WCC Power Rankings, February 24th
By Josh Horton
Jan 18, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Dons head coach Rex Walters calls a play during the first half of the game against the San Diego Toreros at War Memorial Gymnasium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
3. San Francisco
Last week: 4 (Up 1 spot)
Record: 11-5 (18-10)
RPI: 81
KenPom: 99
Place in Conf. Standings: 3
This past week: W vs. Saint Mary’s 83-72, W vs. Pacific 64-59
By James Stapleton
The Dons enter the final week of the regular season in third place of the West Coast Conference and have not yet been mathematically eliminated from a first or second place finish. Coach Rex Walters addressed some USF supporters prior to the start of Saint Mary’s game on Thursday. During this chalk talk, he said the point of the season when he was giving his team “the keys to the car”. Coach of the Year candidate Walters was illustrating that this was the point of the year when teams must take ownership of the season. The Dons, and only the Dons, can determine how far or how long they will last in 2014.
This week, the Dons have an opportunity to finish strong against the Southern California traveling partners of the WCC; Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount. The green & gold could very easily match-up against any of these two teams again in WCC Tournament and cannot take these last couple games lightly. USF defeated both of these squads in early January in War Memorial Gym.
Additionally, the Dons are currently in the midst of much postseason speculation. In my honest opinion, the only postseason tournament that I am confident USF will not attend is the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT). San Francisco has a good enough RPI to make the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) but needs a few more quality wins could to qualify for the National Invitational Tournament (NIT). Never the less, with the way the 2013-2014 WCC campaign has unfolded, it is not out of the realm of possibility to watch the Dons “drive” out of Vegas dancing into the NCAA tournament with an auto-bid.