Today's Games: (all times Pacific)
Saint Mary's at Portland, 7 PM, ESPN U
San Diego at Loyola Marymount, 7 PM
Pepperdine at Santa Clara, 7 PM
Brigham Young at Gonzaga, 8 PM ESPN 2
The Big Game: Brigham Young, 23-6 (11-3 WCC) at Gonzaga, 21-5 (11-3). Gonzaga lost at San Francisco on Saturday and slipped back in the standings. BYU won both games last week and crept up in the standings into a tie with the Zags for second place. Saint Mary's is one game ahead of both teams at this point, so whoever wins this game will be the only team capable of passing the Gaels for the regular season championship. There is a scenario for a three way tie atop the league if Gonzaga and BYU lose one game each this week and Saint Mary's loses two. A regular season title requires a Gaels' loss. A two seed and bye into the semi-finals of the WCC tournament only requires a win tonight.
If the Gaels win out and Gonzaga and BYU go one and one in remaining conference games, Gonzaga would win the second seed tie breaker. The Zags have a win over the Gaels that the Cougars don't. The two seed is very crucial in the WCC tournament. The one and two seeds don't play until Saturday, March 3rd but the three and four seeds have to play on Friday. With the championship game on Monday the top two seeds don't play back to back days, but the three and four would have to play Friday, then Saturday, then Monday. Back to back game days makes for tired legs in a championship game, even after a day off.
On top of all the hopes for seeding the Zags are looking to avoid a third loss to the Cougars in under a year. Unlike the first match up which featured Jimmer Fredette or the last one which was in Marriott Center, tonight's will be in the comparatively comfy confines of the Kennel. In the last game the Zags turned the ball over 19 times, shot 41% from the field and only 15% from three. Luckily the Zags numbers are much higher at home than on the road. Kevin Pangos scored only four points in the BYU game, his lowest total on the season. In the Zags past homestand, agaist Saint Mary's and Loyola Marymount, he had 48 points between those two games. Pangos makes far more threes at home than on the road and he made 10 of 13 in the last two home games. When asked about Gonzaga's back court and performance BYU head coach Dave Rose said "But those are two really good guards, and they can play a lot more confidently, especially at home."
Gonzaga should also have the edge up front in this game. The Cougars' Noah Hartsock scored a game high 24 points and pulled down 14 rebounds against the Zags. He also slowed down Gonzaga's experienced front court, Elias Harris scored only 7 points and Rob Sacre just 11. The edge for the Zags in this one comes from Hartsock's knee. The Cougars' leading scorer is a game time decision after injuring his knee. A MRI turned up negative but there is extensive swelling on the senior big man's knee. It's kept him out of practice, including Wednesday's, so even if he can play he won't be 100%.
In the back court for BYU Matt Carlino also has a knee injury. He will be playing, and is much closer to full strength than Hartsock. Though being even slightly less than optimum could really hurt the Cougars' chances in keeping up with the Zags back court. Carlino scored 30 points a narrow one point win over San Francisco on Thursday but only two on Saturday against win-less Santa Clara. Carlino is the Cougars' best three point shooter.
This is BYU's first visit to Spokane as a WCC member. No member of their team or coaching staff have played at the Kennel before.
TV: ESPN 2 and streaming online at www.espn3.com.
Radio: Oldies 101.1 FM in the Inland Northwest, and streaming online at www.oldies1011.com.
The Other Games:
Saint Mary's, 23-5 (12-2 WCC) at Portland, 6-21 (3-11). The Gaels are in a strange position. They've got a one game cushion for first place in the conference with only two games left. However they're coming off losing three of four games and starting Sophomore guard Steven Holt to a MCL sprain. Saint Mary's had been climbing up in the top 25 and WCC standings and were projected as high as a five seed in the NCAA tournament by ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi. They're still projected as an at large bid to the big dance, but they're sliding and injured. The selection committee has overlooked Saint Mary's in past years for late season skids. If this current skid continues that could happen again. I don't see Portland being the place, especially with San Francisco coming up.
If Saint Mary's were to lose here though, they would fall into a tie with the victor of the BYU at Gonzaga game for first. Saint Mary's would have an edge over the victor for the one seed in the WCC tournament. Portland would then have a bit of wiggle room between themselves and the eight seed, which would keep them out of the play in game. Pepperdine is currently in eighth and will play win-less and ninth place Santa Clara. If Portland loses they could fall into 8th coupled with a Pepperdine victory.
TV: ESPN U 7 PM
Radio: KPDQ 800 AM in the Portland area and streaming online at www.truetalk800.com.
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San Diego, 11-16 (6-8 WCC) at Loyola Marymount, 18-10 (10-4). Loyola Marymount just had a great week. They went to Saint Mary's and left with a 15 point victory on Wednesday earning the Lions their first 10 conference win Season since 1990. Then on Friday they played host to Valparaiso in a Bracket Busters game and won that one as well. Valparaiso then went on to clinch the Horizon League regular season title in their next game. Loyola Marymount currently sits in fourth place in the WCC two games out of first but only one out of second. While they are unlikely to move up to the top two seeds, they are a lock for a top four seed. They've secured a bye into the quarter-finals of the conference tournament. San Diego is stuck with the sixth seed. They're 2.5 games behind fifth place Dons of San Francisco, who only have one game remaining. Three games cushion them from the seventh place Portland.
Seeding is a concern in this game though, despite not being for the WCC tournament. A fully healthy Lions squad has been surging lately, and look certain to get an NIT bid now, so seeding for the post season is up for grabs. Honestly the Lions aren't even out of the NCAA tournament conversation. They've beat both Saint Mary's and BYU on the road this season so it is plausible that they could win the WCC's auto bid to the big dance.
Radio: KXLU 88.9 FM in the L.A. Area and streaming online at www.kxlu.com. 7 PM
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Pepperdine, 9-18 (3-12 WCC) at Santa Clara 8-19 (0-14). This is it for Santa Clara if they want to avoid a win-less conference season. Pepperdine isn't much better than Santa Clara, if at all, and they haven't won a road game since beating the now 5-22 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks way back on December 7th. Santa Clara is stuck at the bottom. Pepperdine could move ahead of Portland, and thus out of the play in game for the WCC tournament, with a win and Pilots loss. Portland has Saint Mary's tonight before traveling to BYU on Saturday. That said, this game does actually mean something for more than the two teams involved.
Radio: KDOW 1220 AM in the South Bay and streaming online at www.kdow.biz.
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