#460: WCC Preview

(upbeat music) Welcome back to another episode of The Three Man. We've College Basketball Podcast. I am your host this week, Jim Ru joined by Kaimakun and Matthew Cox, my two good buddies. We are here to talk WCC hoops. We're getting into conference previews. We went mid-major extravaganza last week through the other 22, as we'll call them, or 23, I think it ended up being. 23 conferences, and now we're gonna go league by league, leading up to the start of the season. Starting with the WCC, and it will hit your A10s, your Americans, your Pac-12s, and then the P5, of course. But we're excited to be back at it, talking previews. These are what, and we really would say, our wheelhouse and the WCC, a new look WCC awaits. But before we get into it, fellas, how are we feeling Sunday evening record per usual now? Matthew, I'm going to you first, man. You ready in the dad life? - Always ready, Jim, got my big gulp. Actually, it's like the super extra big gulp, so. Should be hydrated. Just back from New Buffalo, Michigan, where did I still get away? So I'll PFT commentated, by the way, in the ice cream line. I didn't say hi to him. He was like 100 people back with a family reunion who looked like of 5,000 people. So he was mulled by fans and supporters. I sadly was not just kind of contextualizing, you know, sort of where we are. But that's okay, that's fine. That's okay. I was head down focused waiting for my hot dog in line, so. - We're good. - You were in posh country, it sounds like that. - Oh my goodness, the hat's not that hot. - I didn't expect that it was. It certainly was. - Is that Matt Cox from Three Man Weave? - Said a bunch of omelikers in the outside line. - They're all afraid to say hi to me. They felt that PFT is more approachable. They just, I think people see us and sort of like kind of shrink at the ambience and the NTA. I think that's probably what it was. - A great major intimidation factor. Yeah, understandable, Matthew. You're just, you're not approachable. - I'm not approachable. - No, I can't say hi. (laughing) - Not Matt, not Matt. - Wouldn't dare. Okay, we're happy to be here on a Sunday evening. Talking Hoops, as mentioned in the WCC, is the subject, the top, I was gonna combine topic and subject and say like subject. - Yeah. - That's not really a word. So, we'll keep plowing ahead. But that's what we're gonna get to after we do a quick routes roundup and we're gonna discuss team by team. The WCC, we like to do that. But we'll finish with reviews. I wanna start with a shout out to JPDAKA Joe Pasquat, the composer of our tunes at the opening the show. I was on a bachelor party last weekend and forgot to mention this. And I asked a friend, I was like, do you know my friend Joe? And he's like, no, I just know that he makes your song for your podcast. It's the only reason that I know him. I was like, oh, that's fun. What a good reputation to have. So shout out, Joe. Follow us on Twitter at 3MW_CBB and Instagram at the same handle. Subscribe to the pod on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, whatever, as you listen to your pods, make sure to do that, download it. I think that's supposed to help. Leave reviews on the Apple Podcast app. Those are the ones we do at the very end of the show. Kai, do we have any reviews today? We do have one, I believe, from our guy, Cabo Reif. So we do, we are gonna have one. We do at the very end. - Yes. - One from Cabo Reif, yes. - Good, good. I saw you were muted. You looked distracted, so I answered my question. I was able to look at the outline. What's that like, Matt? Oh. - Wow, Zang, where is that? - Thanks, thanks, Mr. Zang. - Wow. - Zang Gang. - Two generations. - I thought you said Zewer in the chat. - He was like, oh, he wouldn't bet. That's what I like to see. I thought that's Mr. Zang. - Just at least one of us can do it. Good for him. - Yeah, exactly. - All right, let's keep on ahead. The intro, wanna shout out the Vascular Review, Discord/Website. That is where Kai and I are publishing the Top 50 Countdown team by team. Matthew is a writer in Maritus now. He is no longer a part of the operation over there, but he did vote. So if you wanna protest some of the rankings, you can get into Discord, sign up, and say what the hell Matt, and he won't respond, but you will be able to get your gripes out. That's some time as cathartic for you. Always ball discussion in the Discord. There's also great breakdowns coming from Will Warren on some of the teams. He's splitting up some of the conference previews. You've got writing from Joey Dwyer, Brian Ralph, et cetera, all on the website. It is a great, great place for college hoops. Highly encourage you to sign up and join. Tell a friend as well if they have not yet. So yeah, basket under review. Getting the Discord get on site 10,000 a month. It is well worth your while, especially as the season is fast approaching. Get your prep ready. Be ready for the season. Basket under review. All right, let's get to a quick roots roundup, talking news and notes in the college basketball world. Always a slower time here in August, but this off season's been a little bit frenetic. So we'll recap a couple of things. But before we do, Matthew, shout out to sponsor CBB analytics. Let's head to the gym root corner of what random tabs he has opened. I have the Lynn Fighting Knights, a division two school, checking out one of the division two transfers, one of the best resources for that. CBB analytics also Caden Hansen, a transfer to a police Seattle, doing some WCC previewing before this pods and prep for that. I've got a bunch of tabs open for FAU and all of their transfers 'cause I just wrote that preview. So yeah, CBB analytics, Matthew, it is a great, great off season tool for us. - That's right. Yeah, the WCC is a common fertile landing ground for all these WD2D3 programs. A lot of good programs out there on the West Coast. If you're not privy to the D2D3 talent pool, or any talent pool at the D1 level, you should be signed up today. Coaches especially, if you're not, I don't know what you're doing. All the advanced stats you could ask for contextualized by situation, context, time of year, conference non-conference Q1, Q2, and they continue to grow out of kind of cool features. As I mentioned last time, believe a very, very dynamic in-game box score, live watching feature to come this season. So check it out, I actually have a fun little WCC set for you guys as well to kick it off here. But before I give it to you, sign up today for not only sign up, that's W-E-A-V-E for four-yarders off your subscription, to be analytics.com. Who was the lowest 3.10 rate in the WCC last year? It's kind of surprising. - And the WCC, the lowest 3.10 rate here. - Gonzaga? - Yeah, which I guess really doesn't, when you think about it, it doesn't surprise you that much, but in the 6% tile. - Yeah, I just kind of forget that they totally, it was a very much a paint present-team. That's what they always do. - They usually have a more balanced historically. - The Grand Foster Warly tandem was not really lighting it up from deep, I suppose. - 3.43, yes. Yeah, so I guess they've averaged about 300th nationally, but they went to the depths of like, issuing the three-point last year, so. - There you go. - Trying to copy the Arizona and the Mark Fu Tommy Lloyd just staying intertwined and that statistic of not attempting to freeze last year. Get the room dominance going. Gonzaga's dominance is over though. It is now, they're no longer in the WCC, so it is gonna be wide open. We'll discuss those in a second, but we gotta start with the routes around them, talking news and notes. The biggest storyline from this week was that the Colorado ruling, "Whizney vs. Colorado," I believe is the case there, got stayed, which means every fifth year player that is not covered on an individual state lawsuit is currently ineligible again, 'cause that was the blanket one for the entire country, like a federal one. Now it's only the individual players that are in states, so you'll probably see a rush of guys joining state lawsuits or new state lawsuits being filed, because somebody like Donovan at well for Texas Tech is currently ineligible while Darian Williams and Jamaica still well are eligible for Texas Tech. It is a mess and a half. I think coaches, media, fans alike have had it up to here. The only person enjoying this right now is Darian Heitner, downtown Darian Heitner loves to discuss all this crap hola, but it is still a mess. We do not have finalized rosters yet. It is asterisk everywhere. Kai, you're enjoying this based on your Twitter presence. You are loving the legal battle. - I hate it, so it's the dumbest thing in the world. I can't believe this is like the sport we're living in. - It's so stupid. Yeah, and Goodman just had a tweet. He was saying some kids in Sweeney, I think, backed us up on Twitter as well. Some guys bailed on classes last semester, assuming they were just going pro, or like, you know, not, or continue their basketball