2011–12 West Coast Conference men's basketball season

The 2011–12 West Coast Conference men's basketball season begins with practices in October 2011 and ends with the 2012 West Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament from February 29- March 5, 2012 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The regular season begins on the weekend of November 11, with the conference schedule starting on December 29.

2011–12 West Coast Conference Men's Basketball Season
LeagueNCAA Division I
SportBasketball
Number of teams9
TV partner(s)(national) ESPN2, ESPNU, BYUtv, (regional) 4SD, CSNNW, CSNBA, CSNCA, ROOT, FS West, Prime Ticket
Regular Season
Season championsSaint Mary's
Runners-upGonzaga
Season MVPMatthew Dellavedova, Saint Mary's
Tournament
ChampionsSaint Mary's
  Runners-upGonzaga
Finals MVPMatthew Dellavedova, Saint Mary's
2011–12 West Coast Conference men's basketball standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L PCT  W L PCT
No. 24 Saint Mary's†14–2 .875  27–6  .818
Gonzaga13–3 .813  26–7  .788
BYU12–4 .750  26–9  .743
Loyola Marymount11–5 .688  21–13  .618
San Francisco8–8 .500  20–14  .588
San Diego7–9 .438  13–18  .419
Pepperdine4–12 .250  10–19  .345
Portland3–13 .188  7–24  .226
Santa Clara0–16 .000  8–22  .267
† Conference tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll

This is the sixty-first season under the West Coast Conference name. In July 2011, a new faith based, private school joined the conference. BYU came from the Mountain West, the conferences first change since 1980.

Pre-season

2011–12 West Coast Men's Basketball Media Poll
Rank, School (first-place votes), Points
1. Gonzaga University (7), 63
2. Saint Mary's College (1), 56
3. Brigham Young University (1), 52
4. University of San Francisco, 42
5. Santa Clara University, 35
6. Loyola Marymount University, 27
7. University of Portland, 25
8. Pepperdine University, 13
9. University of San Diego, 11

2011–12 West Coast Men's Preseason All-West Conference Team
Player, School, Yr., Pos.
Brandon Davies, BYU, Jr., F
Matthew Dellavedova, Saint Mary's, Jr., G
Kevin Foster, Santa Clara, Jr., G
Rashad Green, San Francisco, Sr., G
Elias Harris, Gonzaga, Jr., F
Rob Jones, Saint Mary's, Sr., F
Nemanja Mitrovic, Portland, Sr., G
Robert Sacre, Gonzaga, RS-Sr., C
Drew Viney, Loyola Marymount, RS-Sr., F
Michael Williams, San Francisco, Jr., G

Rankings
Main article: 2011–12 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings
  • Gonzaga was ranked in the pre-season poll at No. 23.
Legend
    Improvement in ranking
  Drop in ranking
RV Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll
 Pre/
Wk 1		Wk
2		Wk
3		Wk
4		Wk
5		Wk
6		Wk
7		Wk
8		Wk
9		Wk
10		Wk
11		Wk
12		Wk
13		Wk
14		Wk
15		Wk
16		Wk
17		Wk
18		Wk
19		Final
BYU AP RV RV RV RV No Poll
C RV RV RV RV
Gonzaga AP 23 22 19 19 23 RV RV RV 25 21 RV RV 24 RV 24 RV RV 24 RV No Poll
C 23 23 19 18 22 RV RV RV RV 23 RV RV RV RV 24 RV RV 25 RV RV
Loyola Marymount AP No Poll
C
Pepperdine AP No Poll
C
Portland AP No Poll
C
Saint Mary's AP RV RV RV RV RV 24 21 18 16 21 RV RV RV 24 No Poll
C RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV 23 20 16 13 16 23 21 18 16 RV
San Diego AP No Poll
C
San Francisco AP No Poll
C
Santa Clara AP No Poll
C

Non-Conference games
  • Loyola Marymount defeated #17 UCLA 69-58 on November 11, 2011.
  • BYU would lose to #11 Wisconsin in the Championship of the Chicago Invitational Challenge 73-56 on November 26, 2011.
  • BYU would lose to #6 Baylor at the Marriott Center 86-83 on November 26, 2011.
  • Portland would lose at #2 Kentucky 87-63 on November 26, 2011.
  • Loyola Marymount defeated #25 Saint Louis 75-68 on November 29, 2011.
  • Saint Mary's would lose to #6 Baylor in the Las Vegas Classic 72-59 on December 22, 2011.
  • Portland would lose at #23 Saint Louis 73-53 on December 3, 2011.
  • The WCC would go 1-1 in BracketBuster games. LMU defeated Valparaiso 61-53 while Saint Mary's lost to #16 Murray State 51-65.
  • The WCC posted an overall record of 6-7 against the Pac-12 Conference for the 2011–12 season.

Conference games

Composite Matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. (x) indicates games remaining this season.

