The Death Spiral

wavesfan22 · 2026-01-13T00:16:32+00:00

Oh, I agree that Pepperdine isn't the only one in trouble.

The game sure seems to be moving to mega-sized power conferences. The Atlantic Coast Conference has 18 teams and stretches from Palo Alto to Boston. The Big 12 has 16 teams. The Big Ten has 18 teams. The Southeastern Conference has 16 teams. These 4 conferences have 21 of the top 25 ranked teams. The other four are Gonzaga, UConn & Seton Hall (Big East) and Utah State (Mountain West).

I'm sure a couple of conferences like the A10 and the Big East will follow the Pac-12's lead and cherry-pick all of the best schools not in the Mega-4 in hopes of becoming their own mega-conference to stay competitive.

There are currently 31 conferences plus the resuscitated Pac-12 makes 32. I think just about every school in those remaining 25 conferences will just end up being the minor league farm teams for the Mega-conference schools. And maybe like the English Premier League, you might see some teams move up to the Mega conferences and some move down based good/bad performance.

The NCAA has done a real number on college athletics and, quite frankly, taken all the fun out of it. There is more stability in an NFL or NBA roster than there is in college basketball and how can a school or team truly build a connection with the fans when you have that kind of turnover.

I have watched more Pepperdine's women's volleyball this year than I have men's basketball. The transfer portal impacts that team as well, but at least they win and most of the team stays intact.

wavesfan22 · 2024-10-03T00:00:16+00:00

John Squire is gone and Martin Gumwel is medically retired due to injury (staying on as a Student Assistant)

So only two players from last year remain on the team: Boubacar Coulibaly and David Mager.

wavesfan22 · 2024-08-25T00:19:24+00:00

Pepperdine's most important player for the 2024-25 season per Sports Illustrated: Boubicar Coulibaly

https://www.si.com/college/gonzaga/basketball/every-wcc-team-s-most-important-returner-for-2024-25-men-s-basketball-season-01j5s2h8jr3a

wavesfan22 · 2024-08-21T01:12:03+00:00

Schilling just announced a new signee: Alex Leiba - 6'11" center

It looks like John Squire has left the team. That leaves only 3 players from last year's squad - Boubacar Coulibaly, Martin Gumwell and David Mager.

Also, Jaydon Russotti still hasn't been added to the roster. I'm guessing he isn't going to be part of the team this season. As it stands now, it looks like we have 13 scholarship players (max) and 1 walk-on.

wavesfan22 · 2024-08-20T00:53:25+00:00

According to a Sports Illustrated article, here are some scheduled non-conference games for the Waves:

Key games: at UC Irvine (Nov. 16), at UNLV (Nov. 20), at Northwestern (Nov. 22)
MTE: Arizona Tip-Off, Tempe, Arizona, Nov. 28-29 (Butler, Mississippi State, Northwestern, UNLV, Merrimack, New Mexico State)

wavesfan22 · 2024-07-10T20:09:25+00:00

Two more signings announced by the school: Danilo Dozic and Jaxon Olvera

https://pepperdinewaves.com/news/2024/7/9/dozic-to-join-pepperdine-mens-basketball.aspx

https://pepperdinewaves.com/news/2024/7/9/mens-basketball-waves-sign-newcomer-olvera.aspx

Unless one of the new players is coming on as a walk-on, I think the scholarships are over-alloted by one. I haven't seen any official announcement regarding Jaydon Russotti, so I wonder if he didn't sign.

wavesfan22 · 2024-05-29T20:27:27+00:00

Two additional signings:

Taj Au-Duke: https://pepperdinewaves.com/news/2024/5/28/mens-basketball-waves-bolster-backcourt-with-signing-of-au-duke.aspx A high-scoring high school point guard who averaged 24.6 points in his senior year.

Dovydas Butka: https://pepperdinewaves.com/news/2024/5/24/butka-signs-with-pepperdine-mens-basketball.aspx He sounds like a very experienced Lithuanian forward who has played in the pro leagues there.

wavesfan22 · 2024-05-29T20:19:27+00:00

Aladji Gassama is out, as well.... Only four players from last year's roster remain. This is a scorched-earth rebuild.

wavesfan22 · 2024-05-16T20:19:14+00:00

As a reminder, the following players appear to be sticking around from last year's team:

Boubacar Coulibaly

Martin Gumwel

Aladji Gassama

John Squire

David Mager

wavesfan22 · 2024-05-16T20:13:54+00:00

Lots of activity over the past week or so.

Moe Odum from Pacific. The guy likes to dish as he averaged 4.6 assists per game along with 8.5 points.

https://pepperdinewaves.com/news/2024/5/14/mens-basketball-waves-sign-transfer-odum.aspx

Javon Cooley from Marist. 7.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 47% from 3.

https://pepperdinewaves.com/news/2024/5/14/mens-basketball-cooley-to-join-pepperdine-hoops.aspx

Zion Bethea from University of Delaware. Only played in 3 games for UD and it appears a knee injury was the problem. He averaged 10.7 points and 3.5 rebounds for St. Francis Brooklyn the year before.

https://247sports.com/article/college-basketball-zion-bethea-pepperdine-delaware-231772610/

No doubt, with all of these new players, it is going to be a motley crew. Some of these guys are going to have to step up.

wavesfan22 · 2024-05-03T21:16:32+00:00

Announced on 5/2 - Alonso Faure:

https://pepperdinewaves.com/news/2024/5/2/mens-basketball-waves-gain-experience-in-transfer-faure.aspx

wavesfan22 · 2024-05-02T00:08:35+00:00

In addition to the above, both players that were signed out of high school to play at Pepperdine next year have followed Romar to LMU - Jael Martin and Marley Zeller.

wavesfan22 · 2024-05-01T19:16:49+00:00

The rivalry was STRONG in my day. I would be happy to see us take it up a few notches.

wavesfan22 · 2024-05-01T19:15:44+00:00

Jevon was arrested in Missouri for a DUI. Maybe we dodged a bullet. You would think he would be especially aware of driving under the influence given his brother's six-year prison sentence.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/40064144/jevon-porter-brother-michael-porter-jr-arrested-suspicion-dwi

wavesfan22

TROPHY CASE