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BYU Men’s Basketball – Previewing the WCC slate

By Shaun Gordon

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 06: A logo for the West Coast Conference basketball tournament is shown on the court before the championship game between the Brigham Young Cougars and the Gonzaga Bulldogs at the Orleans Arena on March 6, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Bulldogs won 74-54. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 06: A logo for the West Coast Conference basketball tournament is shown on the court before the championship game between the Brigham Young Cougars and the Gonzaga Bulldogs at the Orleans Arena on March 6, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Bulldogs won 74-54. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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LAS VEGAS, NV – MARCH 06: A logo for the West Coast Conference basketball tournament is shown on the court before the championship game between the Brigham Young Cougars and the Gonzaga Bulldogs at the Orleans Arena on March 6, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Bulldogs won 74-54. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV – MARCH 06: A logo for the West Coast Conference basketball tournament is shown on the court before the championship game between the Brigham Young Cougars and the Gonzaga Bulldogs at the Orleans Arena on March 6, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Bulldogs won 74-54. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

The men’s West Coast Conference Slate tips off on Thursday, and the league is the deepest it has been since BYU Basketball joined.

While BYU Women’s Basketball is already two games into the West Coast Conference schedule, BYU Men’s Basketball is will tip off their first WCC game on Thursday night.

With the conference’s new scheduling plan, men’s teams played two more non-conference games and will play two less conference ones. The shortened 16-game schedule will help with the conference’s strength of schedule, while also making each WCC win that much more important.

And that’s especially the case for BYU. The Cougars are off to their worst start in the WCC era (8-7) and haven’t beaten a quality team yet. Nor have they won a true road game yet.

BYU will have to go nearly perfect in conference play to put themselves anywhere near the NCAA Tournament discussion.

On the bright side, only Gonzaga is head-and-shoulders better than the rest of the conference. On the not-so-bright-side, the WCC is stronger top-to-bottom than it has been since BYU entered the league.

If BYU can solve their defensive woes and their road struggles, they have the capability of racking up wins in the WCC. If they play like they have been, though, they’ll finish with their worst season in more than a decade.

Here’s how the Cougars’ conference slate unfolds:

  • Thursday, Jan. 3 – @ Pacific
  • Saturday, Jan. 5 – @ St. Mary’s
  • Thursday, Jan. 10 – Portland
  • Saturday, Jan. 12 – Santa Clara
  • Thursday, Jan. 17 – @ Pepperdine
  • Saturday, Jan. 19 – @ San Fransisco
  • Thursday, Jan. 24 – St. Mary’s
  • Thursday, Jan. 31 – Gonzaga
  • Saturday, Feb. 2 – Loyola Marymount
  • Thursday, Feb. 7 – @ Portland
  • Saturday, Feb. 9 – Pacific
  • Thursday, Feb. 14 – @ San Diego
  • Saturday, Feb. 16 – @ Loyola Marymount
  • Thursday, Feb. 21 – San Francisco
  • Saturday, Feb 23 – @ Gonzaga
  • Saturday, Mar. 2 – San Diego
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