WAC play begins after standings' early start

Thursday, Dec. 29 \| 6 p.m. \| GCU Arena \| Phoenix, Ariz.

	CALIFORNIA BAPTIST LANCERS (8-5, 0-0 WAC)	at	GRAND CANYON LOPES (9-4, 0-0 WAC)

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Grand Canyon plays its first conference game at home Thursday night against California Baptist, but WAC play began in essence long ago.

The Lopes already are on a standings climb from offseason conference maneuvers that factor nonconference games into WAC Tournament seeding and allowed altered scheduling for the 13 members.

GCU will try to live up to preseason billing as the conference favorite from the No. 4 spot in the WAC Resume Seeding System. After going 9-4 in their most difficult nonconference schedule, the new conference system put the Lopes at 1.15 WAC points to narrowly trail third-place Seattle U (9-4, 1.17) and second-place Utah Valley (9-4, 1.37).

"It's an interesting format," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "A lot of coaches are anxious to see how it plays out and if it does give a true seeding to how it should be. Right now, it's hard to tell."

Boosted by winning at Oklahoma and at Utah, Sam Houston (10-2, 2.47) leads the WAC Resume Seeding System that weighs each outcome for factors such as competition, location and scoring margin. The system, unique to the WAC in college basketball, was designed with the help of metrics expert Ken Pomeroy (kenpom.com) and will seed the 12-team postseason tournament without the last-place team by record.

The WAC points from nonconference results will change with how those opponents fare for the remainder of the season, but GCU can move the needle directly in conference play by adding points for wins and subtracting points from opponents with losses.

"It's a mindset switch," Lopes junior guard Josh Baker said of starting conference play. "We're ready physically. It's more so our mindsets."

Part of the trick for conquering the WAC will be navigating an irregular schedule.

Of the 13 conference teams, GCU and five others have a one-day break between games six times while the other eight conference teams have fewer. In all but one of the Lopes' instances, they will travel between the Thursday-Saturday or Wednesday-Friday games.

Thursday's Lopes opponent, California Baptist, only is faced with a one-day prep three times – the first two WAC weeks and then not again until all conference games are March 1 and 3 in the final regular-season week.

In two of GCU's Thursday-Saturday setups, the Lopes will play the Saturday game against a team that previously played on Wednesday. The toughest may be a 1 p.m. game on Jan. 7 at Stephen F. Austin, which will be coming off a Jan. 4 home game with GCU playing Jan. 5 at Sam Houston.

"It's definitely a difficult, very demanding schedule," Drew said. "The amount of short turnarounds that we have will make it substantially more difficult for game prep and being fresh from an endurance perspective. Hopefully, it's something in the future that can be addressed and be more evenly balanced."

A conference already perceived as deep was lifted by its nonconference performance. The WAC ranks 12th among 32 conferences, according to kenpom.com, and unveiled several surprises.

The top three teams in WAC Resume Seeding System – Sam Houston, Utah Valley and Seattle U – were predicted to finish in the Nos. 6-8 spots in the WAC Preseason Coaches' Poll. Utah Tech, a preseason No. 12, enters conference play at No. 6 with an 8-5 record. UT Arlington (5-8) posted the only losing nonconference record.

"How much better the conference has gotten the last couple years is a big compliment to the presidents in the league," Drew said.

California Baptist (8-5) allows only 62.9 points per game and has won five of its past seven games after falling 74-72 to Portland State in a Dec. 22 home game. That defeat combines with two overtime losses for three Lancer defeats by three points or fewer.

CBU is led by sophomore point guard Taran Armstrong, who was receiving NBA first-round projections at this time last season. The 6-foot-6 Australian continues to make dazzling passes and improved his 3-point shooting from 30.8% last season to 34.3% this season.

GCU faced a projected NBA draft pick on Dec. 17, when Baker and redshirt freshman forward Kobe Knox led the containment of Pepperdine forward Maxwell Lewis to 0-for-11 shooting in regulation and nine points in the Lopes' overtime win.

"I like taking the challenge that the coaches give me to guard the best player," Baker said. "They challenge me to be a better defender, and I challenge whoever is in front of me every night. I know there's a bunch of players who score efficiently. I just try to make it a tough night."

WAC Resume Seeding System (updated Dec. 27)
Rank	Team	Record	WAC points
1.	Sam Houston	10-2	2.47
2.	Utah Valley	9-4	1.37
3.	Seattle U	9-4	1.17
4.	GCU	9-4	1.15
5.	New Mexico State	7-5	0.35
6.	Utah Tech	8-5	0.23
7.	Southern Utah	8-5	-0.09
8.	Tarleton	6-6	-0.28
9.	UT Rio Grande Valley	8-4	-0.40
10.	California Baptist	8-5	-0.75
11.	Stephen F. Austin	8-5	-0.92
12.	Abilene Christian	8-5	-1.17
13.	UT Arlington	5-8	-2.43

The WAC Resume Seeding System rankings will be used for WAC Tournament seeding. The top 12 conference records qualify.

Thursday, Dec. 29 | 6 p.m. | GCU Arena | Phoenix, Ariz.

WAC Resume Seeding System (updated Dec. 27)

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Players Mentioned

Josh Baker

Kobe Knox

Grand Canyon University Athletics