career and not going pro and something else. And if they come back to school, that could be grounds for academic ineligibility. They did not complete six credit hours per instead of lay rules. So yet another wrinkle of, well, even though they're eligible, they might still be ineligible because Matt School is supposed to be part of this whole thing called College Basketball. - No, not anymore. We said this like months ago, it's just gonna, it's not a college basketball. It's just it's club basketball anyone can play. So, I mean, I know there's more rules than that, but like, really, there's not. The Donovan Dental, as you think, was sort of like the last straw. She's like, you know, I used to love Donovan. I'm not saying I don't like him as much anymore, but it does feel so, both parties, it's, both parties are so badly like, had to have each other in that arranged marriage that just seems so, I don't know, just doesn't feel as authentic Jim. So, but it's what it is. - In his case, in particular, it's on too, 'cause he retired from basketball. No, he's like, I actually, I would like $5 million, or whatever LSU is gonna give me. - I don't know, I'm gonna say about that. It kinda has like his, hey, come on back home for one more year, paying a lot of money. Yeah, and the course wheel weights is final and stopped, so it doesn't feel as different. - Yeah, Kai, you mentioned the good man tweet about the analogy ability. There's also, I think Armin Yovich has discussed it in the discord that there are some international guys that were like having a hard time getting through, and now with five for five, they're like gonna stop trying to come over, so there may be some players, and it's not gonna be a ton, but there'll be a few here and there that teams were counting on getting these guys, and now they're like, oh, I guess we're just gonna go chase the five for five market, and we don't even know for sure if those dudes are gonna be eligible. So you've got a couple instances where guys could be completely out of luck. Gonzaga's point card situation is one of those where St. Super Relieves, so they go get Javon Bennett and Nathan DeSousa, and there's a chance to Susa, the French point card doesn't wanna come over anymore because they're stacking five for five guys, but then what if Bennett ends up ineligible, 'cause I think the Ohio ruling is stayed right now, so he is currently ineligible, it is such a mess. It's the worst case scenario. Yes, I do not envy Mark Few, I do not envy the staff trying to build it, they have just had a heck of a time trying to get a point card on to the roster onto campus, but that's just the mess that it is, that's what coaches are dealing with, teams are dealing with, fans are dealing with, I don't even know who they're gonna be cheering for this year, kind of there's a whole big fiasco this week with Mark Mitchell, our Mizzou fans gonna like him or not 'cause he went and got $6 million from Kentucky when Mizzou didn't have a roster spot waiting for him. Yeah, it's mess. It's mess. - Don't boo him. Don't boo Mark Mitchell, don't be that guy. - Yeah, don't do that. - He got a bag, I wish it was Kentucky either, but don't boo the guy, he was great. - Don't boo the guy, yeah. All right, let's go to coaching news where Texas Southern put on quite a fiasco this week. They ended up hiring Corey Lowry, so that actually did go through. There was some debate of whether it was gonna be approved by like their board of governors or whatever, and the players were protesting on campus because Shiro and Chapman built the roster and was operating as the interim coach, and then they hired over him and the players are like, "Well, it's not who I came to play for," and it was a mess, but it does seem like he's gonna be the coach there. He referred to the school with the incorrect name, like two or three times, and the opening presser was a terrible look. I don't think he, I forget exactly maybe Southern Texas or something like that. I can't remember exactly what it was, but it was just like, man, you're getting paid, you're the head coach, you should learn the school name before you ever introduce your press conference. - Yeah, that's not a good look. And Matt, I was looking up at you who's related to Chris Lowry. I don't think he actually -- - That's right. I don't think he is. - He does not. - I assume it was his kid, but it might be. - I may have seen a false news AI slap on Twitter. I thought that was my assumption as well. That was maybe like, oh, okay. - Chris Lowry is only 54. He's way younger than I thought. Huh, yeah, he was young when he got the Southern Illinois job. - I'm gonna assume Corey's not related, but the name is, it's not a common last name. That immediately jumped into my head. - Yeah, the mystery remains though. The mystery remains, three men we did not solve this. - No. - This mystery yet. Unfortunately, that's it though for coaching news. Texas Southern, I believe the last job to be filled, but hey, maybe we'll have a Tony Bennett style September retirement when a coach loses two players to ineligible rulings. And it's like, screw this, I am out. Injuries, we do have to mention one here. Iowa State's Killian Ture had a shoulder injury and is out until January is the estimate. We don't know exactly when he'll be back. He had to have an operation on it. This is a bummer. A clear ascendant type of point guard that was gonna maybe be a dark horse to be all conference in the Big 12 taking over the Taiman Lipsy rule, role, massive on-ball pressure type defender, just a really fun player to watch. Kai, this hurts Iowa State's outlook in the non-con for sure. Did I, like completely screwed? They've got some other options, but he is kind of like the really high upside back court guy. Really sucks, we're really high on him. Hopefully he'll get back healthy for conference play, but yeah, he's gonna miss the Sihock. So he's gonna miss the Iowa game, which is of course very important for Iowa State fans. He's a massive, massive blow. He's worth a lot. They're gonna miss him in the non-con. Yep, yeah, very unfortunate. Matthew, are you gonna just tank Iowa State without him? - No, they're gonna be to routine by 35 in the non-con. Not 40 now, but still 35. And Sihock is just, it has a different tenor to it now with Ben and Colin, it just does, you know? So kind of throw the old record books out the windows. - That's because you don't have the risk or the potential reward of Fran going to Francon levels of like complete insanity of fighting the refs, staring them down. McCollen is his own kind of guy, but he doesn't get to that degree of insanity. - Fran needs a villain in the Ivy. The problem is that they're all too sensible up there in the Ivy, which is not like a lot of like, you know? - No. - How do we catch that off of Francon? - Yeah, I'm trying to thank, can we encourage Kevin Havdy to just like, stir the pot there? - He could get some idea. I think that's probably the strongest candidate now, I think now you're right. - Okay, yeah, good. I like that idea. That's it for the Roots Roundup Fellows. That's all we got for news and notes here in August. We'll try to keep you apace with the developments in the rule, the legal battles. But again, we always kind of refer to some of the other pods, CBS, I'm a basketball, college basketball. There's a little bit more in-depth deciphering of that. Phyllis 68's got a legal expert. So go ahead and check that out if you're into more of like the ins and outs of the litigation. But we're gonna talk ball. And that means we're headed to the West Coast, the WCC. We'll talk some overarching storylines and then we will go team by team. The big thing here is Gonzaga's gone, as well as the Oregon State and Washington State, a little temporary sleepover that they had in the basement of the WCC. And they are joined by Denver. And I am trying to find a worse move for the basketball lies and losing Gonzaga and adding Denver. Okay, that is just by itself makes this league like almost very strongly a one-to-hockey legend. - Yeah, it's totally, well, I guess in the future could be too. Again, I see this year being a one bit for sure and you lose Randy Bennett on top of Gonzaga. So St. Mary is still here, but you lose the two best coaches in the league. - Well, hey, Herb Sendeck, he's good coach too, but two institutions that have been the WCC forever. It's a different look. - Yeah, it's not the WCC we used to know. I might stay up and watch big West games more than WCC. This year I must couple these teams really jump out. A couple of coaching changes. Stevie Lavon is out, Matthew, your boy. His beach vacation is over. And instead, Jair Blunt takes over coming from the TJ Ozzelberger tree at Iowa State. Very seemingly like outgoing, exciting type of hire. He built a pretty impressive roster. We'll discuss that of course. But Matt, just quick thoughts on Blunt taking over for Lavon. Kind of a big coaching upgrade there. - I don't know if Steve Leslie's the program, I'm not gonna provide