West Coast Conference Championship Preview
VERSUS
Tonight is one of the first big nights of the college basketball post season as the West Coast Conference Champions will be decided as the number one team in the nation, the Gonzaga Bulldogs, will take on St. Mary’s College.
St. Mary is last years WCC Champions taking on the new kids on the block the Bulldogs. This is the fifth consecutive year that these two teams have clashed in the WCC Championship game.
At stake for the Bulldogs is if they win this Championship they will be a number one see, without a doubt, in the NCAA Championship Tournament. St. Mary chance at getting in the tournament is not quite set in stone. They are unranked on the AP Top 25 Poll and a WCC Championship will give them a buy into the tournament and likely put them on that Top 25 list.
Gonzaga only has two losses on its record and much to the chagrin of St. Mary, none of them come via St. Mary’s College. These two teams have met two times over the season with the Bulldogs coming out on top both times.
If it is any help to those pulling for St. Mary, the two times these two teams met were not blowout, but they were not exactly close games either. Gonzaga defeated St. Mary by a total of 12 points. The first time they met they defeated St. Mary by five points, then again a few month later by seven points. In fact, St. Mary’s only conference losses comes against the Bulldogs. Clearly it is St. Mary who is playing this game with their backs against the walls.
What does St. Mary have to do in order to defeat the Bulldogs?
Two players are the key to St. Mary’s victory over Gonzaga: Matthew Dellavedova and Brad Waldo. These two guy are a deadly duo to any team that they face, yet Gonzaga has been able to contain them enough in their last two meetings to grab a victory. These two players simply have to play with more intensity and overcome the Bulldogs defensive pressure in order to get the up set victory.
The Bulldogs will simply have to stick to their previous game plan against St. Mary and contain Dellavedova and Waldo. That, however, is easier said than done.
Gonzaga is favored by -6 points according to the spread. Most have all ready began projecting that the Bulldogs will be the number one seed, which will cause St. Mary to play with a huge chip on their shoulders. They will be determined to make sure Gonzaga does not go into the NCAA Championship Tournament as number one.
The money line to bet on St. Mary is +210. To bet on Gonzaga the money line is set at -250.
The game starts at 9 p.m. ET time and you can watch the game on ESPN.
