West Coast Conference Player Power Rankings | 2/10/15

By Curran McCauley
Despite dropping a spot to No. 3 in the AP Top 25 after two big wins for Virginia and two close calls in the Bay Area, Gonzaga continues to look like a juggernaut in the conference while Saint Mary’s, BYU, Pepperdine fight for positioning and conference-tournament seeding. Saint Mary’s looks like a team on the bubble for an at-large berth while BYU and Pepperdine seem destined for NIT bids. Despite some blowout victories, there was plenty to celebrate in the WCC last weekend, including a record-setting night in Los Angeles as well as milestones reached in Malibu. Here is a look at the top 10 individual efforts in the West Coast Conference last week.

1. Kyle Collinsworth / Sr. Guard / BYU
   Realistically, there isn’t much anyone else in the conference could have done this week to overtake Collinsworth, who set a new NCAA record with his fifth triple-double of the year in a win over Loyola Marymount on Saturday. Collinsworth was awarded WCC Player of the Week honors for his efforts over the weekend, which also included a double-double (13 pts, 10 rebs) in a losing against Pepperdine on Thursday.
2. Kyle Wiltjer / Jr. Forward / Gonzaga
   Wiltjer is averaging 16.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg and 1.9 apg so far this season for the No. 3 team in the nation. Against USF, Wiltjer scored a career high 29 points and also collected 11 rebounds. His outburst included a pair of late three-pointers that put away the Dons for good. WIltjer was fresh off the heels of a Thursday performance against Santa Clara in which he tallied 22 points and six rebounds as Gonzaga cruised to a win in the second half after trailing at halftime. Wiltjer garnered mention in the Wooden Watch Top 25 list.3.
3. Marin Mornar / Jr. Forward / LMU
   Mornar is rising up these power rankings extremely quickly and for good reason. After a career-high 23-point performance against Pacific, Mornar scored 27 against San Diego, to go with nine rebounds, helping the Lions to back-to-back wins for just the second time this season. On Saturday, the Croatian had 17 points and five boards in a losing effort.
4. Thomas van der Mars / Sr. Center / Portland
   Van Der Mars, from the Netherlands, was a rebounding machine over the weekend as the Pilots picked up a road sweep in the Bay Area. Against San Francisco on Thursday, van der Mars went for seven points and 13 rebounds. He returned to record a double-double against Santa Clara (16 points, 12 rebounds) in his seventh double-digit rebounding game this season.
5. Jito Kok / Jr. Center / San Diego
   Yes, there is yet another big man from the Netherlands in the top five this week. Jito Kok from San Diego tied the school record for blocks (183) on Saturday and leads the conference in blocked shots. Kok still has the rest of this season and all of next to extend his USD blocks lead and challenge the WCC record of 279 set by San Francisco’s Hondre Brewer.
6. Stacy Davis / Jr. Forward / Pepperdine
   No double-double for Davis this week, just a 22 point, seven rebound, three block, two steal performance in another win over BYU followed by a 10 point, 5 board output in a loss to USD.
7. Brad Waldow / Sr. Forward / Saint Mary’s
   Waldow, the only player in the country averaging more than 20 points and 10 rebounds per game, had 18 points and six boards against Pacific, in the Gaels only game this week. Waldow was noticeably absent from the John Wooden watch list, but did garner a nomination for the Lou Henson watch list, given to the nation’s top “Mid-Major” player.
8. Kevin Pangos / Sr. Guard / Gonzaga
   Pangos continues to be the heart and soul of the Zags, and despite just five points against Santa Clara, the senior from Ontario, Canada bounced back to pour in 17 points and dish out four assists in the win over San Francisco. Pangos remains a fringe contender for the John Wooden Award.
9.  Tyler Haws / Sr. Guard / BYU
   After Haws became the second leading scorer in BYU history last weekend, he continued his ridiculous scoring output, going for 22 points on both Thursday and Saturday. Haws has scored in double-figures in all but one game this season, including 10 straight 20+ point performances.
10.  Johnny Dee / Sr. Guard / San Diego
    Dee tied a season high with a 29-point outburst against LMU on Thursday. Dee hasn’t missed a free throw since Jan. 8th and has missed more than one from the charity stripe just once this season, on Nov. 24th against Western Michigan.

Conference Tidbits
Jared Brownridge led the Broncos near-upset bid of Gonzaga on Thursday, going for 25 points while adding four assists. Brownridge and teammate Brandon Clark have been bright spots for SCU as the Sillicon Valley school is in the midst of a four game losing skid. Pacific’s T.J. Wallace is averaging 13.7 ppg and 5.7 rpg and narrowly missed out on the top ten this week…Domantas Sabonis, Przemek Karnowski and Byron Wesley continue to help pace Gonzaga but missed out this week, look for all three to return with solid performances at home against Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine…especially Wesley…USF’s Mark Tollefsen recorded double-digit scoring totals in both games last weekend, but the Dons have dropped five straight games and have plummeted into the cellar of the WCC….Kevin Bailey and Alec Wintering both had 20 points against the Dons while Bailey chipped in 16 against Santa Clara.