WCC Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2020-21 season

By Nick Raponi | Sep 17, 2020

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 06: A logo for the West Coast Conference basketball tournament is shown on the court before the championship game between the Brigham Young Cougars and the Gonzaga Bulldogs at the Orleans Arena on March 6, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Bulldogs won 74-54. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

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LOS ANGELES, CA – DECEMBER 14: Shaquille Walters #22 of the Santa Clara Broncos (Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images) /

7. Santa Clara Broncos

Last season: 11-21 (4-12) 8th Place

The race for who finishes 6th and 7th in the WCC will be extremely tight this year, as both the Santa Clara Broncos and the Loyola Marymount Lions should finish with around the same record. However, I have the Lions finishing slightly ahead of the Broncos due to the fact that the team took quite the blow during the transfer window.

Trey Wertz, who one could argue was the team’s best player, transferred to Notre Dame to play out the last two years of his eligibility. Making matters worse, Tajh Eaddy left for USC as a grad transfer. While the team has a lot of their depth from last year coming back to fill the void, there is nobody on the roster who is capable of picking up where he left off.

In order for the Broncos to exceed my expectations for them, they will need their leading scorer from last year, Josip Vrankic, to take a huge leap forward. If Vrankic can take his game up to a new level and they have their depth from last season develop and contribute, the Broncos could do some damage. However, it will take a lot of things to go right for this team to finish above 7th place in 2020-2021.