my candid takes here. I believe it's a directional upgrade to him, I agree. But I think that's a microcosm of a theme of this conference that the, well, you lose Randy Bennett, you lose St. Mayor, you lose Gonzaga. The coaching quality in this league is pretty strong still. We're talking about Griff at Pepperdine. - You know what I'm saying, Clara. - I think this is still a very robust coaching league, despite the fact they kind of lose their heavy hitters at the top. And I expect to see some talent train from with them. But I think still night to night, it's not gonna be any easy nights that I think every coach has got respect to a certain extent. - Yeah, the edge-shilling to Griff Aldrich at Pepperdine is another major, major upgrade. We've got great proof of concept of Aldrich making Longwood, like almost top 150 team. What can you do with the Malibu recruiting might in the waves? And then of course, we mentioned Randy Bennett leaving just an internal promotion there. Mickey McConnell played for Randy Bennett, Plinkguard was on the staff. That one where we're expecting rather similar style there. I almost don't even process it as a coaching change, but because it's no longer Randy Bennett, I do have to think about Saint Mary. It's just a little bit differently now. - I think McConnell said he was gonna do a little bit different stuff offensively, but like nothing major. So I think he realized that Randy Bennett had a pretty good blueprint that TV getting too far from that would probably be a bad idea, I think. So that would be a smart decision for Mickey. - Yeah, all right, we're gonna go into order of teams. I've got some Saint Mary's thoughts before we dive in too much. And I will go with my tears. And you guys can kind of discuss whether they're wrong, they're right. We don't have a preview published on basketball and review yet. The conference period will come in October. So this is gonna be brand spanking new material coming at you folks right here. Kai, I have four tears. - Okay. - And I would say I'm like, desperately overly confident on them. And my tier to two could be mashed up with two or three. But at the top, I have just Saint Mary's and Santa Clara. Right now both teams lose a ton from last season and making the NCAA tournament. But I'm still giving them the nod just with some of the talent that they have back. The coaching edge with Sendeck, just to prove and win are there. So I've keeping those two at the top as like the safest. I feel like they're both pretty high floor, which is contributing to me putting them in the tier of their own. I wouldn't be like stunned if they didn't win the league, but I'd be stunned if either of those teams finished bottom half. That's, that's. as well, say. - Agreed. - And I snuck Pepperdine in my tier one gym, actually. - Whoa! - Yeah, you can calm 1.5 if you wanna do a Matt Cox tier, but yeah, they're right behind. They're nipping at the heels of Santa Clara and St. Mary. So I have about even right now. - I like that. I was very angry at Caesar's guy for opening Pepperdine as plus 525 to win the WCC. I was like, I thought this was gonna be like a 15-to-1 type of long shot and not even close to that. But Kai, I will say to start tier two, I have Pepperdine third. And Pepperdine in Pacific is my tier two. - Really. - Maybe I was a fan of what Dave Smart did last year and I sort of think the roster's better this year, which is intriguing to me. Maybe it's not quite. But then it just becomes so mysterious to me after that. The going into tier three, like San Francisco is going so far into freshmen and internationals that I couldn't quite keep them in the same tier and they did have a down season last year. So it's not like it's impossible under-girls and to fall outside the top 100 and be not as competitive in this league. But in order, my tier three is San Diego. I'm buying Jerublant. I'm buying in fellas. I'm gonna get in there. Seattle six, San Francisco seventh, Loyola Mary Mount eighth, which God, I can't wait to break down why that roster's good, but I still have to slot them eighth. And then Portland ninth, I do have them up in tier three, decent retention for Mr. Leigins. And then tier four, Denver, just welcome to the party but you're probably gonna go like two and 14, two and 16 or something. - All right. We're different. We're different. - Yeah, we're a little different. - Let's be different, Kai. - I got a big tier two. San Francisco, Seattle, LMU, Pacific, San Diego and Denver are all my tier two. - Denver's in your tier two. - Portland is my tier three team, just right. Yeah, but they're all pretty close to each other. - Wow, I'm shocked at the Denver, I think Denver's gonna be the worst defensive team in the WCC. - They'll be bad on defense. - Yeah, Carson Johnson though might be the player of the year in WCC, he might win two in a row in different leagues. - I would think so. - Portland, you could call it tier two. They're not that far behind for me for Denver. - Okay, Matthew, where do you land on, where do you land on tiers? - I had San Marys tier one by themselves, actually. - Okay, over your boy, Cindy. - Cindy, top of tier two, a two, Pepperdine three as well, Pacific four. - I'm here right with me there. - And that's tier two, sorry, tier three, then tier three. Man, I think it's, - It's a standalone. - It was San Diego, Seattle, San Francisco, LMU. I don't know, you can choose your battle amongst those, and then last tier was Portland and Denver, who I do think will be better. I tried to, that was almost a tier three A and three B, Kai for you, 'cause I do like Portland, and I do like Denver to an extent. I just don't think there's, 'cause those four teams above them. And to Jim's point, I think you have to believe in San Diego's talent-ish, and then the blunt reputation, I think, is, just knowing I saw Denial Robinson leave the oxtree and having to meet impact at Cleveland State or Texas, I think that's sort of like, "Okay, I've seen one incident of his tree sort of immediately come over, do more with less ish right away." I'm with Jim on the blunt, the blunt bullishness, I suppose. - Yeah, we should also mention a blunt coach under Nico Medved, too. - And Medved, yeah. - He's got some really good influences there, offensively and defensively, couldn't end up with a very cool unique style, but we'll discuss San Diego when we get there. One other thing I should get on overarching philosophy from both of you guys, I excluded all five for five guys, as we stand right now, so the notable ones there, I think I've wrote them down somewhere. Elijah Mahi for Santa Clara, him coming back, could obviously be a very big deal for them. Christian Jones, CJ Jones for Pacific, he kind of stinks. I'm surprised that, like, Pacific's even bothering to wait to see if he's gonna be eligible or not. Jevin Porter, boom, we're bringing back to LMU, and there might be one or two others. Those are the three big notable ones I have, but yeah, Kai, you agree to not include those guys? - I didn't, out of protest. - Yeah. - Yes, good, yeah. We are protesting, all of this stuff can end up, that's why I hate another motivation to join the Discord. We're gonna have, like, updated top 50 and all that stuff, like just not gonna reorder the previews, but we will at least tell you our updated ballot. Once everything is settled in the courts, then we actually have firm, final rosters, but that will also affect these individual previews. But we will go through, we'll mention those guys when we talk about each individual team, and we should start with St. Mary's. Kai, were they your number one also, or did you give Santa Clara? - I'll give them the nod, yes, but they're essentially tied with Santa Clara for me. - Okay, yeah, I have them, like, the slightest nudge that of Santa Clara. - That can vary very close. St. Mary's did do a foreign tour, so we've got a little bit of, at least peak behind the curtain of what the rotations might look like. Some of the style of play seems like they might play a little bit faster offensively. There's some high scoring games with some of the Australian teams they played against. That could be a Mickey McConnell influence, obviously, he's not quite Randy Bennett, like Matt said, he might do some things differently. Joshua Dent was very good in the overseas stuff, and he was fantastic last year. Kind of emerged out of nowhere, just like a nobody role player, barely played him, and suddenly as a junior he's a starter, playing almost every minute. Great passer in their pick and roll half court system. And the two other notable ones from the, maybe three other things I'll mention from the tour. Darius Biven started alongside Dent, so a small back court top 100 guy. He was playing big, big minutes, he was playing ahead of Miles Che, although Che is coming back from injury. So I'm not totally sure that's gonna be the case coming to the year. But then also Mantis Giuseenas, the Lithuanian sophomore who barely played last year, had monster, monster games. He also