Gonzaga basketball: 2019-2020 season review and 2020-2021 early preview

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 10: The Gonzaga Bulldogs celebrate with the trophy after defeating the Saint Mary's Gaels 84-66 to win the championship game of the West Coast Conference basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena on March 10, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

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Admon Gilder #1 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs drives against Connor Harding #44 of the BYU Cougars (Photo by William Mancebo/Getty Images) /

Could BYU or Pepperdine pose a threat to the Bulldogs?

It’s hard to criticize a team too much that lost just two contests, as Gonzaga did. They, as stated before, were on their way to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and were to be one of the favorites to win the national title. Still, several games in West Coast Conference play were a little tighter than usual, as a couple programs make waves (pun intended).

Pepperdine was tied with Gonzaga at the half in their first meeting of the season (in Spokane) before narrowly losing to the Bulldogs by 5. Later, Gonzaga would lose by double-digits to BYU on the road, at a time when the Cougars were ranked 23rd in the nation. After dueling with San Diego the past several years, it appears two new challengers are materializing in the conference that could loosen Gonzaga’s grasp on the WCC.

Pepperdine has won 16 games each of the past two seasons under Lorenzo Romar after going 6-26 in the final year of Marty Wilson‘s tenure. The Waves also just landed three-star forward Kendall Munson from Washington state, meaning the team could be quite competitive in point guard Colbey Ross‘ senior season.

At the same time, BYU has landed two three-star recruits in the backcourt in Dallin Hall and Richie Saunders. These programs are growing, and though Gonzaga is not slowing down any time soon, either, the Bulldogs showed cracks this year in-conference.