  BYU Gonzaga LMU Pepperdine Portland Saint Mary's San Diego San Francisco Santa Clara
vs. Brigham Young –1–11–10–20–22–00–20–20–2
vs. Gonzaga 1–1–0–20–20–21–10–21–10–2
vs. Loyola Marymount 1–12–0–0–20–21–11–10–20–2
vs. Pepperdine 2–02–02–0–1–12–02–01–10–2
vs. Portland 2–02–02–01–1–2–02–02–00–2
vs. Saint Mary's 0–21–11–10–20–2–0–20–20–2
vs. San Diego 2–02–01–10–20–22–0–2–00–2
vs. San Francisco 2–01–12–01–10–22–00–2–0–2
vs. Santa Clara 2–02–02–02–02–02–02–02–0–
Total 12–413–311–54–123–1314–27–98–80–16

Conference tournament
Main article: 2012 West Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament

Head coaches
Dave Rose, BYU
Mark Few, Gonzaga
Max Good, Loyola Marymount
Marty Wilson, Pepperdine
Eric Reveno, Portland
Randy Bennett, Saint Mary's
Bill Grier, San Diego
Rex Walters, San Francisco
Kerry Keating, Santa Clara

Post season

NCAA Tournament
  • The WCC set a personal record with 3 teams going to the NCAA Tourney. Gonzaga was a 7-seed in the East and Saint Mary's was a 7-seed in the Midwest. BYU was a 14-seed in the West.
  • BYU played in the First Four in Dayton, Ohio. During the game, they set a record for the largest comeback in a NCAA tournament game, as they were down by 25 points at one point and came back to beat the Iona Gaels 78–72. The largest previous deficit overcome in the tournament was 22 points by Duke against Maryland in the 2001 national semifinals.[1] BYU advanced to Louisville where they would lose in the second round to the Marquette Eagles 88-68.
  • Gonzaga received a bye to the second round, where they were sent to Pittsburgh. They managed to overwhelm current Big East and future Big 12 member West Virginia with their outside passing 77-54 to advance to the third round. The Big Ten's #7 ranked nationally Ohio State Buckeyes proved to be too much for Gonzaga as they squeaked by 73-66. Ohio State would advance to the Final Four.
  • Saint Mary's received a bye to the second round and was sent to Omaha. They faced Big Ten Conference member Purdue and were upset 72-69.

NIT
  • No WCC teams were selected for the 2012 NIT.

CBI
  • San Francisco played at Pac-12 Conference member Washington State in the first round of the CiT. After keeping it within 5 points in the first half, Washington State used speed to pull away in the second half and advance 89-75. Washington State would go on to advance to the CBI championship.

CiT
  • Loyola Marymount participated in their second consecutive CiT tournament. They would host first and second-round games. In the first round they beat Big West member Cal State Fullerton 88-79. In the second round it took overtime, but they managed to get by the Big Sky's Weber State Wildcats 84-78. In the third round they would visit the WAC's Utah State Aggies, and despite a fast-paced game, Utah State would use foul shots to pull away in the last 5 minutes 77-69. Utah State would go on to advance to the CiT championship game.

Highlights and notes

    Awards and honors

    Primetime Performers Honor Roll by Collegesports360.com

    Scholar-Athlete of the Year

    Player-of-the-Week

    Player-of-the-Month
    • November – Rob Jones, Saint Mary's
    • December – Noah Hartsock, BYU
    • January – Matthew Dellavedova- Saint Mary's
    • February – Rob Jones, Saint Mary's

    All-Americans

    All West Coast Conference teams

    [2] Voting was by conference coaches:

    ALL CONFERENCE:

    Name School Pos. Year
    Angelo Caloiaro San Francisco F Senior
    Brandon Davies BYU F Junior
    Matthew Dellavedova Saint Mary's G Junior
    Elias Harris Gonzaga F Junior
    Noah Hartsock BYU F Senior
    Anthony Ireland Loyola Marymount G Sophomore
    Rob Jones Saint Mary's F Senior
    Kevin Pangos Gonzaga G Freshman
    Robert Sacre Gonzaga C Senior
    Drew Viney Loyola Marymount F Senior

    HONORABLE MENTION:

    Name School
    Perris Blackwell San Francisco
    Matt Carlino BYU
    Johnny Dee San Diego
    Rashad Green San Francisco
    Stephen Holt Saint Mary's
    Corbin Moore Pepperdine

    ALL-FRESHMAN

    Name School Position
    Gary Bell, Jr. Gonzaga G
    Matt Carlino BYU G
    Johnny Dee San Diego G
    Kevin Pangos Gonzaga G
    Brad Waldow Saint Mary's F

    ALL-ACADEMIC [3]

    Player, School Year GPA Major
    Craig Cusick, BYU Junior 3.59 Accounting
    Taylor Darby, Pepperdine Senior 3.37 Integrated Marketing
    Matthew Dellavedova, Saint Mary's Junior 3.61 Psychology
    Cody Doolin, San Francisco Sophomore 3.61 Finance
    Michael Hart, Gonzaga Junior 3.63 Business Administration
    Beau Levesque, Saint Mary's Sophomore 3.70 Sport Management
    Corbin Moore, Pepperdine Senior 3.24 Economics
    Ryan Nicholas, Portland Sophomore 3.44 Psychology
    Justin Raffington, San Francisco Sophomore 3.50 Advertising
    Jay Wey, San Francisco Senior 3.73 Business Administration

    See also

    References
    1. "BYU rallies from 25-point deficit to shock Iona". ESPN.com. Associated Press. March 13, 2012. Retrieved March 14, 2012.
    2. "WCC announces 2011-12 Men's Basketball All-Conference Team". WCCSports.com. February 28, 2012. Archived from the original on March 10, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
    3. "WCC announces 2011-12 Men's Basketball All-Academic Team". WCCSports.com. February 27, 2012. Archived from the original on March 10, 2012. Retrieved February 27, 2012.
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