WCC Basketball: LMU rises, San Francisco falls in latest power rankings
By David Mullen
2. BYU Cougars (17-5, 8-3)
The Cougars earned two wins this week against Pacific and Loyola Marymount. The Cougars, running on all cylinders, beat Pacific by 28 points and Loyola Marymount by 17 points. Seven-foot center Matt Haarms stepped up big for the Cougars against Loyola Marymount.
The Purdue transfer, Haarms tallied his second-highest point total of the season with 21 points. Haarms shot 7-8 from the field and 7-9 from the charity stripe but only tallied two rebounds. On the defensive side, Haarms was a force with five-shot blocks. The Cougars will close out their season with two home games against San Francisco and Saint Mary’s respectively.
What is there to say about the Gonzaga Bulldogs that has not already been said? The Bulldogs spent the week dispatching pedestrian West Coast Conference opponents by 22 points and 37 points. We expect more of the same from head coach Mark Few and the Bulldogs as they close out their season with matchups against Santa Clara and Loyola Marymount.
The only concern for the Bulldogs has to be complacency. Will the team get used to winning and lose their competitive fire? Mark Few will not let that happen. He is too interested in building a consistent, winning culture.
I would be surprised if Few has not addressed the team about complacency in the last few weeks as their competition has not given them much of a fight in any of their recent contests.