WagerTalk college basketball handicapper Adam Trigger offers his thoughts on the upcoming 2021-22 West Coast Conference basketball season. Which teams are being underrated by the betting market? Which teams should you stay away from? Check out Adam’s WCC Basketball betting preview.<\/p>\n
The 2021-22 college basketball season tips off on Tuesday, November 9th, and Adam Trigger<\/a> wants to introduce himself with a big discount! For a limited time, you can get the opening seven days of the college hoops season for ONLY $39, giving you access to ANY college basketball selections played during opening week, including ANY 5% Best Bets on the hardwood! Stay on top of the latest College Basketball<\/a>\u00a0updates direct from Las Vegas!<\/em><\/p>\n Close, but no cigar. Gonzaga swept the West Coast Conference last season, going 15-0 in conference games during the regular season, then winning the WCC Tournament. The Bulldogs failed to complete the perfect season, losing to Baylor in the National Championship Game. Gonzaga will open the season as the No. 1 team in the country according to the AP Poll, but the Bulldogs will be without their head coach Mark Few who is serving a suspension.<\/p>\n San Francisco Dons<\/strong> \u2013 The Dons had THE result of opening weekend last year knocking off #4 Virginia 61-60 on national TV but San Francisco\u2019s season was ravaged by COVID and the Dons fell apart finishing 11-14 overall and 4-9 in the WCC. San Francisco was one of the areas hit hardest by COVID (and COVID related restrictions) so I\u2019m willing to give San Francisco a pass for their season falling off the rails last year. Rewind to 2019-20, San Francisco was 22-12 under 1st year head coach Todd Golden who seamlessly took over for former head coach Kyle Smith and two of the key players from that team, Jamaree Bouyea and Khalil Shabazz, are both seniors on the squad this season.<\/p>\n Dzmitry Ryuny returns for his senior season as well and the Dons bring in a couple senior transfers in Gabe Stefanini (Columbia 13.8 ppg) and Yauhen Massalski (San Diego 9.6 ppg). Another senior transfer, Patrick Tape, didn\u2019t play much at Duke but he has a chance to start on this San Francisco team and this Dons lineup is so deep that it wouldn\u2019t be surprising to see Shabazz (USF\u2019s best returning player aside from Bouyea) come off the bench in a 6th man role. Nevada transfer Zane Meeks adds some more depth, this Dons roster is loaded with guys that can shoot the three and that will be the MO of San Francisco yet again this season. San Francisco now has some size in the front court, this is a deep, veteran team that checks all the boxes and there\u2019s games on the Dons schedule like Davidson, Nevada, UNLV, Fresno State, Grand Canyon, Arizona State (and then the conference games against Gonzaga, BYU and St Marys) where San Francisco could be undervalued and a solid bet.<\/p>\n St Mary\u2019s Gaels<\/strong> \u2013 The Gaels are a \u201cBET ON\u201d team for me because last season Randy Bennett had arguably the worst team he\u2019s ever had in Moraga and he still managed to go 14-10 and get to the NIT. This year Bennett returns essentially his entire team and there are ZERO transfers on this roster so from a continuity perspective St Mary\u2019s should be as far along as any team in the country to start the season. St Mary\u2019s will start four seniors and a junior and Bennett\u2019s system has far more to do with the \u201cteam\u201d than the individual so this team WILL improve with a full offseason to play together and get better. St Mary\u2019s was another team that had a huge chunk of their season canceled by COVID, were clearly undermanned from what they usually are, and still found ways to beat the likes of Northern Iowa, South Dakota State and Colorado State and win on the road at upstart Loyola Marymount before COVID trashed the rest of the Gaels season.<\/p>\n This will be Bennett\u2019s 21st season as head coach at St Mary\u2019s, while other teams are figuring out how to mesh in transfers and form an identity St Mary\u2019s will be playing excellent defense and grinding games to a halt. St Mary\u2019s slow, methodical style of play can leave them vulnerable to an upset but it\u2019s also the reason they can hang with the big boys in this conference. Tommy Kuhse and Logan Johnson can both score and everyone will fall into their role in an offense that will share the ball, milk the shot clock and find a good shot. More than anything I\u2019m willing to bet on coach Bennett, you give him a bunch of returning players and games like Notre Dame, Utah Stae, Colorado State, Santa Barbara, San Diego State (and then the conference games Gonzaga, BYU and San Francisco) all look like spots where St Mary\u2019s could be undervalued and primed to pull an upset.<\/p>\n Pepperdine Waves<\/strong> \u2013 One of my biggest \u201cBET ON\u201d teams in the WCC last season has become by biggest BET AGAINST team this year. We were on Pepperdine a bunch last season and the Waves usually came through for us going 15-12 overall, 7-6 in the WCC and finishing the year by winning the CBI Tournament. I\u2019ve never been a huge fan of Lorenzo Romar as a head coach and I think he\u2019s set to struggle big time with a team that loses Pepperdine\u2019s all time leading scorer, Colbey Ross, and Kessler Edwards who was good enough to be drafted 44th overall by the Brooklyn Nets. Romar had a guy that went in the NBA Draft and an all-time WCC player in Ross and still only managed to go 15-12 so I just don\u2019t see how Romar has success with Pepperdine this year.<\/p>\n Romar has a couple capable transfers but his brand of offense is to go 100 mph at all times and I just can\u2019t see how that works well without a seasoned veteran like Ross running the show. Romar\u2019s teams historically aren\u2019t great defensively so what I see here is a Pepperdine team trying to play fast (because that\u2019s what Romar wants) but more missed shots than last year will cause the Waves to be out of control more often than not and that\u2019s typically not a recipe for success for teams that don\u2019t play defense. Pepperdine has a stud freshman in Maxwell Lewis, so there\u2019s potential on this roster, I\u2019m just not counting on Romar to be able to get it organized. Pepperdine loses too much with Ross and Edwards no longer on the team and I don\u2019t think Romar is a good enough coach to \u201cX and O\u201d this team to overachiever status.<\/p>\n Im going to go conference by conference & post previews with teams I\u2019m looking to bet on & bet against this season<\/p>\n I\u2019ll post them for free @WagerTalk<\/a><\/p>\n There are conferences I focus on more than others but drop the ones you want \u2b07\ufe0f and I\u2019ll try to go in order of most requested!<\/p>\n \u2014 Adam Trigger (@TopFlightSI) October 18, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nWest Coast Conference Basketball Betting Preview<\/h3>\n
West Coast Conference ‘BET ON’ Teams<\/h3>\n
West Coast Conference ‘BET AGAINST’ Team<\/h3>\n
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