By Aidan Joly
The West Coast Conference has long been known as being dominated by Gonzaga. The Zags had earned at least a share of the regular season championship in 11 straight seasons.
That came to an end in 2024, with Saint Mary’s earning a sweep of both the regular season and conference tournament.
This year the league gets deeper, with the additions of Washington State and Oregon State as affiliate members for the next two seasons. Let’s take a look at each of the 11 teams making up the WCC in 2024-25.
Saint Mary’s Gaels
2023-24: 26-8 (15-1 WCC), lost in NCAA first round
The defending WCC champs, Saint Mary’s and coach Randy Bennett have long had a history of being a four-year program for guys, but that changed this year with the transfer portal losses of Aidan Mahaney and Joshua Jefferson.
It will have to find guys to replace that production. Augustas Marciulionis is a candidate to take an even larger step up and be the guy after he averaged 12.4 points per game this past season. Also returning is Mitchell Saxen, who had 11.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per game last season and won WCC defensive player of the year. Role players Luke Barrett, Harry Wessels, Rory Hawke and Jordan Ross all return, with Ross being a strong candidate to break out.
The portal add of Paulius Murauskas (Arizona) is a good one and he should see impact minutes.
Mikey Lewis is a top-100 freshman who should see playing time from the start. Liam Campbell is also a solid top-100 guy.
Gonzaga Bulldogs
2023-24: 27-8 (14-2 WCC), lost in Sweet 16
A lot of people talked about Gonzaga having a “down” year last year, but it still resulted in the program’s ninth straight appearance in the second weekend of the tournament.
The Zags will be a borderline top five team in the country entering this season. Losing Anton Watson is a tough blow, but Gonzaga brings back a ton of talent. That starts with Graham Ike, who averaged 16.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. He may end up being the best player in the conference this year. Nolan Hickman and Ryan Nembhard are both double digit scorers who are back, while Braden Huff, Ben Gregg and Dusty Stromer are all ready to take on larger roles.
Steele Venters will miss a second straight season after suffering an Achilles injury in August.
Coach Mark Few added two impact transfers in Michael Ajayi, who averaged 17.2 PPG at Pepperdine, as well as Khalif Battle, who had 14.8 PPG at Arkansas.
This team has the talent and depth to be the clear favorite to win the league, and will once again be in the conversation to win its first national title.
Washington State Cougars
2023-24: 25-10 (14-6 Pac-12), lost in NCAA second round
Washington State was one of the feel-good stories of the 2023-24 season, getting as high as No. 18 in the country, getting to the tournament for the first time since 2008, and winning a tournament game.
However, gone is coach Kyle Smith, who left for Stanford. Taking his place is David Riley, who has spent the last three seasons as head coach at Eastern Washington.
Riley is given a clean slate for the 2024-25 season. The only returner is Isaiah Watts, who had 3.7 PPG last season.
Riley brought four players from Eastern Washington with him. That includes Cedric Coward, who averaged 15.4 PPG on his way to being named Big Sky freshman of the year. Ethan Price (12.2 PPG), Dane Erikstrup (10.8 PPG) and LeJuan Watts (9.4 PPG) also all come in from EWU. Riley also got two power conference transfers in Nate Calmese (Washington) and ND Okafor (California).
There are five freshmen on the roster. One is them is Tomas Thrastarson, who hails from Iceland.
Washington State may not be a true contender at the top of the league, but they will compete and be a tough out in March.
San Francisco Dons
2024-25: 23-11 (11-5 WCC), lost in NIT first round
Things went well in Chris Gerlufson’s second season at the helm at San Francisco, securing his first postseason bid.
It lost leading scorer Jonathan Mogbo to the NBA, but returns good talent. The leader of that will be Marcus Williams, who had 14.0 PPG for the Dons last season. Malik Thomas, who had 12.4 PPG, is back, as well as Ndewedo Newbury, who had 9.4 PPG. Role player Ryan Beasley (7.8 PPG) is also back and should get promoted to the starting lineup.
Three notable transfers adds were made. That is led by Carlton Linguard Jr., who had 9.3 points and 6.2 rebounds per game at UTSA. Jason Rivera-Torres had 6.4 PPG at Vanderbilt and Isa Silva had 2.4 PPG at Long Beach State.
Tyrone Riley, a four-star talent, is an impact freshman who should see big minutes from the start.
This is a solid team with solid pieces that will win games, but likely won’t be at the top of the league.
Santa Clara Broncos
2023-24: 20-13 (10-6 WCC), no postseason
Santa Clara had a good season, its third straight 20-win second and third straight with double digit league wins.
The Broncos will return five of the top six scorers from last year’s team. The biggest returner is Adama Bal, who is back after testing the NBA waters after he averaged 14.4 PPG last season. Johnny O’Neil, Christoph Tilly, Tyree Bryan and Camaron Tongue all return for Herb Sendek’s squad.
Carlos Stewart (LSU) is a solid transfer add with SEC experience, while Elijah Mahi was a stud in JUCO and the Broncos will hope he does well from the jump.
Stewart is the only players on the roster under six-foot-four, giving the Broncos the size to compete in this league night in and night out. With a strong non-conference schedule that includes Arizona State, Nevada, TCU and McNeese, Santa Clara could very well be in contention for the program’s first NCAA bid since 1996.
