WCAC PREVIEW : Flood of Transfers Could Cause Favorites, Also-Rans to Flip in WCAC

When the preseason media poll for the 1988 West Coast Athletic Conference basketball race was released, it looked as if somebody had messed up and printed the list upside down.

There was Loyola Marymount, last in the conference a year ago, picked first. There was the University of San Diego, the defending regular-season champion, picked seventh. Pepperdine, No. 7 last year, was picked second, and Gonzaga, No. 2 a year ago, was listed sixth.

Surely, something was terribly wrong. Clues had to be found. How could such a transformation be expected in just one year?

The answer, as it turned out, was elementary.

A conference-record 21 transfers will be playing for WCAC schools this season, and Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine simply were helped most.

“Both of them got well in a hurry,” USD Coach Hank Egan said.

Last season, Loyola suffered while transfers Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble from USC and Corey Gaines from UCLA waited to become eligible. Pepperdine also struggled as another USC transfer, Tom Lewis, sat by. Lewis was the Pacific 10 rookie of the year two seasons ago.

“The influx of the new talent is going to make for a stronger overall league,” Pepperdine Coach Jim Harrick said. “We got some help, Loyola got some help, and other teams were helped.”

But teams such as USD and Gonzaga were not helped as much. The Toreros picked up one junior college transfer, Efrem Leonard, and added three freshmen. Gonzaga added one transfer, Paul Verret from Idaho, but he doesn’t figure to be the impact player Lewis will be at Pepperdine.

“Recruiting has been so strange the last five or six years,” San Francisco Coach Jim Brovelli said. “A lot of kids are making mistakes in picking the wrong schools, and that’s why they are transferring. Loyola and Pepperdine have immediate help this year, and other teams will be helped down the road. The new players can only make our conference stronger.”

It’s already strange. At one end of the spectrum, for instance, is Loyola Marymount, the nation’s second-highest scoring team with 106.5 points per game. At the other end is St. Mary’s, second in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 54.6 points per game, 52 fewer that Loyola averages.

“Each night will be a different challenge,” Egan said. “One night your opponent will run, and the next night your opponent will hold the ball. All you can do is try to establish your own style of play and try to do that. The rest will take care of itself.”

A look at the WCAC:

GONZAGA

Record: 9-4.

Last season’s record, league finish: 18-10, 9-5, second.

Coach: Dan Fitzgerald (sixth season).

Top returnees: Doug Spradley (6-3, junior, 20.7 points per game), Danny Roe (6-7, senior, 13.1).

Top newcomer: Paul Verret (6-9, junior, 7.8).

Outlook: Gonzaga’s season took a turn for the worse when all-conference guard Jim McPhee was redshirted because of a knee injury. McPhee, who scored 16.4 points per game last season, tore cartilage in his right knee during a scrimmage in November and missed the first seven games. He returned on Dec. 11 and played sparingly in six games before being redshirted. Doug Spradley, an honorable mention all-conference player a year ago, has taken over as the leader in scoring (20.7) and assists (4.0). Roe (13.1) is the only other player averaging double figures. Roe, Verret and Todd Franklin (6-8) give the Bulldogs size up front, but there is little backcourt depth because of McPhee’s absence.

LOYOLA MARYMOUNT

Record: 10-3.

Last season’s record, league finish: 12-16, 4-10, eighth.

Coach: Paul Westhead (third season).

Top returnees: Mike Yoest (6-7, senior, 16.5), Mark Armstrong (6-6, senior, 7.4).

Top newcomers: Hank Gathers (6-7, sophomore, 23.1), Corey Gaines (6-4, senior, 19.2), Bo Kimble (6-5, sophomore, 18.7).

Outlook: The Lions finished last in the conference a year ago and lost two starters but are favored in the conference this season because transfers Gathers and Kimble (USC) and Gaines (UCLA) join the conference’s returning scoring champion, Yoest, and rebounding champion, Armstrong. Gathers, Kimble and Gaines have had such an immediate impact that Yoest is only fourth on the team in scoring this season. Gathers is second in conference scoring, and Gaines has given the Lions an outside threat, hitting 21 of 34 of his three-point shots. Kimble fractured his right knee Oct. 22 but has returned to play in the past seven games; he scored 19 points in five minutes against Southern California College his first game back.

PEPPERDINE

Record: 8-5.

Last season’s record, league finish: 12-18, 5-9, seventh.

Coach: Jim Harrick (ninth season).

Top returnees: Levy Middlebrooks (6-7, junior, 18.2), Craig Davis (6-3, sophomore, 16.3), Mike Cumberland (6-7, senior, 5.0).

Top newcomer: Tom Lewis (6-7, sophomore, 23.4).

Outlook: No team has played a tougher preseason schedule than Pepperdine, and that’s why the Waves are a conference favorite despite an 8-5 record. “Our record is only fifth-best (tied with USD and USF) entering conference play,” Coach Jim Harrick said. But the Waves have beaten De Paul and Colorado State and played No. 1-ranked Arizona tough before losing, 73-68. Lewis is the conference’s leading scorer and handing out four assists per game. Middlebrooks has been in double figures in scoring and rebounding 10 times this season, and his 10.9 rebound average ranks 15th in the country. Davis is more consistent than he was as a freshman, and Marty Wilson gives the Waves a capable ballhandler. Cumberland was ineligible for the first 12 games, but he’s back now to give Pepperdine added experience and size up front.

PORTLAND

Record: 5-8.

