NCAA Basketball: 5 biggest winners from 2021-22 preseason KenPom rankings
WCC
Arguably, no mid-major conference gained as significant of a boost in the preseason KenPom ratings than the West Coast Conference, which has obviously received national recognition and has asserted a clear-cut perennial powerhouse in Gonzaga, who will enter the 2021-22 campaign ranked first nationally in the preseason AP Poll.
That makes sense, considering the Zags were so close to completing a perfect, unblemished season, if not for a gauntlet in the form of the Baylor Bears – but, outside of Gonzaga and fellow NCAA Tournament squad BYU, the WCC was surprisingly lacking in depth compared to previous years. Saint Mary’s fell in the opening round of the NIT, San Francisco had early-season victories over Virginia and Nevada and then slipped in the final weeks of the season, and Pepperdine – after pushing UCLA to triple overtime in the opening week of the year – struggled to put together any consistency, before winning the College Basketball Invitational at the end of the season.
But even then, the WCC still ranked eighth among 32 conferences in the end-of-season KenPom ratings, just behind the Power 6 leagues and the AAC – all the while boasting just two teams within the top 70 in Gonzaga and BYU. That marked the third-straight season where the WCC ended the year ranked eighth in the conference ratings – which still marks an improvement over previous years’ rankings such as 2018’s 12th, 2017’s 11th, and 2016’s 14th placements.
2021-22, however, appears to be significantly different. Five teams – Gonzaga (1st), San Francisco (34th), BYU (38th), Saint Mary’s (42nd), and Loyola Marymount (69th) – are all slotted to be within the top 70, and the WCC, for the first time ever, has been rated higher than the ACC, ranked seventh behind the Big East.
While most of that can be attributed to the return of Gonzaga’s Drew Timme and the Bulldogs’ acquisition of Chet Holmgren, the rise of the San Francisco Dons – who return their star, double-digit tandem in Jamaree Bouyea and Khalil Sbazz – and the continuing danger of the BYU Cougars, who will bring back Alex Barcello, one of the deadliest snipers in the country with clips of 53.9% (2PT) and 47.2% (3PT).
Obviously, this fortune for the WCC will not last much longer, given the Cougars’ future departure to the Big 12 – but this year is bound to be a historic one for a conference that has not been without its share of criticism over the years. Whether the West Coast Conference can live up to those expectations has yet to be seen, obviously – but this may be the greatest opportunity the league has had yet to assert itself as a legitimate titan among the power conferences.