Saint Mary's Picked to Win 2023-24 WCC Men's Basketball Championship

 Saint Mary's has been voted the preseason favorite to win the 2023-24 West Coast Conference Men’s Basketball regular season title in the annual poll of the WCC’s nine head coaches, snapping Gonzaga's streak of five consecutive preseason nods. The Gaels picked up 61 points and five first-place votes to Gonzaga's 60 points and four first-place votes.Both the preseason coaches poll and the preseason team are voted solely by the Conference's nine head coaches. Saint Mary's has advanced to the second round of the last two NCAA Tournaments. The Gaels received a big lift this offseason when Alex Ducas opted to return for his fifth year of eligibility. Also back is freshman standout Aidan Mahaney who ranked 13th in the nation in scoring among freshmen last season. The Gaels were 2022-23 WCC Co-Regular Season champions with Gonzaga after splitting their regular-season matchups.Gonzaga defeated Saint Mary’s in the 2023 WCC Basketball Championship final. The Zags went on to advance to the NCAA regional final before falling to eventual national champion Connecticut. The Bulldogs brought in Creighton transfer Ryan Nembhard, ESPN's second-ranked guard in the transfer portal. Veteran Anton Watson is also back as one of the top defenders and efficient shooters in the league a year ago. San Francisco, LMU and Santa Clara were all separated by four points in the coaches poll with the Dons coming in third with 45 points, LMU in fourth with 42 and Santa Clara right behind the Lions with 41. The Broncos have competed in back-to-back NIT Tournaments.Portland is sixth in the preseason poll. Tyler Robertson returns for the Pilots after averaging a league-best 5.2 assists per game last season. Robertson was named to the WCC Preseason Team for the second straight season. Pepperdine came in seventh in the preseason poll. Two key Pepperdine returners - Houston Mallette and Jevon Porter were named to the Conference’s preseason team. This year marks Mallette's second-straight year making the WCC preseason team. Pepperdine was one of three teams to garner multiple players on the preseason team with Gonzaga and Saint Mary's each picking up three - Graham Ike, Nembhard and Watson from Gonzaga and Ducas, Mahaney and Mitchell Saxen from Saint Mary's. Ike (Wyoming) is another transfer Gonzaga added to the squad. This is the second straight year that Ducas was tabbed to the preseason team. Rounding out the preseason team was LMU's Keli Leaupepe.  

2023-24 WCC Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll