WCC damages BYU's NCAA seed

WCC damages BYU's NCAA seed

(Jeffrey D. Allred/Deseret News)


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PROVO — Another NCAA tournament appearance has come and gone for the BYU Cougars, who, for the second time in three year, were saddled with the burden of getting stuck in the Tuesday play-in game,

Even if the Cougars had managed to beat Ole Miss (BYU lost 94-90) they would have been forced to travel to Jacksonville, Florida, and play Xavier with little preparation time. In other words, their stay in the NCAA tournament would have been brief either way.

The fact is, unless you’re Gonzaga, the NCAA Selection Committee doesn’t have much respect for the West Coast Conference.

Since joining the WCC, BYU has been slotted in the play-in game twice (2013, 2015) and was a 10 seed last year. Conference member Saint Mary’s got into the play-in game in 2013, meaning three WCC teams have been in the new play-in game format during its five-year existence.

At this rate, to give its teams a better chance of advancing, the WCC ought to move the conference tournament from Las Vegas to Dayton, Ohio, site of the play-in games. To put it mildly, WCC teams that get an at-large NCAA berth should pack light.

“It’s pretty tough to get even a top eight seed if your name is not Gonzaga and you don’t win the (conference) tournament,” said Ken Pomeroy, the creator of popular college basketball website kenpom.com.

In addition to the two play-in games, even the 10 seed BYU got last season was among the worst in school history. From 1979 to 2011, as members of the WAC and Mountain West, BYU played in 19 NCAA tournaments, and its worst seed was a No. 10.

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Since joining the WCC, seeding out the play-in games, the Cougars have been a 14, 11 and 10. The WCC does nothing but harm BYU’s strength of schedule.

For those who disagree, they point out that BYU has yet to win the WCC regular-season or conference tournament and hasn’t earned a good enough seed. The counter is the program still got halfway decent NCAA seeds sometimes without winning the WAC and Mountain West regular-season or conference tournaments.

“The conference is getting better from the bottom up, but there’s still not a situation where there’s anybody remotely close getting an at-large bid besides BYU and Saint Mary’s,” Pomeroy said. “Until that changes, it’s going to be hard for those teams to improve for teams that aren’t finishing first in the conference.”

Gonzaga, which has won 14 WCC tournament championships, is the exception. Saint Mary’s won the conference tournament in 2012 and got a No. 7 seed, losing to Purdue in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Receiving an at-large berth as the WCC runner-up, Gonzaga got a No. 7 seed in 2012.


The conference is getting better from the bottom up, but there's still not a situation where there's anybody remotely close getting an at-large bid besides BYU and Saint Mary's. Until that changes, it's going to be hard for those teams to improve for teams that aren't finishing first in the conference.

–Ken Pomeroy


“That’s the only time that somebody’s got a top 8 seed in recent memory not winning the regular season or the tournament, which they didn’t do that year,” Pomeroy said.

According to cbssports.com, Gonzaga had the toughest WCC strength of schedule at No. 72 out of 351 teams. BYU was second at 73, with the other eight teams falling between 94 and 148.

Teams from the non-power 5 football conferences “really have to schedule tough teams,” said BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe, who is on the 10 person NCAA Selection Committee.

To his credit, BYU coach Dave Rose has tried to juggle the non-conference schedule by playing several big-name programs. But it’s often a crapshoot in scheduling a team such as Stanford, which made the Sweet 16 last season and didn’t get the tournament this year.

Teams in the top five conferences, as Holmoe pointed out, have the benefit of playing almost all of their conference games against top 100 or top 50 opponents. The WCC has no such luxury.

Perhaps nothing illustrates the WCC’s apathy toward basketball than recent firing of Bill Grier as coach at San Diego. Since taking over the Toreros in 2007, Grier produced two winning seasons.

From 2009-10, San Diego only one had a winning season (18-17 last year) and never finished above .500 in conference play. Any school that is serious about winning doesn’t allow a program to flounder for six years before making a coaching change.

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