Grand Canyon coach Bryce Drew discusses joining the WCC, future of college basketball | Locked On Zags

Grand Canyon was accepted as a full member of the WCC starting in July 2025.

The West Coast Conference will officially add Grand Canyon and Seattle University as full time members in 2025 after passing a vote last week.

Locked On Zags host Andy Patton spoke with Grand Canyon head coach Bryce Drew about his reaction to the news and what he is most looking forward to about joining the WCC on Friday’s episode.

“We got a lot of recognizable games that will be coming into our facility now,” Drew said. “That’s a huge thing for our program, just to build that excitement and energy with Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s, Santa Clara and San Francisco have been good, and we get Oregon State and Washington State…it’s really going to be a great experience for our fans to see those teams.”

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Grand Canyon has gone 94-32 in four seasons under coach Drew, who came to Phoenix after a stint at Vanderbilt in the SEC. The ‘Lopes have appeared in three of the past four NCAA Tournaments, and in fact played both Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s the past two years – losing by 12 to the Zags in 2023 and beating Saint Mary’s this past March for the first NCAA Tournament win in program history.

The ‘Lopes are a promising basketball program in a major media market, giving the WCC a footprint in Phoenix and adding a rabid fan base to a conference that has been dominated by the Zags and Gaels over the past two decades.

Whether Grand Canyon can truly challenge the two giants at the top remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure: this move will be good for the ‘Lopes and for the WCC.

“We’re not in the conference officially, but it’s already helped in recruiting,” Drew continued. “From high school players to transfers that are underclassmen, knowing they’ll have an opportunity to play in the WCC in a year, we pretty much saw an instant help in that right away with player’s interest.”

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