San Diego Toreros
2023-24: 18-15 (7-9 WCC), no postseason
Coach Steve Lavin lost a bunch of its top talent in Deuce Turner, Wayne McKinney, PJ Hayes and Kevin Patton, and failed to replace it.
Steven Jamerson is the most notable returner after he averaged 8.3 PPG last season. He will probably have to be the go-to guy. Dragos Lungu, who had 5.1 PPG last year, is also back. From there, not much going on. Lungu is promising and is a candidate for a large role, but other guys will have to step up. Keyon Kensie and Dominic Muncey are probably the best candidates there, as is Santiago Trouet.
JUCO standout KJay Bradley will be a positive scoring player. The only Division I transfer is Colby Brooks, who walked on at Gonzaga.
It’s tough to see the Toreros winning many games with this lack of talent. It may be a long year at Jenny Craig Pavilion.
Portland Pilots
2023-24: 12-21 (5-11 WCC), no postseason
Portland and coach Shantay Legens are investing in the future this season as the rebuild continues.
It will be a young Portland team in 2024-25. However, one veteran leader will be Vukasin Masic, who comes back after he averaged 12.5 PPG for the Pilots last season. Chris Austin and his 6.8 PPG are back, as well as Bol Dengit, an intriguing big man who had 6.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per game as a freshman last season.
Two sold mid-major transfers arrived in Max Mackinnon, who had 12.1 PPG at Elon last season, as well as Jermaine Ballisager Webb, who had 7.4 PPG at American.
Top-100 prospect, a four-star forward in Todd Jones, should play meaningful minutes from the beginning. Jinup Dobuol is a three-star prospect.
Portland will be at the bottom of the standings, but it invests in the future. It has not appeared in the NCAA tournament since 1996.
Loyola Marymount Lions
2023-24: 12-19 (5-11 WCC), no postseason
Looking at this roster on paper, LMU could be a sneaky sleeper team in the WCC this season.
The Lions return their two leading scorers in Alex Merkviladze, who had 12.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game last season, and Will Johnston, who had 11.1 PPG. However, besides that, nobody who had more than 2 PPG is back.
Coach Stan Johnson did a solid job in the portal. He picked up MJ Amey Jr., who had 15.7 PPG at San Jose State last season and may end up being the team’s leading scorer, as well as Jevon Porter, who had 16.2 PPG at Pepperdine. Caleb Stone-Carrawell, who had 11.7 PPG at Utah Valley, also comes in. Jan Vide (UCLA) and Matar Diop (Nebraska) bring high major experience.
However, these are all mostly offensive-minded players, so defense may be an issue for the Lions. Still, it is a sneaky good roster on paper, so LMU should be expected to win some games and may be a factor in the middle of the league.
Pepperdine Waves
2023-24: 13-20 (5-11 WCC), no postseason
Last season was a disappointing one for Pepperdine and resulted in the firing of coach Lorenzo Romar after six seasons.
Replacing him is Ed Schilling, who had spent the past four seasons as an assistant at Grand Canyon.
It will be an entirely new roster for Schilling and one that has a ton of question marks. No new addition averaged in double figures last season, the most being Moe Odum, who had 8.7 PPG at Pacific. Alonso Faure had 7.8 PPG at Loyola (MD) and Javon Cooley had 7.5 PPG at Marist. Aaron Clark played in seven games at Wake Forest last year.
This is not a team that is set up for success, but will look for silver linings in year one with Schilling.
Oregon State Beavers
2023-24: 13-19 (5-15 Pac-12), no postseason
Oregon State is in its first year in the WCC after being a Pac-12 castoff.
Coach Wayne Tinkle will have plenty of production in need of replacing, losing four of his top five scorers. The only one back from that group is Michael Rataj, who averaged 8.3 PPG.
Tinkle added some mid-major transfers in Damarco Minor, who averaged 15.5 PPG at SIU Edwardsville last year and Parsa Fallah, who had 13.2 PPG at Southern Utah. Matthew Marsh (Wake Forest) played sparingly but has power conference experience.
Ja’Quavis Williford is a three-star forward from Los Angeles who has potential to have a large role in his freshman season. He is one of five freshmen on the roster this year. Liutauras Lelevicius played professionally in Lithuania and has loads of potential.
Pacific Tigers
2023-24: 6-26 (0-16 WCC), no postseason
It was an ugly season for Pacific, the program’s worst season in over three decades. It capped it off by losing by 59 points in the first round of the conference tournament.
The campaign resulted in the dismissal of Leonard Perry after three seasons. Replacing him is Dave Smart, who won a staggering 13 Canadian national championships at Carleton between 2003 and 2019, going 591-48 in that time. He spent last season as an assistant at Texas Tech.
He brought on a good number of high-major transfers. That group is led by Elijah Fisher, who averaged 10.2 PPG at DePaul last season. Petar Krivokavic was productive at FIU last season, averaging 7.2 PPG. He also brings in high-major transfers in Jefferson Koulibali (SMU), Lamar Washington (Texas Tech) and Kris Keinys (Minnesota). Seven-footer Jazz Gardner (Nevada) also arrives. Seth Jones and Donyae May are solid JUCO adds.
The only notable returner is Burke Smith, who had 4.2 PPG last season.
Pacific may not get enough conference wins to seriously compete, but it can’t get worse than it did last season. The Tigers will be improved.
AJ Hoops 