WCC League Play Begins

DoubleDipper wrote:Opponent preview: you can see our next opponent, San Diego, at home tomorrow against BYU on BYUtv at 7pm. BYU is favored by 19 with a 93% probability. UPSET ALERT: San Diego beat Santa Clara 75-62 on the road three days ago, and looked good doing it.

San Diego looks to be a critical game. At 2-3, Pilots are still in 5th place in the league. There is quite a divide between haves and have nots: SMC, GU and BYU combined are 14-2, while USD, Pepp and SCU combined are 2-12. With the next three games at home, a couple wins would place us strongly in the middle tier.

up7587 wrote:

DoubleDipper wrote:Opponent preview: you can see our next opponent, San Diego, at home tomorrow against BYU on BYUtv at 7pm. BYU is favored by 19 with a 93% probability. UPSET ALERT: San Diego beat Santa Clara 75-62 on the road three days ago, and looked good doing it.

San Diego looks to be a critical game. At 2-3, Pilots are still in 5th place in the league. There is quite a divide between haves and have nots: SMC, GU and BYU combined are 14-2, while USD, Pepp and SCU combined are 2-12. With the next three games at home, a couple wins would place us strongly in the middle tier.

I wouldn't count on USD upsetting BYU at all. BYU's program is just at a different level than USD right now, and I don't think beating SCU is a good baromoter of anything at this point. They just beat a bad team by 13 points.

Right now, St. Mary's is the team in the driver's seat in the WCC though with home wins over both BYU and Gonzaga. At home at least, they have been very, very tough. If they split against BYU and Gonzaga on the road and hold their own against the rest of the teams, they will be sitting pretty. I think it will all depend on their ability to play defense on the road...as they have sometimes followed up big home wins with road losses in recent years (For example, beating Gonzaga and later losing to us last year)...

onetouchfutbol wrote:I wouldn't count on USD upsetting BYU at all. BYU's program is just at a different level than USD right now, and I don't think beating SCU is a good baromoter of anything at this point. They just beat a bad team by 13 points.

You were correct, BYU beat USD 82-63. I was actually writing of USD's chances against the Pilots when I wrote of a possible upset, but sometimes English as my first language isn't the best.

The Pilots are currently favored in only one game for the remainder of their season; it is the game Thursday, at home, against USD. When I spoke of an upset it was meant to be shorthand for, "we can't overlook USD," they are apparently improving as the season progresses.

After losing by 36 at BYU to open WCC play, they then lost to SMC by 6, LMU by 11, and then beat SCU on the road before losing to BYU again, this time at home by 19. They are improving.

However, I do not think SCU is "bad team," nor do others. After a little looking around, I note most polls favor SCU in 4 of their remaining regular season WCC games; 3 more than the Pilots.