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NCAA Basketball: Top teams on West Coast for 2019-20 season

By Arden Cravalho

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 12: Jordan Hunter (L) #1 and Jordan Ford #3 of the Saint Mary's Gaels hold up the trophy as the team celebrates defeating the Gonzaga Bulldogs 60-47 to win the championship game of the West Coast Conference basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena on March 12, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 12: Jordan Hunter (L) #1 and Jordan Ford #3 of the Saint Mary's Gaels hold up the trophy as the team celebrates defeating the Gonzaga Bulldogs 60-47 to win the championship game of the West Coast Conference basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena on March 12, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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MORAGA, CA – MARCH 02: Jordan Ford #3 of the Saint Mary’s Gaels goes under the basket for a reverse layup over Brandon Clarke #15 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs during the second half of their NCAA college basketball game at McKeon Pavilion on March 2, 2019 in Moraga, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
MORAGA, CA – MARCH 02: Jordan Ford #3 of the Saint Mary’s Gaels goes under the basket for a reverse layup over Brandon Clarke #15 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs during the second half of their NCAA college basketball game at McKeon Pavilion on March 2, 2019 in Moraga, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /

The West Coast hasn’t produced that many great teams in the past few years but that could be changing this upcoming NCAA basketball season in 2019-2020.

The PAC-12, West Coast Conference, Mountain West, Big West, Big Sky, and WAC are all represented on the West Coast. Each conference has at least one team that has a chance to make a run in the NCAA Tournament. The West Coast looks to be loaded with talent this season and the world of NCAA Basketball should take definitely notice (if they haven’t already).

This upcoming season should be quite the turn around from what was a disappointing year for the PAC-12 Conference in 2018-2019. The PAC-12 could have as many as six potential teams represented in March Madness (Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, UCLA, USC).  In my mind, I don’t see the Beavers of Oregon State and the Arizona State Sun Devils have enough firepower to continue to play into March.

As for the West Coast Conference, the WCC could make the argument that they have four potential teams with the chance of receiving a bid to the Big Dance (Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s, Pepperdine, and BYU). I can even see San Diego State sneaking into the tournament and representing the Mountain West Conference alongside Utah State.

For the purpose of this article, I chose my top schools from the following western states (California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico). Here are the top 15 teams on the west side.

Honorable Mentions – Oregon State, Arizona State, New Mexico, Boise State, Grand Canyon

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