Yes, they got crushed by UCLA but if you haven't noticed, UCLA has since gone 5-2, with one of those losses being a one-pointer to a very good Stanford team last night. Whatever funk UCLA was in, they came out of it in that game against the Waves and haven't really looked back.
I'm afraid a number of posters on this board have swallowed the Kool-Aid of Pepperdine's preseason demise. The team lost their top three scorers and were picked to finish at the bottom of the WCC. But that was before the season started and no one had proved they could fill the shoes of Thompson, Bell and Jackson. Offensively this is not a great team. But they made up for it in their rebounding and their defense. In addition, you are seeing some players now establishing themselves and getting comfortable together and even the offense is starting to improve.
So when someone like Jack Ryan makes a midseason update to a completely homerised Passing the Rock prediction, it baffles me that there is no recognition whatsoever to Pepperdine's improved play. C'mon. The prognosticators would have had Pepperdine 3-8 or 2-9 heaading into the game with USF but instead they were 6-5. Big difference.
And so now, after a bold prediction of USF being the top team in the league and Pepperdine the almost-bottom team, the Waves come out and destroy the Dons. I would say they are much improved EBD.