WCC Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2021-22 season
By Tuck Clarry
8. San Diego Toreros
The Toreros were one of the biggest victims of COVID protocols last year, playing just nine conference games and 14 total games last year. The Toreros struggled to find consistency playing just 4-5 games per month with no action in November.
San Diego lost a bit of talent in the portal, most notably post player Yauhen Massalski to San Francisco, and will subsequently need to find a way to catch up against a conference full of improved teams. Coach Sam Scholl will lean on senior guard Joey Calcaterra to find some dependable offense. Calcaterra earned an honorable mention for the all-conference team. He’s a dynamic shooter that is capable off-ball and creating his own looks. He averaged 13.3 points and shot 37.7% from deep.
The hope is Calcaterra will receive even better looks with the addition of another scoring combo guard in Denver transfer Jase Townsend. Townsend lit up the Summit League last year, averaging 19.2 points on 33.9% 3-point shooting. The Toreros offense, in general, should improve as Scholl found a solid amount of perimeter shooting in the portal with not just Townsend but TJ Berger from Georgetown, Bryce Monroe from Sam Houston State, and Marcellus Earlington from St. John’s.
The weakness for the roster will be a lack of depth and firepower down low. Pittsburgh transfer Terrell Brown will have his work cut out for him as the only real defensive-minded big on the roster. Their solid defense on the perimeter will help keep them in a lot of games this season. Ultimately the turnover may be too large for San Diego to move up in the standings this season.