The 2021–22

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting o ...

men's basketball season began with practices in September 2021 and ended with the 2022 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament in March 2022. This will be the 71st season for WCC men's basketball, and the 33rd under its current name of "West Coast Conference". The conference was founded in 1952 as the California Basketball Association, became the West Coast Athletic Conference in 1956, and dropped the word "Athletic" in 1989.

Head coaches

Coaching changes

Two new head coaches will lead their team in the WCC during the 2021–22 season. On March 22, 2021, Shantay Legans, the then coach at

Eastern Washington University Eastern Washington University (EWU) is a public university in Cheney, Washington, United States. It shares its satellite campus in Spokane, Washington with Washington State University. Founded in 1882, the university is academically divided in ...

, revealed via Twitter that he had accepted the position as the head coach at the University of Portland. Then, on July 7, 2021, the University of the Pacific announced that associate head coach Leonard Perry would become the new head coach of the

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is tradition ...

. The former head coach,

Damon Stoudamire Damon Lamon Stoudamire (born September 3, 1973), nicknamed Mighty Mouse, is an American college basketball coach and former player who is currently the head coach for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The , ...

, accepted a position as an assistant coach with the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

under

Ime Udoka Ime Sunday Udoka ( ; born August 9, 1977) is a Nigerian-American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Born in the United States, he represented ...

. Perry was previously the head basketball coach at the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho, United States. Established in 1889 and opened three years later, it was the state's sole university for 71 years, until 1963. The un ...

from 2001 to 2006.

Coaches

''Notes:'' * Year at school includes 2021–22 season. * Overall and WCC records are from time at current school and are through the beginning of the 2021–22 season.

Preseason

Conference realignment

On September 10, 2021, BYU was one of four schools (the others being

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, and UCF) that accepted invitations to join the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

beginning with the 2023–24 athletic season. Therefore, BYU remained a member of the WCC for this season and the 2022–23 season, with the WCC potentially dropping to nine teams for the 2023–24 season. West Coast Conference commissioner Gloria Nevarez indicated that the conference is open to adding additional schools to the conference to ensure "continued success" for the league.

Preseason poll

All-WCC Preseason Men's Basketball team

Rankings

Regular season

Conference matrix

Early season tournaments

The following table summarizes the multiple-team events (MTE) or early season tournaments in which teams from the West Coast Conference will participate.

WCC Player/Freshman of the Week

Throughout the year, the West Coast Conference names a player of the week and a freshman of the week as follows:

National awards and teams

All-Americans

The following WCC players were named as national All-Americans as follows:

Other National Awards

The following WCC players were named to national award watch lists and received awards as follows:

Wooden Award – Player of the Year

Naismith Award – Player of the Year

Lute Olson – Player of the Year

Bob Cousy Award – Point Guard

Jerry West Award – Shooting Guard

Julius Erving Award – Small Forward

Karl Malone Award – Power Forward

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award – Center

All-WCC awards and teams

On March 2, 2022, the West Coast Conference announced the following awards:

Postseason

West Coast Conference tournament

Gonzaga defeated Saint Mary's 82–69 in the championship game to win the tournament on March 8. Mark Few was the winning coach and Andrew Nembhard was named the MVP of the tournament.

NCAA tournament

Three teams from the WCC participated in the 2022 NCAA tournament. Gonzaga received the automatic bid from the WCC and the #1 overall seed. Gonzaga advanced to the Sweet 16, where they were defeated by Arkansas 74–68. Saint Mary's received a 5 seed as an at-large selection and advanced to the second round where they were defeated by UCLA 72–56. San Francisco received a 10 seed as an at-large selection but was defeated in overtime in the first round, 92–87, by Murray State.

National Invitation Tournament (NIT)

BYU and Santa Clara participated in the 2022 NIT. BYU received a 2 seed and advanced to the quarterfinals where they lost to Washington State 77–58 while Santa Clara lost in the first round to Washington State 63–50.

College Basketball Invitational (CBI) tournament

No teams from the WCC participated in the 2022 CBI Tournament.

The Basketball Classic (TBC)

Portland received an invitation to and participated in the 2022 TBC. Portland defeated New Orleans in the first round but lost to Southern Utah in the quarterfinals 77–66.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2021-22 West Coast Conference men's basketball season 2021–22 West Coast Conference men's basketball season