had a couple of big ones for Lithuania and Phoeba stuff this summer, so keep benign on him. And then Kai, a lot of Vengella's Zugris for say, Mary's over there. And having watched him for Louisville, where he's just kind of like, a broad shoulder wrestler in the paint, I was impressed by some of the production he showed there. I don't know, where do you thoughts on St. Mary's with the change in coach, with some of the turnover on the roster and Dent being really the lone staple back? - It's very difficult to slot them without Randy Bennett because I think it's a huge downgrade. Obviously, Mickey McConnell might be great. He was a he was a heady point guard. He was WCC player of the year. Did you know that? Do you remember that? So it could be great. But I think you have to knock him for no Randy Bennett in this team. It's not quite as good as past St. Mary's teams. Really roster didn't really matter for Bennett. He had a good team every single year, no matter who was on the team. I do like Dent though. I really do like Miles Cha coming in as well. I was all surprised and starched him, but like you said, it's probably an injury thing working him back. And the Juzennis guy, I heard lots of good stuff from him on the tour. If he's very, very good, that changes everything for their ceiling, right? You have Dent as a WCC guy. If you have another guy in Juzennis, suddenly it looks pretty likely you're finishing top two. So there's still a top lead for me Matt, but again, it's a far cry from the Bennett ears. I would expect them to finish outside the top 50 this year, probably closer around 75 is where I'm kind of like thinking to start. - I think closer to 50, but I think the ceiling is decidedly lower with this team. I just think it's a rock solid team, like the back court's terrific. If Cha gives them anything coming off injury, like him and Bivens who from what I've read is like very much like a shifty change of pace guy. This team's not athletic at all. Like they just aren't, I mean even St. Mary's team is like, they've always had like one or two like athletic inserts that can be like a weapon against bigger, better teams. I don't think this team's going to rise in class very well, frankly, but I think they can do kind of the surgical picky to pieces against teams of their level or lower. And I think in this new age of WCC, that's kind of what these teams look like, honestly. So front court's deep too, like Indong is solid. Honestly, like that guy will give good minutes. I mean, jazz gardener, I know it was sort of like gonna be a piece and then he's just bad. I don't think he's that bad. I'd like to smoke and support one. It's all, there's, there's bodies. There's quantity up front. And who's that is going to shoot the crap out of it. I like this team. I'm just like highest floor of any team in this league. Turn my number one team. - Yeah, I think that's highest floor I would agree with. I was kind of trying to think like if the WCC didn't have a top 100 team this year, how shocked would you be? Like if they actually felt all the way out, I was a little surprised, a little surprised, but not surprised. But yeah, it wouldn't flower you as me. I think that's part of the kit. Matt, what would you say is the identity of this team? Because we saw St. Mary's go back and forth between like really good offensive team. And then suddenly it was the gritty not pretty five straight amazing defenses. Like I'm not sure what the calling card of this team is on the baby. - It's a little balanced, but more offensive than I think the better teams have been. It's I agree with that, more skilly for sure. - Yeah, and I think it's just gonna be hard to teach the principles the same way that that that that that meant it is kind of like the Villanova J. Wright thing. Like all the J. Wright guys just can't teach his like offensive skill discipline the same way that he could. And it ends up being like kind of a bad photocopy. And that that's that would be a problem if that's what ends up happening here. But yeah, if it's a small back court, Juzenis is a shooter, you're relying on like Al Tuntus as a center. I think this tilts more offensive. - And Roy Hawke was like a friend to top 125. Like, he's probably the. There's always a guy we didn't talk about in the preview, like, oh, that guy explodes. I think Hawks, I'm going to give that courtesy mention because I'll head to our bets. It could be Hawking. Kevin Gad shot so many times in the phone time. He was like, he had a low usage rate last year, but on the tour, he was gunning. So maybe he's going to be somebody too. All right. Let's get to number two, Santa Clara. This is who I had in the top tier as well. Herb Sendeck, obviously, hoping he gets Elijah Mahi back, mentioned that. But man, losing graves to the NBA draft was probably not in the plans. He's done a great job of developing Pro Talent recently. He gets Gavallugov? I can't. It's Sosh. We're just going to call him Sosh. He's good. I like that guy. He's confident. He is definitely confident. Him getting two, three is swatted by Brandon Garrison. Didn't like that. NCAA tournament. It stands out to me. But you got Darlin who was last year's like, oh, they allow Glee guys now. And he's in. There's a big wing athlete. And then Enzmiger is one of the most kind of unique, interesting Swiss Army knife type players. There's a point in the season where he had 33 assists in one turnover. He's just kind of like a great passer, low usage guy. He used to wear long sleeves. I don't know if he wears long sleeves anymore. And then the big ads are David Castillo from Kansas State and city gay from Arizona, big long, kind of developmental big man. And maybe that's the next project for Sendeck. But Matthew, Sendeck's been great. Just kind of every year he exceeds himself and exceeds my expectations. But this feels like a tougher job than in past seasons with the roster. Yep. I think the margin has shrunk. No question. Like Bennett's thing was there's always a guy that's in the internal development pipeline that really pops. Sendeck's thing is he just finds these guys that have been totally over shadowed at like power conference and just kind of reignites there. Or maybe that's, I guess in this case, city geek, maybe that's the, the, the Tajo guy from Iowa last year. I know he was hurt. But there's always more than you think, but there's really not a lot there this season. Just, I mean, Mahi totally changes the complexion of this preview of he's back. But it ends, I mean, ends me or to be like one of the most important players to any team in this conference last season. So him being healthy will be a huge guy, kind of a Swiss Army knife. But still just to, again, kind of the same theme here, lower ceiling. Yeah, high floor because I know who's coaching this team. Yeah, they like depth. But I'm getting Sendeck the nod. Four to five years, top 100 for Santa Clara, and he notched their best Kempom season ever, which gives him three different program highs, Arizona state, NC state and Santa Clara. Sendeck has the highest Kempom rating. That's hard to do. I don't know how many coaches actually have three highs across their jobs. I think Grant McCaslin is almost there. I'm not sure he's done in Texas Tech yet, but that's crazy. He's a hell of a coach, and I like the guys you bring back. I think they have more than meets the eye with the guy we can't pronounce plus Ensminger and Darlin. And you guys are right. Mahi matters a lot. If he's eligible, they're number one for me, over St. Mary's. I think David Castillo has a career revival. I think he has a ton of potential in the WCC and can be in all conference guy. This is exactly the type of place that can reset his career. Yeah, I mean, he was very talented, got a lot of hype at Kansas State, and then maybe he was just lost in the black hole of Jerome Tangs, like Demise last year. The talent could still be there for him. Yeah, Matt, you mentioned Ensminger, how important he is per CDB analytics, our fun resource. In conference play, there were 21 points better per 100 possessions when he was on the court. And nobody else on the team was over 10. He was crucial on both ends of the floor. Big, big impact, almost double digit point impact on both ends. He matters quite a bit. So yeah, I think if they get something out of their freshman, which I haven't dove into quite enough yet, to know if they've got another Ellen Graves working in the pipeline, but I think it is going to be more like Castillo has the revival and Ensminger continues to be a big time contributor. So the second in the conference, like I said, shocked if they'd finished bottom half somehow. I couldn't think of a better cop than like for Ensminger. Like I don't know who's like him, just a truly unicornish S player in terms of like awesome and impact in the game while being very, very low touch, I guess in the game, very opportunistic, I suppose. Kyle, you mentioned Sunday, having the best year at Santa Clara, like their highest Ken Palm year. So this was the third time he set that record, because when he finished seven, he said three times. That was their highest record. And then last year, 59th, this year, 38th. He just keeps, that's why I say he keeps topping himself like it is, is really impressive what he's been able to pull off. Matt, I'm looking for Ensminger comps, and there's not really. Jim, I just looked, there are no names that are like, oh, yeah, that looks good. He's just a, I can't even, he's just a nice player. Yeah. Winning player. Yeah. I'm looking at some of the ones even from CV analytics, and yeah, they're just not, they're not names worth, they even bring up. Okay, let's go. He wore long sleeves a few times last year, that's kind of, if you get bonus points for you when I, when I see long sleeves guy, which that's huge, he's don't see that many. Love the long sleeves. Let's go to number three, Pepperdine for me, almost a Pacific. Yes. So this is the Griffoget revolution, also hired Dan Engelstad, former Mount St. Mary's coach who is on the Syracuse staff. So a pretty strong staff that we, we kind of trust those coaches, brought in a lot of talent. Phil McClendon from North Texas started a ton, didn't, didn't play as many games last year, but he started his career at UCLA, Jerry Williamson from Kent State, Evan Haywood from Butler, who played almost 20 minutes in game in the Big East, Master Ovich was really good for a long beach state, like contributed across the board. Like that's a nice fine. Yuri Fritz is a good connective type center who can play on both ends of the floor. Then you've got the big upside bet in Anthony Robinson, not, not the Mizzou floor state Anthony Robinson, but the giant former Virginia and Xavier Big Man, seems like a defensive beast if he can just kind of figure out a little more of the mental aspect of it, the processing. I don't think he's really there, but as a anchor in the WCC, he could be terrific. And typically Aldrich had very good front courts at Pacific or at Longwood. So Kai, what are you looking at with Pepperdine? They were in your tier one. So make that, make that glowing case. He's snuck in there, yeah, you could call him one five, like I said. Yeah, of course, Gryphaldor, he rocks, he took Longwood to two tournaments. If you can win it, Longwood, you can win anywhere. Pepperdine's a great place. Ed Schilling was not a good hire. So I'm very glad this program's going in the right direction now. He brought in a ton of talent, man. All those names you mentioned, Wilma Clinton is an all conference player. Williamson Haywood, Master Ovich, all solid at the WCC level, I think. It's kind of an older rotation. Their top guys are old, like, fifth year graduate guys, a little bit limited on the depth. But I don't think that matters a ton in Aldrich's system. I'm very high on this team. It's going to be a, I don't know, Matt, 100 spot turnaround from last season when they were, like, 260 in the country. I agree. And yeah, the roster is like better than, like, kind of looked down at the first time. They're older, which I like. You know, like Santa Clara's a young team, company team was sort of youngish or foreign. So there's like real experience here, and I think it's going to matter early, especially the team that's so new. McClendon being healthy is key. I mean, I loved him when healthy at his prior stops. And I think he's going to be like, a guy that kind of sets the table and you're a fritz, my guy up front. Can he say healthy? A lot of injury question marks him. Kind of what you have to do at this level, if you're trying to, like, kind of find some diamonds in the rough, take some, some guys from injury question marks. But yeah, I mean, there's like production there. 100 pieces, it's Griff Alderchum. I don't really know what else I'm going to, like, poke holes out here. Yeah. And if they get some hits on their international gambles, they start to look really good because Orin Sahar is now on, I have him in my roster, that he was not on the roster in July. He is now there confirmed. He played from a Khabi Tel Aviv, which is like a really good Euro League program or team over in Israel. And then Dante Russo Nance was playing in the New Zealand NZL playing, or NBL playing a little bit high up in the Australian New Zealand pipeline. So both those guys are good coming in, like, they're a little older, they've got professional experience. If that supplements, the transfer portal stuff that Griff Alderchum did, then yeah, this team has winning the conference upside if those guys are good. All right, let's flip to Pacific where Dave Smart finally delivered kind of the post-hype sleeper type season at Pacific after we got really excited when Pacific hired him off the Texas tech staff, this is the former coach of Carlton University up in Canada, one like a 15 national championships and I don't think I'm exaggerating. I think it was like 14 or 15, just a thoroughly dominant run up there assisted tech for a little bit. And then surprisingly took this job and really elevated Pacific last year, like way, way big improvement over what they had been, almost cracked the top 100, which would have been the first time since 19 or 2010, 2010 would have been. And Dave and Stodemire never quite got them there. He had a better Kenpon finish than any of Dave and Stodemire's years. So smart, definitely ramping it up, good on the defensive end, turns over most of the roster though, only one guy back from last year. I kind of like some of the newcomers, Kai, and maybe a little bit of the offense depends on if Dominic Harris is acceptable, like potent Dominic Harris, or if he's going to be erratic, benched at Loyola Chicago's awful team, gets hurt there. Jacob McFarland from Houston could be a nice ad in the paint, but he never played there. Jayden Winston's like the Speedster point guard for Manhattan that that should kind of approximate the impact of Jayden Clayton last year that both come in all the way across the country. Matt, I'll go to you first on Pacific. Are you continuing to buy Mr. Schmart elevating this program? I am, man. The roster is just kind of all over the place. But I like Winston as sort of like the head of the snake there, a huge fan of him and a little coached under, um, uh, Gallagher. Uh, I think they're from Corbyn Pit in McFarland, like just that should be a pretty imposing physically rugged like two for a four and your five. And I know there's many other guys getting minutes there as well. Um, but I kind of like that look and that was sort of their, their thing last year. They had a lot of positional length. Um, they don't use a lot of, I mean, they don't play a lot of bodies, right? So like it looks like there's a lot of options. I kind of like the idea of like, okay, it'll be 6.5 to seven guys that emerge. And I think there's enough here like in the optionality math to like pan itself out to be a solid team. Are they better than last year? No, I don't think so. Okay. Yes. That's kind of my question. I, it's a coaching bet for me. But although every time I kind of look back at the roster, I like a little bit more. Um, oh yeah, wait. Sorry. Sorry. Dom Harris is here. I feel like there's just like a, uh, a budding resurrection. It's going to explode. He's like the wild card, right? Like, I mean, what was he top 50 recruit at Gonzaga it back in like 2021 or whatever it was? He's around forever. I mean, that good years. Well, he had one good year out here. One, but, uh, yeah, I mean, he's healthy. That's a great get. Uh, I think Winston's a pretty good player. I know, man, hadn't mostly sucked when he was there, but I think he can play, uh, McFarlane, I'm extremely intrigued by from Houston. I know he was well-coached. I thought his tape looked pretty good, even though he never got on the floor for Houston. So I think he could definitely be, uh, a good player for smart. Yeah, it's a coaching bet, Jim. I, I think they're right there, um, at the top of this tier, uh, you can call them fourth. You want tied for fourth for me, basically, with all these other teams. Yeah. I, I think there's a chance they're better than last year, just like I could be faster. Last year wasn't that great. I mean, it's like Elias Ralph was the best player. The guy he brought from Canada. Um, this year's got some international bets to Jorge Carritz, a young Spanish guy. It might be Karo. I don't know. I'm not positive on the pronunciation there. Um, then Matt Lakovic was on the UNC bench. Big seven footer. Maybe he gives them something, uh, Niora from South Florida was putting up good stats for Canada at the feeble world cup two or one year ago. Um, so maybe there's some guys that that emerge from nowhere, but, uh, I think Winston, Pitt, McFarlane, Dom Harris, I can be like the four that need to really be the guys for them. Then they have a top 100, you're going to, but I think those are the, the big ones for them. Jim, he was top 90 in the class of 2020. Dom Harris, Dom Harris class of 2020. So he, he came along during COVID and that's right. Here we are. Remarkably commenting on him again. I think it's a medical retro for last year. That's why he's still around. Um, but yes. And then of course, we mentioned they're waiting on Christian Jones. Kansas State transfer, who was like outright terrible for Kansas State. So if, if he is eligible, maybe there's like the change of scenery bump there, but I don't think he's like a real deal move for if he is eligible. All right. Next, number five. This starts tier three from a San Diego. We mentioned the coaching change from Steve Lavon to Jerry Blunt. Blunt immediately got after it on the recruiting train. He's got a top 15 Juco point guard to lead the line. And then just try to find some contributors. You maybe squint at some of the individual pieces and you're like, how Marquay Worthy from UC Riverside, they were bad. Terry McMorris from Eastern Illinois, they were pretty bad. Um, but, you know, Damien Hill was productive in the Mac. Dusty Stromer was a Gonzaga referee. He's, he's kind of the headliner. Yeah. And then Tanshin, a UMBC was actually really good last year. One the American East, and he's kind of the skilled front court centerpiece that can shoot a little bit, pass a little bit, gets on the glass. Another one where depth is hinging on freshman internationals. I think that's a theme in his conference, but Kai with Blunt, bringing that, I don't know if he's going to have the Medved motion on offense and the Atselberg or pressure on defense. That would be fun combination. But this is another one where if you're buying the coach, you can kind of look at the roster and see enough there. Yeah. Great tree. They're not too far behind. Pacific for me. Blunt, Medved, Atselberger can't get much better than that. He's only 39, younger guy. He definitely cares about this program more than Steve Lavin. Sorry Matthew. The Juco point guard Roman. I think he, he's obviously going to be a key player for them. Top 15 Juco recruit. And Stromer, I think, is like the dude. He's make a potential for a bigger crew experience from Gonzaga can blossom in a bigger role. It's a wide range, Matthew. Like if this team clicks, like top three could be in play, but I can also see a pretty low floor if Blunt just kind of fumbles through your one. Yeah. Why it's the wider, I guess the widest range of outcomes are like the top six. I argue, I mean, frontlines my biggest question mark. Like, I don't know a lot about Jose Roberto tension from UMBC. I'm not familiar with this game. And beyond that, it's just like a lot of quantity. But like I like the the back court. Like if the Roman guy is great, like worthy heads and real moments I saw from Riverside, I was eating Stromer, which is an absolute dog. Like you can just kind of ride your back court in some like incredibly hot, incendiary shooting nights that might just be enough to lift you, but the front court's like, I don't, I just don't know enough there. So enlighten me or I'm going to hold out judgment until pern otherwise. Yeah, it could be a bit of a soft underbelly like they they're trying to get a little shoplocking from McMorris and Seku Kone from Milwaukee. Intention is more like I say, it's kind of the versatile six 10 guy rather than like a true rim intimidating by any means. So they're they're going to piece that together. You're going to have to figure out a way there. They also got a division two transfer in Kevin Hill, who's more like just big time shooter shot 46% from deep on seven, almost eight attempts per game for Central Missouri. So you got a major major four spacer. Yeah, I mean, he's like flirting with Milan Munchilovich numbers there at the division two level, but I don't think he's going to be a real stalwart defender for them. That's that's more of a problem. He I started a little bit South Dakota. He played South Dakota tears. Couple starts in there, but mostly a bit player. Yeah. Kai, how is that South Dakota team defensively? Oh, they were poor his freshman. They were 356 defensively his freshman year and they were 332 and you're two. Yeah, I think the San Diego team despite the like intensity that Blount's going to bring, I think they're going to tell offense because I just don't know who the really good individual defenders are unless Romans really good on the ball and then Stromers physical in the wing. I don't know the interior. I just don't see it with them, but T.J. Osloberger turned Robert Jones from Denver into like a maniacal great defensive big in the big 12. So who knows, maybe that's just kind of the development that they've got. Speaking of great defenders, we're going to go to Seattle at number six where Will Heimbrut is the returning defensive player of the year in this conference. I believe not know that at all. I will double check that because Gonzaga had a top 10 defense, but I think he won that award and they were desperately trying to keep him in the transfer portal. He did. But two, two and a half blocks and a steel and a half per game for a, did you guys know the Seattle's 21st defense? Yeah, crazy. They were awesome on that end of the floor. They turned people over like crazy, but they lose the guards responsible for all those steals. Heimbrut is certainly a part of it, but they had Malik Errington and Braden Malinato just dominant on the ball. And I don't really think they properly backfilled that. And I was looking at, you know, they bring their two main returners, our Heimbrut and John Syekyo who used to play for Gonzaga. And they were not good when those two played together last year, especially in conference play. And that that was concerning to me, relative to any other lineup. So if you're going to try to bank on that being the way you build the team, that's that's not quite the the style and the combination I'm looking for. But they brought into point guard Tyler Boston from Holy Cross, productive guy Mason Williams sat out last year. He got hurt. I was going to be at Iowa State. So he kind of knows the pressure scheme. But he was good at Eastern Washington before that. But I don't know Matthew, the bench options could be bad unless Kaden Hanson, the D2 transfer mentioned in the CBB analytics portion, unless he's good. The bench is bleak. Benches bleak. I kind of like a little bit of jolt in their offensive back quarter Boston Williams. I don't know how efficient they'll be. Like I get this is yoga to be more efficient. He was bad last year when I saw a conference play. He like Gonzaga, a pedigree. It's his fifth year though. So it's not like he's a sophomore. Like he's been around. I don't, you know, it's sort of might just be he is what he is. I guess the idea is you're going to try and win a ugliest again. I think it's more of a balanced team. Part of me thinks I undersold it, though. Okay. Like there are some pieces. Yeah. Just with the production. You know, I mean, like I still like I like every Washington state player, but I do think Tomas could be kind of a nice little piece there. But you're right. Jim's right. They have to be healthy. I do think this bench gets really thin really quickly. Um, yeah, I think they're rock solid and Victor's been basically top 140 every year. He's not going to do it 100 five straight top 100 defenses. Four of them were top 75. I mean, he has a pretty high floor. I would say the offense, though, has been brutal. And I do think it gets better this year. I think Mason Williams could be all conference guy. I like them, as previous stops. I have no idea. Tyler Boston is going to translate. I know he put up big numbers and Holy Cross. That's a big ask to come over, you know, across the country and-- - Ask Braden Smith at Gonzaga, right? - Yeah. - Same way into-- - Yeah. - I like this team. Again, they're like literally tied with the other teams around fourth for me. - Yeah, I wanted to like really get excited about them because they brought that kind of brought, and I was like, man, him plus Victor, the defense is going to be good. Like it's probably a top 50 defense. But the offense, your mileage really may vary there. Thrustarsson from Washington State wasn't all that good, last year efficient. And I'm just not sure where the rest of the offense is coming from. But between Zealot, the Cincinnati 7-footer or your 6-10 guy and Kool-A-Bolly, the Juco guy that also played in Spain before he was at New Mexico Junior College, I think they've got another center to fill in. Austin Mauer was like a pretty important piece on the glass next to Heinembrut last year. So I think they've filled that. But, and the offense could be really rough and down some nights. All right, to Seattle, excuse me, to San Francisco we go. Warm Memorial, the Don's. This is a, you can really talk me in any outcome with this roster out because they have got nobody back that played last season. It was actually like a meaningful player. Nuevo Newberry is on the roster again after he missed last season and only played 10 games the year prior. So maybe you get a healthy version of him, but that's an injury risk. We got three guys that played D1 but only