Gonzaga picked to win WCC title, Washington State fifth in preseason coaches’ poll
After a one-year hiatus, Gonzaga has returned to its familiar spot atop the West Coast Conference preseason coaches’ basketball poll.
The Zags received nine of 11 first-place votes and 99 points, easily outdistancing rival Saint Mary’s (one first-place vote and 86 points) in the poll, released Thursday at WCC media day in Las Vegas. Coaches aren’t permitted to vote for their own team.
Santa Clara was third while fourth-place San Francisco received one first-place vote. Washington State, an affiliate member of the WCC along with Oregon State, was fifth with 62 points, just in front of Loyola Marymount (60). The Beavers were picked seventh. San Diego and Portland shared eighth place, followed by Pacific and Pepperdine.
Gonzaga dominated the WCC preseason team, also voted on by the conference’s 11 coaches, with four selections. Seniors Graham Ike, Ryan Nembhard, Michael Ajayi and Nolan Hickman made the list, along with Washington State senior guard Cedric Coward.
It’s the first time four Zags have made the preseason team since 2018 when Josh Perkins, Rui Hachimura, Killian Tillie and current Gonzaga assistant coach Zach Norvell Jr. were on the 10-player squad.
A year ago, coaches voted Saint Mary’s as the preseason favorite with 61 points to Gonzaga’s 60 – the first time GU wasn’t picked first in six seasons. The Gaels and Zags split two regular-season games but Saint Mary’s was spotless otherwise and won the championship with a 15-1 record. GU lost at Santa Clara and finished 14-2.
The Gaels also captured the WCC Tournament title with a 69-60 win over Gonzaga in Las Vegas before falling to Grand Canyon in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Gonzaga, conference preseason favorites 22 of the last 24 seasons, finished 27-8 after falling to Purdue in the Sweet 16.
The sixth-ranked Zags return 81.4% of their scoring, seventh nationally according to BartTorvik.com, and added transfers Ajayi (Pepperdine) and Khalif Battle (Arkansas). The two combined for 32 points per game last season.
Ike, Nembhard and Ajayi were first-team All-WCC selections last season while Hickman was second team.
Ike averaged 18.4 points and made 64% of his field-goal attempts in conference to pace the WCC in both categories. He scored at least 20 points in the last seven WCC games and 11 of 16 overall.
Nembhard led the WCC and ranked seventh nationally in assists (6.9) while averaging 12.6 points overall and 13.8 in conference. He had at least five assists in 29 of 35 games. He was 24th nationally with a 3.0 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Hickman hit 2.9 3-pointers per game, tops in conference games, with 45.5% percent accuracy, second in the WCC. He scored in double figures in 28 games, finishing at 14 points per game.
The 6-foot-7 Ajayi nearly averaged a double-double (17.2 points and 9.9 rebounds) for the Waves. His 2-point percentage (46.6) and 3-point percentage (47) were nearly identical. He posted two 30-point games and 11 with at least 20.
Coward connected on 56.5% of his shots and averaged 15.4 points and 6.7 rebounds while earning first-team All-Big Sky Conference honors as a junior at Eastern Washington University. He transferred to WSU, roughly eight weeks after the Cougars hired former EWU coach David Riley.
Saint Mary’s and Santa Clara both had two players on the preseason team. The Gaels are represented by guard Augustus Marciulionis, the reigning WCC player of the year, and center Mitchell Saxen while SCU’s honorees are Adama-Alpha Bal and Carlos Stewart. Stewart transferred back to the Broncos, where he played his first two seasons before transferring to LSU last year.
San Francisco’s Marcus Williams and Loyola Marymount’s Jevon Porter, a transfer from Pepperdine, rounded out the preseason team, which had 11 members instead of 10 due to a tie in the voting. All 11 are seniors except the junior Porter. The 6-11 Porter averaged 16.2 points and 5.9 rebounds playing alongside Ajayi.