WCC Basketball Fans

Monday, January 16

BYU 82, San Diego 63

Thursday, January 19

Loyola Marymount 82, BYU 68

Gonzaga 74, San Francisco 63

Saint Mary’s 61, Pepperdine 47

San Diego 82, Portland 63

Saturday, January 21

Saint Mary’s 93, Santa Clara 77

San Francisco 72, Portland 71

Gonzaga 77, San Diego 60

BYU 77, Pepperdine 64

Something very significant happened in the West Coast Conference this past week, and believe it or not, it had very little to do with longtime league powers Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s. For once, the focus shifted away from Spokane, Washington, and Moraga, California. The main headline in the WCC emerged from its newest college town – Provo, Utah.

The Brigham Young Cougars knew this season that they would have to make do without Jimmer Fredette, the spectacular long-range shooter and basketball magician who catapulted the program to the Sweet 16 and almost made the Elite Eight, falling short in an overtime loss to Florida in New Orleans. Had center Brandon Davies not violated BYU’s school honor code, meriting a suspension for the remainder of the season, the Cougars very easily could have advanced to the Final Four and created an even bigger national brand name as they left the Mountain West Conference and moved to the WCC. As it was, with Davies back from that suspension, BYU still had a fairly solid core in place for this season. Even without Fredette, the Cougars were a threat to bust up the Gonzaga-Saint Mary’s duopoly in the league.

Now, that prospect seems very remote, its chances dimmed by a stunning turn of events in Provo.

BYU simply doesn’t lose very many games at the Marriott Center. The Cougars’ home building, loud and located in a high-altitude setting, has been very difficult for visiting teams over the years. Marriott has become one of the strongholds of college basketball, a place that gets conquered very rarely, and only by really good teams such as the Baylor bunch that won in Provo in December. BYU doesn’t lose conference games at home, but now, that reality has changed, and it wasn’t even Gonzaga or Saint Mary’s who did the deed. The Loyola Marymount Lions, lurking in the shadows, came from nowhere to ambush BYU on Thursday night. It was shocking enough that the Lions won; it was that much more remarkable that they won going away, by 14 points. Coach Max Good’s LMU crew maxed out, humbling the Cougars with an effective offense that cracked 80 points in a very tough building. BYU had already lost at Saint Mary’s and needed to hold the fort at home to have a realistic chance of winning the WCC. This upset loss strips the Cougars of crucial leverage, putting a smile on the faces of Gonzaga and SMC fans who saw their teams win both league games this past week by double-digit margins.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer