WCC Preview: Best Bets 2026-27 Recap
Ryan McIntyre (@Moneyline_Mac) and Cannabis Capper (@CannabisCapper) break down the new-look WCC basketball preview, with Gonzaga off to the Pac-12 and St. Mary’s moving on without Randy Bennett. It ends with Cannabis Capper taking Seattle to win the league and Ryan McIntyre riding the Gaels.
The New-Look WCC Basketball Preview
Gonzaga is gone to the Pac-12, and that changes everything about this league. Ryan McIntyre and Cannabis Capper run it back for preview 31 of 32. Cap says Washington State and Oregon State are gone too, so the top of the league got thinner. Denver joins from the Summit. Meanwhile St. Mary’s is still here, and the Gaels went 27-6 overall and 16-2 in league play last year. But they lose Randy Bennett, and that storyline hangs over every pick on this show. Cap calls the conference a bit of a mess, and he means it as a compliment.
Santa Clara is the other program with real standing. Herb Sendek went 26-9 with a 15-3 league mark and got the Broncos to the NCAA tournament. Cap notes they turned over most of the roster, though. Then Mac fires back with the simplest counter on the show, which is that the league is easier now. Most of the rest of the league is coming off a rough year. Pepperdine went 9-23, San Diego went 12-21, and Portland finished 6-12 in league play. Pacific is the exception, because Dave Smart turned in an 18-15 breakthrough. So the middle of this conference is wide open, and both guys treat it that way.
Three New Coaches And A Gaels Reset
Mac counts three new head coaches, which might be the most coaching turnover by ratio in any league. McConnell gets promoted at St. Mary’s after playing for Bennett, and Mac calls it a no-brainer hire. But Cap expects a different team, with more tempo and transition than the slow half-court grind. J.R. Blunt takes over San Diego after working under T.J. Otzelberger at Iowa State. Mac credits him as a big part of why that team defended so well. Then Griff Aldridge lands at Pepperdine after his success at Longwood and a year at Virginia with Ryan Odom.
The veterans matter just as much in a league this thin. Cap’s favorite is Chris Victor at Seattle, because the program has shown marked improvement just about every year. Seattle moved over from the WAC and still finished top five in its first WCC season. Stan Johnson is in year seven at Loyola Marymount. Also back is Dave Smart at Pacific, and Mac says he knows exactly what he gets from the old Canadian. And Sendek remains the savvy vet of the group, with the Broncos coming off a tournament bid and a coach of the year season.
Stock Up On Seattle, Stock Down On St. Mary’s
Cap’s stock-up pick is Seattle, and he backs it with a real roster case. Seattle returns two of five starters, and they are the right two. Will Heim won WCC Defensive Player of the Year and ranked sixth nationally in blocks per game. He is only 6’7″, but Cap loves his width and length. Joon Suk-Jo, the Gonzaga transfer, is also back for his second year. Then Seattle added Mason Williams from Iowa State, a local kid coming home, plus Tomas Thrastarson from Washington State. So the frontcourt gets bigger with Yuto Kawashima, a 6’9″ sophomore who has spent time with the Japanese national team.
Mac goes with the Toreros, and his pitch is about identity. The end of the Steve Lavin era got dysfunctional, and San Diego ranked 290th defensively last year. So Blunt’s defensive background is the whole point. Mac likes the transfer haul too, with Strom, Worthy, the two Hills and Munoz coming in. And the program keeps investing, with a new arena in the mix. Give him San Diego to defend better and take a real step. Cap says that pick makes a lot of sense to him.
On the stock-down side, Cap fades St. Mary’s. He does not see a collapse, but he does see a year-one system change and a fully retooled roster. The money and resources are there, so talent is not the worry. Fit is. Cap has the Gaels finishing third or fourth instead of winning the regular-season crown again. Meanwhile Mac lands on Denver, a .500 team in the Summit stepping up into a much tougher league. Cap adds that only one of five starters returns. So the Pioneers look young, and both guys expect growing pains.
