WEST COAST CONFERENCE : Lions Have Only Winning Record as Teams Limp Into League Play

The state of the West Coast Conference on the eve of its 38th year of men’s basketball competition perhaps can best be indicated with two items:

Loyola Marymount is the only team in the WCC with a winning record.

The University of San Diego has the conference’s longest winning streak-- two .

USD will try to make it three in a row when it opens WCC play against Santa Clara at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the USD Sports Center.

Now, either WCC teams are playing pre-conference schedules Lou Holtz would brag about, or the conference is down this year.

WCC officials would like to believe the former. But the truth is that, other than Loyola Marymount, teams have been terribly inconsistent.

Even the Lions (7-3) have lost some of their roar, losing, 115-113, to Xavier Tuesday after making it into the Top 25 (25th) for the first time this year.

Pepperdine, picked by many to win the conference, has had back-to-back victories exactly once this season. After losing to Monmouth (N.J.) Tuesday, it defeated Towson State (Md.) Wednesday to even its record at 6-6.

Portland (3-10) has not had consecutive victories since December 1987.

St. Mary’s, 25-5 last season, likely will reverse that this year. The Gaels are 2-9 after five starters completed their eligibility last season.

San Francisco lost Mark McCathrion and Kevin Mouton from last year and had to go to overtime before defeating Mount St. Mary’s (Md.) to avoid its 10th loss in 13 games.

Santa Clara (3-9) lost to Mount St. Mary’s, 69-62, the night before and is off to its worst start in Carroll Williams’ 20-year coaching tenure.

Gonzaga (4-8) began the season 3-1 but has since lost six of seven.

USD, which envisioned riding a four-game streak into conference play but lost two games at home to Big Sky teams the week before Christmas, is third in the WCC with a 5-7 record.

Relatively speaking, though, USD has been most consistent. Its seven losses are to teams with better records, its five victories against those with poorer marks.

Heading into this week, teams that have beaten USD had a combined 48-24 record. Two--UCLA and St. John’s--were ranked in the Top 25.

But to count the victories of the five teams the Toreros defeated, removing just one mitten was necessary. They had a combined 5-49 record on New Year’s Day. Western Kentucky was 3-7, Columbia 2-7. North Texas State (0-13), Stephen F. Austin (0-9) and Cal Lutheran (0-13) had yet to win. North Texas State and Stephen F. Austin (both Southland Conference schools) made up half the number of winless teams among the 294 NCAA Division I programs. Cal Lutheran is an NAIA team.

Last year, the WCC had a record-high four teams in postseason play. Loyola Marymount and St. Mary’s played in the NCAA Tournament, Pepperdine and Santa Clara in the National Invitation Tournament.

A Loyola Marymount player leads the conference or is tied in every individual statistical category except three-point percentage.

Bo Kimble leads the nation in scoring at 38.9 points per game. Hank Gathers, back after missing two games because of a fainting incident Dec. 9 against UC Santa Barbara, is second in WCC scoring (27.6 average) and first in rebounding averaging (13). Jeff Fryer is third in scoring at 23.8.

Kevin Bell (5-feet-10) is starting at point guard this year for USF after walking on last year. While Bell may not have been expecting much playing time, consider the predicament of John Glavan, a red-shirt freshman center.

Glavan had played just one minute all season, and on a recent trip to Hawaii for the Rainbow Tournament, he not only didn’t expect to play, but didn’t even bother to pack a jersey.

Using spare threads, Glavan played plenty, leading the Dons with 11 points against Hawaii and finishing three games with 16 points on eight-of-14 shooting, plus 16 rebounds and four blocked shots.

It’s a family tradition. Gonzaga has had a McPhee on its roster for 10 consecutive seasons. fifth-year senior Jim McPhee leads the Bulldogs with a 21.1-point average.

Santa Clara’s front line is easily the biggest in the conference and certainly one of the biggest in the nation. With four players over 6-10, the Bulldogs could have a front line averaging 6-11 and more than 250 pounds.

One giant in particular is sophomore Ron Reis (7-1, 285 pounds). When Reis was at Cupertino High in the Bay Area, his summer league team came to the Southland to play a team featuring USD guard Gylan Dottin. “He was just monstrous,” Dottin said. “We were sophomores in high school, and we thought the guy was 27 or something.”

WCC SCHEDULE

Jan. 6--Santa Clara at USD; San Francisco at St. Mary’s.

Jan. 11--St. Mary’s at Gonzaga; San Francisco at Portland; Loyola Marymount at Santa Clara; Pepperdine at USD.

Jan. 13--San Francisco at Gonzaga; Loyola Marymount at USD; Pepperdine at Santa Clara; St. Mary’s at Portland.

Jan. 19--Gonzaga at Loyola Marymount; Portland at Pepperdine; Santa Clara at San Francisco; USD at St. Mary’s.

Jan. 20--Gonzaga at Pepperdine; Portland at Loyola Marymount; USD at San Francisco.

Jan. 25--Pepperdine at Gonzaga; Loyola Marymount at Portland; Santa Clara at St. Mary’s.

Jan. 27--Loyola Marymount at Gonzaga; Pepperdine at Portland; St. Mary’s at San Francisco; USD at Santa Clara.

Feb. 1--Gonzaga at Santa Clara; Portland at USD; St. Mary’s at Loyola Marymount.

Feb. 2--St. Mary’s at Pepperdine.

Feb. 3--Gonzaga at USD; Portland at Santa Clara; San Francisco at Pepperdine.

Feb. 4--San Francisco at Loyola Marymount.

Feb. 8--USD at Gonzaga; Santa Clara at Portland.

Feb. 9--Loyola Marymount at San Francisco; Pepperdine at St. Mary’s.

Feb. 10--Santa Clara at Gonzaga; USD at Portland; Loyola Marymount at St. Mary’s; Pepperdine at San Francisco.

Feb. 14--Portland at Gonzaga; Pepperdine at Loyola Marymount.

Feb. 15--St. Mary’s at Santa Clara; San Francisco at USD.

Feb. 17--Gonzaga at Portland. Loyola Marymount at Pepperdine; San Francisco at Santa Clara; St. Mary’s at USD.

Feb. 23--Gonzaga at San Francisco; Portland at St. Mary’s; USD at Loyola Marymount; Santa Clara at Pepperdine.

Feb. 24--Gonzaga at St. Mary’s; Portland at San Francisco; Santa Clara at Loyola Marymount. USD at Pepperdine.

March 3-5--WCC Tournament at Loyola Marymount.