By Universe Staff
As the sports pendulum swings toward college basketball, the BYU Cougars are garnering attention as serious contender in the scrappy West Coast Conference, where it appears to be a three horse race to the finish between the Cougars, Gonzaga and Saint Mary's College. The Cougars' Friday night 103-57 exhibition romp over Southeastern Oklahoma State did nothing to curb that speculation.
CBS Sports recently broke down the nine team league, prognosticating each team's chances of claiming a conference championship based upon returning players, coaching and last year's finish. Gary Parrish likes BYU to finish second only to Gonzaga, impressive considering that St. Mary's is bringing back all-everything point guard Matthew Dellavedova:
'BYU could reasonably win. The Cougars are a bit of a mystery because they lost two double-digit scorers in Noah Hartsock and Charles Abouo. But Brandon Davis is still around and is one of the nation's best bigs, and it should be noted that BYU coach Dave Rose has never finished worse than third or lost more than four games in any league in seven years as a head coach.
So don't count BYU out -- this year or any year to come.'
Read more about the Cougars' chances at cbssports.com.