Can anyone knock off Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference?

We have officially reached that awkward point in the college hoops offseason where the dust has mostly settled from all the transfer/coaching carousel madness, but it’s still far too early to start any serious previewing of the 2015-16 campaign.

In keeping with the spirit of the season, it’s time to begin our series of brief rundowns of what each conference looks like after all the moving and shaking that has happened since Duke cut down the nets in Indianapolis. We kick things off today with a West Coast Conference still looking to shake the label of being simply “Gonzaga’s League.”

1. Can a non-Gonzaga member make a splash nationally?

Gonzaga, which has been to 17 straight NCAA Tournaments, existed as the poster boys for mid-major basketball for years now, and is coming off a trip to the Elite Eight in which it lost to eventual national champion Duke. You would think the attention the Zags have received for all these endeavors would reflect favorably on their conference, and for the most part that’s true, but there is a flip side.

Each season that Gonzaga is ranked in the top 10 and in the mix for a top two seed in the NCAA Tournament, turns into a season where the West Coast Conference is painted by many to be akin to a Division II league. It might not be the ACC, but the WCC also isn’t the complete cakewalk that Zag-detractors (Zagtractors?) make it out to be.

Still, if the league wants this point to be properly conveyed, it needs to do better, especially at the top. BYU again snuck into the NCAA Tournament, but completely collapsed in the second half of their First Four tilt with Ole Miss. Saint Mary’s appeared destined for a return to the big dance before dropping six of their last 10 games, including a lifeless one-and-done performance in the NIT. Pepperdine was the only other team in the league to receive a postseason invite, and the Waves were bounced handily by Seattle in the opening round of the CBI.

If the league wants respect somewhere outside of just at the very top, it’s time for some programs to make a move in 2015-16.

2. Pepperdine poised to breakout

Pepperdine showed flashes of its potential in 2014-15, pushing Gonzaga in both regular season meetings, sweeping its series with BYU and finishing with a 10-8 mark in WCC play, making them the fourth and final team in the league to finish with a conference record above .500. Bigger things are expected from Marty Wilson’s Waves in 2015-16.

The task for Wilson’s team will be improving in the paint, where they ranked last in the league in defensive rebounding and next-to-last in rebounding margin. If there’s a secondary concern for the team, it’s a lack of shooting. Statistically, Pepperdine was the best defensive team in the WCC last season, but cold shooting streaks across the court consistently kept the Waves from capitalizing on that defensive prowess. Wilson is adding just one player from the class of 2015 to this year’s roster, so it’s going to be on the returning players to spend the gym hours necessary to improve their outside strokes.

3. What do we make of BYU?

BYU could step up and finally emerge as the legitimate threat to Gonzaga’s throne that so many want them to be, or they could fall back into the cycle of being the First Four’s favorite son. It’s anyone’s guess at the moment.

BYU

Jamal Aytes (UNLV)

Gonzaga

Pacific

Saint Mary’s

Santa Clara

BYU

Frank Bartley

Gonzaga

Angel Nunez (South Florida)

Loyola Marymount

Patson Siame

Pacific

Pepperdine

Portland

San Diego

San Francisco

1. Gonzaga - You already knew this, but Kyle Wiltjer and the Zags should once again dominate the league while boasting a top 15 national ranking.

2. BYU - The loss of Haws hurts, but Fischer and Collinsworth plus the newcomers could make this an even better team.

3. Pepperdine - If Marty Wilson is going to make it happen, this is the year.

4. Saint Mary’s - The Gaels need to do something before their hard-earned reputation of being Gonzaga-esque on the national scene starts to disappear even more than it already has.

5. Santa Clara - A young team that played with some of the big dogs last season should morph into an experienced squad which should win some of those games a year later.

7. San Francisco - Last season felt like the Dons’ shot, and they did not take advantage. Now they’ve lost a handful of key seniors, as well as leading scorer Mark Tollefsen to an Arizona transfer.

9. Loyola Marymount - Second-year coach Mike Dunlap is still facing a pretty significant uphill climb, but there will be improvement from last season’s 8-23 campaign.

10. Pacific - Life in the WCC should continue to be unkind to the Tigers.