Last season’s record, league finish: 14-14, 6-8, fourth (tie).

Coach: Larry Steele (first season.)

Top returnees: Adam Simmons (6-7, senior, 13.5), Robert Phillips (6-4, senior, 13.4), William McDowell (6-7, sophomore, 6.3).

Top newcomers: Ron Deaton (6-5, freshman, 6.9), Eric Mobley (6-6, sophomore, 4.7).

Outlook: Steele was a member of the Portland Trail Blazers’ 1977 National Basketball Assn. championship team, but he doesn’t figure to be bringing another championship to the Portland area in his first season as coach. Simmons and Phillips give Steele size and experience up front, but there is little help in the backcourt. Mobley, who played at La Mesa’s Helix High School, started the first eight games of the season but hasn’t played well recently and was benched. Deaton and John Krauss, a junior college transfer, start in the backcourt, but neither has been too impressive. In all, there are seven players who have not had major college experience, and it figures to take Steele awhile to pull everything together.

ST. MARY’S

Record: 8-3.

Last season’s record, league finish: 17-13, 7-7, third.

Coach: Lynn Nance (second season).

Top returnees: Robert Haugen (6-7, junior, 13.5), Dan Curry (6-9, junior, 11.6), David Carter (5-10, junior, 4.8).

Top newcomers: Erick Newman (6-4, junior, 13.5), Al Lewis (6-3, junior, 10.9).

Outlook: The word at St. Mary’s is defense, and that’s just the way Nance likes it. The Gaels rank No. 2 in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 54.6 points per game. Furthermore, St. Mary’s hasn’t allowed more than 70 points in 37 games dating back to the fourth game of last season. On offense, St. Mary’s likes to work on the 45-second shot clock before geting the ball inside to its high-percentage shooting trio of Newman, Curry and Haugen. Newman is shooting 64.7% from the floor and Curry 60%, and Haugen (57% this season) led the conference in field-goal percentage last year. St. Mary’s perimeter game is almost nonexistent--the team has made only 18 three-point field goals all season.

SAN DIEGO

Record: 8-5.

Last season’s record, league finish: 24-6, 13-1, first.

Coach: Hank Egan (fourth season)

Top returnees: Marty Munn (6-6, senior, 16.7), Danny Means (6-0, junior, 12.2), Jim Pelton (6-9, senior, 6.8), Mike Haupt (6-5, junior, 5.2).

Top newcomer: Efrem Leonard (6-1, junior, 10.7), John Sayers (6-7, freshman, 7.5).

Outlook: After losing WCAC Player of the Year Scott Thompson, plus Nils Madden, Mark Manor and Paul Leonard, the Toreros were not expected to provide much of a challenge for the league title this season. But conference observers are surprised to hear that USD has gotten off to an 8-5 start. Munn, who usually comes off the bench, gives USD a consistent outside threat, as does returning guard Means. Efrem Leonard, Paul’s brother, has emerged as a capable point guard. USD, which led the conference in three-point field-goal shooting last year, has made 69 three-pointers already this season and is out-rebounding its opponents by an average of eight per game. The problem has been the Toreros’ inability to score inside. Whereas Thompson and Madden were tough to handle in the low post last season, neither Pelton nor Keith Colvin, USD’s centers, has been able to prove himself a capable scorer.

SAN FRANCISCO

Record: 8-5.

Last season’s record, league finish: 16-12, 6-8, fourth (tie).

Coach: Jim Brovelli (third season)

Top returnees: Mark McCathrion (6-8, junior, 15.2), Keith Jackson (6-2, senior, 11.7), Rodney Tention (6-2, senior, 10.5), Patrick Clardy (6-8, senior, 9.9).

Top newcomer: Kevin Mouton (6-2, junior, 0.8).

Outlook: San Francisco has come a long way since re-starting its basketball program three years ago and could challenge for a conference title. The reason is McCathrion, an inconsistent talent the past two seasons who has become a dependable scorer and rebounder. Brovelli dropped former Grossmont College guard Tention from the starting lineup three games ago, and the move has seemed to lift his team. Tention is averaging 13 points coming off the bench, and Mouton has taken over as the team’s floor leader in a starting role. USF beat California at Berkeley in the preseason, giving notice that the Dons may be a contender. “In three years, we’ve gotten to the point where we know we can compete,” Brovelli said. “But we still have a ways to go.”

SANTA CLARA

Record: 9-4.

Last season’s record, league finish: 18-14, 6-8, fourth (tie).

Coach: Carroll Williams (18th season)

Top returnees: Chris Lane (6-3, senior, 10.3), Osei Appiah (6-3, sophomore, 12.4), Dan Weiss (6-9, senior, 12.1), Jens Gordon (6-9, junior, 8.4), Mitch Burley (6-5, junior, 10.9).

Top newcomers: None.

Outlook: Santa Clara has not lost in eight home games this season, and the Broncos will play host to this year’s WCAC postseason tournament. That in itself is enough to label Santa Clara a serious contender for the league title. Even without the home-court advantage, though, Santa Clara would have enough talent to challenge. Lane is recognized as the league’s top point guard, and he keeps a team without stars on balance. Appiah leads the team in scoring (12.4), and there are plenty of others who can score--six average more than seven points per game. But Lane makes the team go. When he’s on, as he has been before the league season, Santa Clara is capable of keeping up with Pepperdine and Loyola. Just ask Seton Hall of the Big East Conference, which was blown out, 91-75, by Santa Clara in the final of the Cable Car Classic at the end of last month.