NCAA Basketball: Caitlin Clark, LMU and New Mexico State among key storylines

Loyola Marymount did it again, not many teams in the WCC have beaten Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s in the same season right?

The LMU Lions were a team that not many knew what to expect from this year. They have one of the most talented rosters in the West Coast Conference. They have everything you would want an Alpha on offense who demands the ball and makes tough shots, an elite rebounder, and defender and a ton of role players who excel in their roles. They have not lived up to the lofty expectations in years past and have underachieved in a sense. I tempered my expectations this year given how badly last season went and figured if anything they would beat the middle-of-the-pack teams in the league. It turns out we were all just a year late on our predictions of Loyola Marymount being a real threat to make the NCAA tournament.

We talked earlier this season about the Lions going to Spokane and beating Gonzaga at home for the first time in 75 games. Then LMU played previously undefeated in conference St. Mary’s at home and beat them in overtime. Star Cam Shelton scored a career-high 31 points in that game. Earlier in the season the Lions beat BYU making them the first team in West Coast Conference history to beat Gonzaga, BYU, and St Mary’s in the same season. That is impressive.

Add those wins into an already decent resume with wins over Wake Forest and Nevada. They also have losses to San Diego, Colorado State, UC Riverside, UC Irvine and Pacific. That makes a good resume with two of the best Quad 1 wins in the country all the more complicated. The predictive metrics like NET do not favor the Lions at all. At this point it is WCC tournament champions or bust.

In all honesty that could be a real possibility, LMU has one of the best players in the league in Cam Shelton and when he is playing well the Lions are very hard to beat. The problem is that LMU has been very Jekyl and Hyde this season as they lose to they should beat fairly easily and have beaten teams they have zero business beating. The WCC tournament is going to be great for a lot of reasons but seeing if LMU can catch lightning in a bottle and win the league is what many will tune in for. It has already been a historic season can the Lions keep it going?

I was trying something new this week by diving into the Women’s game.  There is fantastic basketball played on the Womens side of the game as well.  I hope you all enjoyed this week’s version of the Sunday Mailbag.  Enjoy the Super Bowl!