one that played double digit minutes per game. Abdullah, he bashed here from Auburn, didn't get on the floor as a juco shooter. And when he did, he was horrendous. I love Dianne, the center at Gonzaga, but I saw like the right couple of games for him. And obviously he didn't play that much either. I think it'll be a good defensive piece, but he has no skill. And then it's a lot of Eurobets. Whitlam, the point guard from Israel is very productive at the top flight there. We've got a couple guys that played in Euro cup or high up in Spain. Matt, if you can make Heider or what is that phrase? I don't remember the phrase. But if you can figure out this team, all their freshmen and all their internationals, then you are a smarter man than me. And I'm not. So here's my optimism is, I think Newberry healthy could be like an absolute. I think he actually did the player of the year. Like I remember, he just was, at his best, he was like one of those honorary players in this conference. Kind of overshadowed, I think, by like the Riley Breakouts, one of the guys they had when he was coming up. So him, the onion, I'm with you, Jim. I'm super in on him. I think he's going to be great. Gotta have some point guard. I don't know what a thing about Yoam, that thank you Jim. Not a thing about him. If he's good, there's some pieces there. And yeah, Kai, you've got to commit yourself that you know, freshmen recruiting international. Well, I certainly don't have this, this juncture. But like, I just like throw up. So I just think I can have a role D last year. I'm not going to like totally just like throw in my hat because they don't have like a rock solid proven roster. They got pills in the portal shirt, but like, it could be some pieces there. Yeah, they're gutted, big mystery. But I'm giving girls and girls in the benefit of the doubt. Last year was his worst year, but he was still 1.22. It was the first year you finished below his preseason rank. This team could still be like top 150. And I grew with Newberry. I think he can be awesome, if he's healthy. I think Bashir is gonna be better in the WCC. He's not quite his brother, but he can shoot the ball in theory. But yeah, Jim, this team could finish last. They could also finish third. Again, I'm going towards the ladder there, like more towards it because of girl of sun. I really respect him as a coach. Yeah, to your point on Bashir, at Casper Junior College, you averaged 27 points a game. He took 11 and a half threes per game. Got her. Per game, and he made 37% as a sophomore, 45% on eight threes a game as a freshman in junior college. So like, he can't shoot. I just don't think he fit in at Auburn. They had enough offense already. And he clearly didn't have any confidence going. So I like that revival bet. And that kind of just goes with it, like that massive range of outcomes. If the international guys of Whitlam, Knudsen, Warden are good, pit alves, then oh my God, all right. Suddenly, this team has 90, and they've size, athleticism, a great interior defender, and a good coach. But you can get a lot of bus, and suddenly you have five guys that are good. And you don't really know how to make this team-- I don't think this team can be surprising if they're better than last year, just on the face of the roster. And last year was 120 second. So-- Yeah. That's why I haven't done it seventh a little bit of a pessimistic view. Next up, Loyola Marymount, an old Stan Johnson, who I will praise his ability to get players. I like this roster. I think being able to pull two guards from the Big 10 Big East in all right, and Josiah Miles. Miles was great at North Florida before getting buried in Indiana. I think Sigascar is actually a really good defensive big. It reminds me of Matt. Who is the big guy that they had that was really good on defense a couple of years back? That I think transferred to Elon afterwards. Not right, I forget what his name was. I'm going to give it to you in two seconds. Jim Graham? Michael Graham. Yes, Michael Graham. That's-- he gives me a little bit of Michael Graham vibes. So I think that's a nice ad. You've got some front court spacing with Zion Sensley, who was like a top 100 recruit at UC Santa Barbara. Contributed there. A bunch of options off the bench. And then some freshman as depth options too. And then if you get Jeff and Porter, Kai, former Missouri Tiger, then man, that's a big ad to the front court. A lot of skill and spacing to give options offensively. I just don't trust Stan Johnson to maximize. And there's a chance if he kind of flames out with this group that it's an open position next year. Interesting coach. Best Kempon finish in program history in his first year. And he's outperformed that rank. There he's ranked one time since in five seasons. So it's mostly under performance of talented rosters. Last year's team was really good at first, like knocked on the door of top 100. And then they did whatever in WCC play that competed in most games, but also lost head scratchers. It's kind of what this team is, inconsistent. But I agree with what you first said. All right, and just sign miles. That's a really good WCC back court. They're going to score the ball. That one be a problem. Okay, front court pieces. And yeah, because it is, you know, I still think they're right there, San Francisco friends. It's not too far away from the other teams we've talked about, but they are a little bit down just because the coaching. I just don't really respect Stan as much as the other guys we've talked about. I'm torn. Johnson's best teams have been when they've had some offensive fire, like shocking. This just in best coach does best one has best talent. But he's really overly try to lean in like this defensive mindset. And I think their offense has just been really putridly. I think he's sort of not to pile on the stand, Johnson. I think he actually needs some offensive dudes to kind of make up for, I think it's sometimes a very vanilla offensive approach. Maybe miles and all right, give that. But Jim, I'm sort of with you. I'm like that can see this defense being very good again. And it has been good last two years. I've been a friend of top 100. They've just been so putrid offensively with no clear shot maker, creator from the perimeter. And I think all right, miles to some extent can like resurrect that from sort of where he was. 'Cause like 2021, 2023, like two of the best seasons in Michigan. Right, can't show me your big time score or so. Yep. Yeah, to your point of the defense, like it's not just Sigascar, but they've got big guards. Like miles is a big wing. McBride is a really good defender. They're a long returner. AJ Thomas is a big like on ball point guard who can defend that position pretty well. So they've got real upside there. Amazing, mostly the wing from LSU. I just, I don't really trust it to be fully maximized. And that's why I ended up kind of dropping them. Despite like you could talk me into this roster being the third best in the conference. And I'm ranking them eighth just because it's, the margins are so thin with everybody else. And I just have a little more faith in Chris Victor and the rest of the coaches out there. All right, let's go to Matt's boy, Portland, Shanty Leggins. The pilots improved last year. It's been a tough go because they're, they clearly don't have the money to really spend in the portal. So they end up taking a bunch of freshmen and any of them are good, end up leaving. And that's what happened with Joel Foxwell. He is now playing for Randy Bennett. He's on the state. A really good find from the international market and he's gone in an instant. But they do have some returners with O'Donnell, with Sensory, Hercules, Matt, what are you thinking with this team this year? Is this the year Leggins gets up into like the top 150 with a little bit of retention and maybe some decent contributors from the portal? What do you see the pilots? - I do think the seat, that's right. On the pilots of the seat out of the air, I actually think, I was gonna say, every team in this league has a chance to finish third except for Portland. And I think I stand by that. But I think they have a, they have a chance still. 