For the 4th straight year Gonzaga and Saint Mary's will face off for the West Coast Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. This is also Gonzaga's 15th straight trip to the WCC championship game. Last year Saint Mary's was snubbed on selection Sunday following their loss to Gonzaga. This year it seems certain that both teams will get in even if one wins by 100 points. So how did these two teams get to the title game? Well since the WCC offers double-byes to the top two seeds they won one game each. Last night Gonzaga stomped BYU in their 4th meeting in less than a year and Saint Mary's outlasted San Francisco.
In the first semifinal of the night #5 San Francisco put a scare in the top seeded Gaels. San Francisco had the lead until 12:39 in the second half when the Gaels tied it up at 51. This was San Francisco's third game in as many days. That coupled with their tendency to full court press got the best of their legs and Saint Mary's managed to grab the lead for the last, and most important, ten minutes of the game. San Francisco's sophomore point guard Cody Doolin, known primarily for his distribution, set a career and game high with 28 points. Doolin's extraordinary effort wasn't enough in the end. The Dons sit at 20-13 and have a week before they learn which post season tournament they will be heading to.
Gonzaga wasn't in the mood for another March defeat at the hands of Brigham Young, so they offered up a serious beat down in their first game of this year's tournament. The Zags won 77-58 and never trailed. Freshman point guard Kevin Pangos made himself known in his second game as a Zag with 9 3pointers. That performance resulted in being a worldwide trending topic on twitter. He shoots 50% from deep in home games but was only 27% on the road or neutral courts coming into this one. Luckily for the Zags he felt at home in Las Vegas, his 30 point 5/9 from deep performance in this one once again had him trending on twitter. Pangos wasn't the only Zag of note, as this was one of the teams best overall performances of the year. Brigham Young was eliminated with the loss and finishes their first season in the WCC at 25-8. Despite their 25 wins Brigham Young will be sweating on selection Sunday. Cougar fans will be hoping for no upsets in conference title games.
Saint Mary's vs Gonzaga is up next. Monday at 6pm Pacific on ESPN. Prime time on the big ESPN. WCC basketball sure has come a long way.
No comments:
Post a Comment