Gonzaga Bulldogs dominate list of All-WCC awards, honors

To no one’s surprise, the Gonzaga Bulldogs men’s basketball team dominated the list of All-West Coast Conference Honors unveiled Tuesday.

Four of the five major individual honors for the 2020-21 season went to Zags: Corey Kispert (Player of the Year), Mark Few (Coach of the Year), Jalen Suggs (Newcomer of the Year) and Andrew Nembhard (Sixth Man of the Year).

And of the 10-member All-WCC first team, four were Bulldogs: Kispert, Suggs, Joel Ayayi and Drew Timme. Nembhard was named to the All-Conference second team, while Suggs and big man Oumar Ballo were also named to the conference’s All-Freshman team.

The slew of honors comes for Gonzaga (24-0) after it wrapped up its first undefeated regular season in program history. The Zags, who open play in the WCC tournament later this week, won their ninth straight WCC regular season title in 2020-21. They were No. 1 in the Associated Press Top-25 poll all season, far and away the most dominant team in men’s college basketball.

Few received WCC Coach of the Year for the 14th time — extending his own conference record — including the fourth time in the last five seasons.

Kispert, Suggs, Ayayi and Timme are all finalists for prestigious awards honoring the top player at their respective positions. Kispert leads the WCC in points per game (19.5), Suggs paces the conference in steals per game (2.0), and Timme leads the conference in field goal percentage (65.). Ayayi’s rebounding average mark (6.83) is the most by a guard in Gonzaga history.