Seattle Or St. Mary’s For The Regular Season Crown
Here is where the two split hard. Cap takes Seattle to win the regular season, and Mac loves the bold take. The case is continuity, a steady climb under Victor, and one of maybe three real home courts in the league. Also the league lost Gonzaga, Washington State and Oregon State, so a jump is easier to make. But Mac sticks with St. Mary’s and the culture. McConnell played there, and Mac thinks it means a little more to him. Maybe the Gaels defend a bit less and score a bit more. Somebody still has to knock them off first.
They agree on Santa Clara at No. 2. Cap thinks the Broncos have one of the better rosters in the league after what they brought in and kept. Mac goes with the most proven coach, because Sendek tends to get more out of less when people are down on his team. Then the order flips at three, with Cap putting St. Mary’s there and Mac taking Seattle. So both guys have the same top three, just stacked differently. Mac points to Victor finishing in the top four or five every year, plus that home court.
Pacific goes fourth on both cards. Mac trusts Dave Smart in a league full of coaching question marks. Cap loves the backcourt, with Jayden Winston from Manhattan and Jason Edwards from Providence. Edwards is in his sixth year and can fill it up. Then there is Dominic Harris, a seventh-year guy who has made stops at Gonzaga, Loyola Chicago and UCLA. San Francisco goes fifth for both of them as a bounce-back team. Mac notes the Dons won 48 games across two previous seasons, so he refuses to write them off.
San Diego lands sixth on both boards, and they split again after that. Mac wants Pepperdine seventh because Griff Aldridge did good work at Longwood and the school is investing more. Cap goes Loyola Marymount seventh behind Stan Johnson and the Xavier transfer Allwright in the backcourt. Next, Cap has Portland eighth and Pepperdine ninth. Mac flips it, with Loyola Marymount eighth after an inconsistent run and Portland ninth. Finally, both guys put Denver tenth. Cap thinks the Pioneers have a good coach, but the roster just is not there yet.
Awards, Vegas And A One-Bid League
The conference tournament heads to the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Mac takes St. Mary’s to win it, while Cap sends Santa Clara back to the dance for a second straight year. Player of the Year splits the same way. Cap picks David Castillo of Santa Clara because he should pile up the counting stats. But Mac goes with Joshua Dent of St. Mary’s as the next homegrown Gael to produce. Then Cap names Chris Victor coach of the year. Mac picks McConnell, which completes his clean sweep on the Gaels. The other teams still have to prove it to him.
So is this a one-bid league? Both guys land on yes. Cap allows a bubble case if St. Mary’s wins the tournament and Santa Clara or Seattle has an awesome season. Mac says two bids takes a near-perfect nonconference run from two teams. The St. Mary’s schedule helps, with UIC, UCLA, Illinois State, Nevada and St. Louis on it. But Santa Clara’s slate looks thin, with games like New Mexico, Nevada, Fresno State, Grand Canyon and Boise. Cap doubts that has enough juice. So the Broncos basically have to run the table.
That wraps preview 31 of 32, with the Atlantic 10 left for the finale. Then the season tips Sunday, and the College Basketball Experience goes live every night. Mac says he, Colby Dant (@thecolbyd) and Troy Chewning (@Troychewning) will all be boots on the ground for the marathon. Meanwhile Noah Bieniek (@NoahB77_) sits this stretch out while recovering from a procedure. Mac also heads to JMU on Thursday and Richmond for an event on Saturday. And Cap is back on Locks and Dog with Troy within the hour, so there is plenty more coming.
2026-27 College Basketball Conference Previews
| MEAC | AMERICA EAST | NEC |
| MAAC | BIG EAST | SOCON |
| PATRIOT LEAGUE | OVC | ASUN |
| UAC | BIG SOUTH | SWAC |
| SOUTHLAND | SUMMIT LEAGUE | SUN BELT |
| BIG SKY | HORIZON LEAGUE | IVY LEAGUE |
| CUSA | BIG WEST | CAA |
| PAC 12 | BIG TEN | ACC |
| MAC | BIG 12 | SEC |
| MVC | WCC |
Podcast Chapters
00:00 Download the SGPN App Today!
00:54 Welcome to the New-Look WCC
04:45 New Coaches in the League
09:21 Stock Up and Stock Down
14:39 Regular Season Finish: Seattle, Santa Clara, St. Mary’s
23:29 Coach of the Year & One-Bid League
27:18 Sign-Off
