tournaments.