WAC Basketball: In-depth look at Grand Canyon star Alessandro Lever

By Bryan Mauro | Oct 25, 2020

BOISE, ID - DECEMBER 13: Forward Alessandro Lever #25 of the Grand Canyon Lopes backs into the paint through the defense of guard Chandler Hutchison #15 of the Boise State Broncos during first half action on December 13, 2017 at Taco Bell Arena in Boise, Idaho. (Photo by Loren Orr/Getty Images) /

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WAC Basketball Alessandro Lever (Photo by Sam Wasson/Getty Images) /

Grand Canyon has a new coach and a rejuvenated fanbase. But their success in WAC Basketball will largely depend on forward Allessandro Lever.

There are a few conferences in the country that have been utterly dominated by one team for a large number of years. The conferences are the West Coast Conference with Gonzaga, Big 12 with Kansas, and also WAC Basketball with the New Mexico State Aggies.

Every year everyone believes that one team will rise up and provide some competition for these teams. In the WAC that team is often the Grand Canyon Antelopes.

Why Grand Canyon? Well, they have the best home-court advantage in the entire sport. Their student section gets their home arena rocking and it is a sight to see especially if you are an unbiased viewer. The Lopes have also had good teams with a lot of quality talent, they have just never been able to put it all together and they are still searching for their first NCAA tournament appearance since the school has been at the Division 1 level.

Grand Canyon decided to go a different direction heading into this year and fired former head coach Dan Majerle, yes the same Dan Majerle from the Phoenix Suns. The former head man could never get his talented teams over the hump. The administration decided to hire former Vanderbilt head coach Bryce Drew.

The hope is that Drew will be able to rejuvenate the program and finally give the Aggies some competition at the top. Coach Drew does have one of the best players in the conference to build around. Alessandro Lever enters his senior year with a new coach and is hopeful to finally get his team to provide some competition to the Aggies.