'Cause I think the Timo George, if he's healthy, I mean, he was so good before he got hurt last year. That front court is like skilled. The guys they brought in are skilled. It's just always gonna be like, can they guard? And the problem with the old WCC is they were just too small and it's new WCC, which is still, it's big. But like it's more maneuverable, right? Like it doesn't, they don't wear you down like the experience bruising WCC of old. I think it's going to help. them. I think they definitely benefited from sort of that 2022, kind of that COVID, you know, seven and seven fatal schedule. I was kind of the peak of his powers. But like even in 2023, they're 157. They went 5 and 11, right? So just, it's just tough. I don't have to say. I think they have fourth upside. I default to them to last, but I think they're going to be right in the mix in a lot of games. No shanti. Yeah. He doesn't have the resources. They were respectable last year, better than expected with a bunch of freshmen. And I do get four guys back. One guy, I was going to say four guys played over 19 minutes of game back, but running for a parking plate like one game. Yeah, George played 13. So like it's the once the jico point guard, man, this is going to be the key. He's bad. They're, they're not going to be very good. I, this team could be tier two with all the other teams. I have a little bit lower. I don't think 100 Adams very good, but he has shot well in college so far at Davidson. Maybe he's better for Portland. That's kind of their, I guess, main transfer get in a sea of okay transfer gets. Yeah, they're fine. They're probably, I have a hard time seeing them being better than last year, which is strange. I don't know. Top two 50 seems okay. Yeah. I think it hinges on like, if George is healthy the whole year, like, Matt, could he average at 18 a game? I mean, his, he's a high usage. He shot 77% from the field are from two. I mean, before he got hurt and like, it wasn't just against bad teams. He was seven for seven against Santa Clara. He was eight of 10 against St Thomas. Five for five against Northern Colorado. I had a really good game against Kent State Oregon. Like he was, he was really good for long stretches and then he gets hurt and misses the entire WCC season and they, they kind of got a scramble. And then the other wild card for them is they ran back the Foxwell thing. Foxwell again, maybe. Yeah. Austin Foxwell, there will be three Foxwells playing point guard in college basketball this year. I'll win at Wisconsin, Joel at Arizona State. And then if Austin's good here, suddenly, that, you know, that raises the ceiling because you're not as reliant on Nance, the Juco point guard. I think they'll probably give the ball to him and just see what he can do. But it's, it's always a gamble at this roster level. Like, leggings is never getting like the sure bets, the productive proven production guys. He's got to find diamonds in the rough and hope to keep enough of them to have some continuity. I think there's a chance they're better than last year, but it does have to be like Austin Foxwell has to be good for them to be better than last year. They just again, Jim, they're just very unathletic. Like, you know, even, I mean, old Vera production kind of empty calorie stats, like Isaac's not that athletic. I mean, I don't know. It's just an unathletic team. So yeah, even like the front court, the George and O'Donnell returners, like those are guys are more like physical, productive types, rather than like the power guys. Yeah, exactly. Okay, let's finish it up with Denver. And I had them separately on tier four, but that is not the consensus among the weavers. So we're going to, we're going to discuss them real quick. Last year, the first year for Bergstrasseer coming up from division two, he brought some pieces with him, most notably Carson Johnson, who was a scoring dynamo. Just don't ask him to play defense, or really anybody on last year's Denver roster to play defense, because they declined to do so. But they had some fun games. There are a lot of newcomers here. Maybe a little more athleticism. They've got a seven footer in Embenga who can block some shots, but he's coming from a truly terrible team and couldn't get on the floor for them. So hard to really project much there. But Kai, lots of newcomers here and most notably, somehow brought Johnson back. And that's really where everything starts. Yeah. And I'm probably just a hair to high on them, because I like Bergstrasseer a lot. He might rock. He beat Kim Pon by 100 spots last year. Eight and eight in the summit was the best since 2017 at Denver. And he had a top 75 offense at Denver, which is the first they've had since 2013. Their defense sucks. And it's going to be, it could be bottom five in the country again, like it was last year. But I just hold on. They, they, they were six points per possession or a hundred percent is better in conference play. The seventh best summit defense. There you go. One your defense to improve. Just play conference ball in the summit. That's a good. Yeah. To open up the defense for Carson Johnson. That was awesome. I think he will push for WC's player. I think he's that good. I think Ysaki is a good, a good keep too. But the transfers. That's a mixed bag of shrugs. I'll be honest. So you could say Portland's better. I probably say, okay, I believe you. I'm getting the slight nod though for now. Yeah. I mean, last year was like mostly D2 guys. Some that came with Berkstraaster and then others that he played against and just kind of brought him with them. So that explains the complete athletic deficiency. But when the guys that bring in are from like Sanford and JIT, Western Carolina, these aren't eye gouging athletes either. Like they're not suddenly a pace with the WCC in athleticism. So I'm kind of selling it. I think this defense is going to be so bad that it's hard for them to keep up. And that's why I have them to your fore. I can't see them finishing higher than a. I can't believe UMKC was the worst. If that's not evidence that teams are just giving up, like the fact that Denver was three points better than UMKC in conference defense for the last year. That's insane. As I see that they're starting centers in Bengui who comes from KC. Yeah. I this is the one team I just can't get there with in terms just upside because just because the defense. I think Carson Johnson will sort of he'll be awesome. But I think there's like a there's an element of surprise to his breakout last year that people just be kind of ready for in terms of scouting and like preparation will make others beat them to an extent. I don't love his number two Robin option as much as I did last year either to be honest. But there's some depth there. I like that they sort of at least took some shots. I'm some worth athletic guys that yeah, I played like higher levels of D1 basketball. So I don't know torn. I think Berks trash was great. I think the resources here are just sort of the reality. And we'll see what what happens. Yep. All right, let's finish up guys. How many teams make the NCAA tournament? Is this going to be a multi-bid league or not? Can you talk yourself into two? Well, I'm just going to say emphatically. I can't. I think this is closer to no one in the top 100 than it is two teams in the NCAA tournament. So yeah, I'm going to say one. I think it's one. I wouldn't be shocked if Santa Clara St. Mary's got there, but I'll say one as well. Yeah. Here's here's the question. Maybe this is a better way to frame it, Kai. Is the best team this league going to be good enough to get in that large if they don't win the tournament? So like if St. Mary's are they going to be at large good if they lose in the tournament? I don't know. I don't think so. I don't think so. Maybe. Maybe. Yeah, maybe they've got a chance. I could see St. Mary's getting there. If McConnell's better, then I'm kind of like operating that he's just an okay coach. And if he's like a lot closer to Randy Bennett, then I'm projecting and Giuseinus makes shots and they figure out the center spot and suddenly robo-zougris is actually useful offensively than maybe they maybe they do figure something out. That'd be the team I'd bet on, but I will say one team as well. There's schedule. I always rocks. I don't know if they actually have, I don't look at their schedule yet this year, but seems like they always have a they can always get a few extra Q2 wins at the margin from how they schedule. I don't know if that's the case this year. But yeah, they used to be like terrible scheduling and they would like never leave California. And then I think they missed the one year. They won like 25 games or something. They won 30 games in 2018 and didn't make the tournament. I think Bennett started the like, okay, I need to I need to put more games on the schedule. Okay, let's finish with a review, Kai. We've got our guy, Cabo Rave, sliding in. Yeah, he said about last week's episode of the mid-major extravaganza. A real page-turner, guys. Way to spice up and off Beach Day. Adios, me, Nego's. At the beach, we love to hear that. I can't wait to just go to, I don't know, that sounds nice. Sounds great. Hey, we've got beaches in Chicago. I should probably go to them more often. Hungry and San ones, both. Take a pic. All right, that wraps it up. Fellas, I'm going to tune into the Milwaukee Brewers Little League World Series game from Williamsport, Sunday Night Baseball right now. Thank you everybody for tuning in. This was the WCC. We have not decided what pod is coming next week. I'm going to guess the American, but that's just, yeah, okay, cool. Maybe we just decided right there. But we'll be back with another preview, assuming next Sunday. Until then, enjoy the litigation, and following all that, and enjoy the last days of August. Cheers. [Music] [Music]